Artistic Director Lyndsey Fineran represented Auckland Writers Festival at Global Ink 2026, an international gathering of literary festival leaders hosted by Edinburgh International Book Festival this August.

The three-day forum brought together 20 festival directors from 17 countries, spanning Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America, to exchange ideas, share challenges and explore opportunities for collaboration across the global literary sector.

Global Ink was established to build lasting relationships between people creating literary festivals in very different places and contexts. Alongside industry discussions, delegates took part in the wider Edinburgh International Book Festival programme, connecting with writers, cultural organisations and fellow festival leaders.

For Lyndsey, the gathering reinforced both the differences between literary festivals around the world and the considerable ground they share.

‘It was a privilege to be a part of Global Ink and share learnings, expertise, challenges and ideas with a talented cohort of Festival Directors from around the world at Edinburgh International Book Festival this month.

Our Festivals may differ in size, language, focus and context, but we share so many similarities, priorities and ambitions – and an ardent belief that our respective literary scenes are stronger as part of a global network.

I felt very proud to have AWF at the table for these discussions, and am excited to see how these days bear fruit for our Festival, and Aotearoa’s incredible writers and literary festival network.’

With festival leaders represented from organisations including Jaipur Literature Festival, Toronto International Festival of Authors, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Gothenburg Book Fair and Adelaide Writers’ Week, Global Ink provided a valuable opportunity to strengthen AWF’s international relationships and share ideas with festivals operating across an extraordinarily diverse range of literary communities.

Those connections have the potential to open up new conversations, collaborations and opportunities – both for Auckland Writers Festival and for Aotearoa writers on the international stage.