A “rock concert for reading” was how one attendee described Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki (AWF), which ran 13 – 18 May at Auckland’s Aotea Centre.
The annual event is the highlight of the literary calendar and 2025 was no exception with sold-out theatres, bustling crowds and signing queues that lasted for hours.
The pop-up Festival bookstalls, run by The Women’s Bookshop, sold a staggering 12,000 books over the six days. The most popular title was The Book of Guilt, the highly anticipated new novel from Catherine Chidgey.
This year’s audience is on par with last year’s record-breaking figure of 85,000 attendances, speaking to the huge hunger for books and reading in Aotearoa New Zealand.
“What a ride,” said Festival co-directors Lyndsey Fineran and Catriona Ferguson. “From writers bringing STREETSIDE: BRITOMART to vibrant life to a jam-packed six days at the Aotea Centre, we couldn't be more thrilled with this year's Festival.
“It's a bittersweet thing to close the doors on such a special Festival but we're going home happy and proud in the knowledge that the excitement for books, writing and creativity that these days have sparked will last way beyond this week.”
The programme boasted a stellar line-up of over 240 authors, which included participants from six continents who wowed crowds from early in the morning until late at night. Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey, David Nicholls, Ian Rankin, Colm Tóibín, Asako Yuzuki, Fiona Kidman, Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku, Diana Wichtel, Edward Wong, Kaliane Bradley, Ben Macintyre, Torrey Peters and Harriet Walter were all crowd favourites. Legendary New Zealand author and illustrator Gavin Bishop was this year’s Honoured Writer and Damien Wilkins, who won the 2025 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction,appeared in a number of sell-out events.
Authors were treated like rock stars and international attendees couldn’t believe the passion of New Zealand readers, with a number commenting they had never spoken to such large audiences.
There were sessions for book lovers of all ages. Children patiently queued for up to two hours to meet their hero, Australian author Andy Griffiths, while huge numbers of families attended the free Pukapuka Adventures programme, which engaged even the youngest of book lovers with the written word through story, song, dance, art and play.
The Festival’s Schools Programme, Hōtaka Kura, saw over 6,000 school children receive inspiration across three days of events that attracted students from as far afield as Whakatāne and New Plymouth.
AWF put the festive in festival, with celebrations spilling out onto Aotea Square and beyond. Attendees made pedal-powered books, enjoyed beautiful poetry projections on buildings and even got to share a story with children’s author Heather Haylock in a specially decked out caravan.
The Festival prides itself on being welcoming and accessible to all, with over 25% of events free and unticketed. This included the STREETSIDE: BRITOMART evening which took place on Friday 9 May, the wildly successful Kōrero Corner and a session with UK poet Lemn Sissay, in the large-capacity Kiri Te Kanawa theatre, which was uplifting and moving.
This year’s line-up also featured a delegation of Nordic writers, providing an opportunity for cultural exchange and connection. The group proved immensely popular with Kiwi readers and many of their titles quickly sold out at the Festival bookshop.
Festival Chair, Charlotte McLoughlin said she was heartened by the large number of people of all ages who attended.
“We're thrilled with how this year’s Festival has gone. We set out to create a weekend of events that would inform, inspire and delight. The buzz, happy chatter and smiles from so many people in and around the Aotea Centre, all weekend, tells me we met our brief. We're proud of what we were able to bring to Auckland.”
Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki acknowledges the support of our valued patrons, funders and sponsors.