Past Festivals
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2025
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. An annual highlight of the literary calendar 2025 was on par with last year's record-breaking figure of 85,000 attendances.
The programme saw 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.
Of particular interest was the contingent of exceptional Nordic authors and illustrators: Anders Falstie-Jensen, Per Gustavsson, Elin Anna Labba, Lars Mytting, Mikaela Nyman, Hanne Ørstavik, Anders Sparring, Antti Tuomainen and Mathilde Walter Clark.
German political scientist Marcel Dirsus was a real drawcard with his solus event scheduled twice due to popular demand.
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 Australian author Andy Griffiths, while huge numbers of families attended the free Pukapuka Adventures programme on Saturday and Sunday, which engaged even the youngest of book lovers with the written word through story, song, dance, art and play.
25% of events were free and unticketed. Celebrations spilled 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.
Free events 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.
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2024
Held at Auckland’s Aotea Centre from 14 – 19 May, attendance reached a record high of more than 85,000. The programme was designed to bring the bookshop to life, flinging open the doors to all and dazzling with 167 events featuring 240 talented participants from around Aotearoa New Zealand and the world.
Readers were enchanted by a diverse selection of names with international and local stars woven together to create new connections and explore common themes. National treasure Sam Neill, Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch, bestselling debut novelist Bonnie Garmus, award-winning writer Catherine Chidgey, former poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh and beloved literary star Ann Patchett were just a few of the names sharing the marquee billing.
Free events included a packed session on te Tiriti, an extraordinary exploration of the life of 2024 Honoured Writer Anne Salmond and a hugely popular deep dive into speculative fiction.
Lively debates and in-depth discussions on topical issues drew huge crowds that covered the rise of book banning, voting rights, democracy and climate change, and featured a range of writers including Emma Wehipeihana (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Porou) Shashi Tharoor, Toby Manhire, Peter Frankopan and Anna Fifield.
It was the first year at the helm for Artistic Director Lyndsey Fineran, who joined the team in August 2023 after a successful tenure at the UK’s Cheltenham Literature Festival. Lyndsey was joined by three guest curators. Michael and Matariki Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) whose innovative programming celebrated storytelling in all its forms, while Professor Damon Salesa brought a strong Pacific-focus to his line-up.
The STREETSIDE: BRITOMART programme on Friday night included a Book (Fight) Club and an Art Chemist. Free events for families took over Level 5 of the Aotea Centre as Pukapuka Adventures was unleashed on Saturday and Sunday in a curated series of events designed to engage the youngest of book lovers with the written word through story, song, dance, art and play. Other popular free events included a new programme strand, Kōrero Corner, a free drop-in, informal space with a series of half-hour events designed to stimulate, entertain and inspire.
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2023
16-21 May 2023
The 2023 Festival saw over 60,000 attendees across seven days of kōrero, knowledge and exciting writers from here and across the globe. We were joined by Booker, TS Eliot, Pulitzer and Ockham Prize-winners – as well as New York Times bestsellers, much loved writers across all genres and exciting new talent.
On the Kiri Te Kanawa stage we heard from a stellar line-up of writers, including Eleanor Catton, Catherine Chidgey, Bernardine Evaristo, Bill Hayes, Anthony Joseph, Shehan Karunatilaka, Jenny Odell, Gaylene Preston, Monty Soutar, and Colson Whitehead.
Our 2023 curators were Matariki and Michael Bennett, Chris Tse and Dahlia Malaeulu who put together an incredible group of writers and thinkers. From journalist Louisa Lim, poet and artist Ruby Solly, poet and composer Cadence Chung, filmmaker and actress Awa Puna, award-winning tapa artists Tui Emma Gillies and Sulieti Fieme'a Burrows, nurse and Samoan siapo maker Doron Semu.
In a special First Nations series, writers from Canada, Australia and Aotearoa were bought together for meaningful exchanges about storytelling, language and Indigenous experiences. Joining us from Canada we heard from Two-Spirit, Oji—nêhiyaw member of Peguis First Nation poet Joshua Whitehead, Anishinaabe journalist and speaker Tanya Talaga and Red River Métis (Michif) writer Katherena Vermette. From Australia we heard from writer and editor of Mununjali Yugambeh and Dutch heritage Ellen Van Neerven, Munanjahli and South Sea Islander writer and educator Chelsea Watego and proud Gunai Woman and award-winning author Kirli Saunders.
Our annual STREESIDE celebration took place on the streets of the Britomart Precinct for an evening of readings, declarations and live storytelling. We heard from an extraordinary line-up of writers including Joanna Cho, Nathan Joe, Daniel Lavery, Airana Ngarewa, Rushi Vyas and Dr Gráinne Cleary.
Pukapuka Adventures kept the whole whanau busy throughout the weekend on our Fifth Floor Fun-Zone. With yeti drawing tutorials, a standout session on all you need to know about birds and incredible bilingual stories in Te Reo Māori and English.
The Festival concluded on Sunday night with a passionate celebration of Katherine Mansfield on the centenary year of her too-soon demise. Six writers and performers took to the stage to celebrate her incredible legacy.
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2022
2022 saw a live Festival event with more than 52,000 attendees across seven days. We welcomed in-person, international writers including A. C. Grayling, Clementine Ford, Liane Moriarty, Harold Hillman, David Killcullen, and Jane Campion.
Livestreaming into the venue were Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah, essayist Rebecca Solnit, novelist and actor David Duchovny; with digital workshops and salon appearances from writers including Booker Prize winner Damon Galgut, Lydia Davis, Michael Rosen, Warsan Shire, Stephanie Dowrick, Colm Toibin, Graeme Simsion, Delia Ephron, Lea Ypi and Meg Mason.
Special events included Art and Power, a Sydney Art Quartet music and readings performance; The Genius of Sondheim, with guests including Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Edward Laurenson; theatrical works Hello Darkness, Ka-Shue and Paragon Dreams; rising hip-hop and spoken-word stars in New Dawn; and a Naked Samoans line-up.
In our curatorial strands, led by Moana Maniapoto, Leki Jackson-Bourke and Rosabel Tan, esteemed guests included Timoti Kāretu, Jacinta Ruru, Miriama Kamo, Amanaki Prescott-Faletau, Aigagalefili Fepulea’i Tapua’i, Nathan Joe, Nahyeon Lee, Chris Tse, Himali McINnes and Pax Assadi.
Friday night saw STREETSIDE take over Beresford Square, with fabulous fiction and poetry from authors including Elizabeth Smither, Tayi Tibble, Kevin Ireland, Anne Kennedy, Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins, Gigi Fenster, Brian Walpert, Rosetta Allan and Owen Marshall.
Pukapuka Adventures kept children and families busy at the Town Hall on Sunday, and included Kapa Haka, poi making, drawing with Donovan Bixley, and more.
The Festival concluded on Sunday night with a moving celebration of our Honoured Writer, Tessa Duder.
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2021
11-16 May 2021
2021 saw a return to a live Festival event with nearly 65,000 attendees across six days. We welcomed in-person, international writers taking shelter on our shores including Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer; Rick Gekoski and Behrouz Boochani, whilst beaming in for live interviews are Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro and renowned artist Ai Weiwei. We presented 32 performances of the Donmar Warehouse’s Blindness, an acclaimed immersive theatre experience direct from London, voiced by Juliet Stevenson, based on Nobel Prize winning José Saramago’s novel, and five performances of the beautiful Witi’s Wāhine. Ruby Solly curated Oro with Ockham-winner Becky Manawatu, Ross Calman, Anahera Gildea, Arihia Latham, Nic Low, Kiri Piahana-Wong and essa may ranapiri. We launched Asian anthology A Clear Dawn; and Gina Cole curated Talanoa with Tusiata Avia, David Eggleton, Oscar Kightley, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Karlo Mila and Victor Rodger. Following our successful online Winter Series, internationals Isabel Allende, Gabriel Byrne, Douglas Stuart, Monique Roffey, Marilynne Robinson and Yiyun Li join Kiwis abroad JP Pomare, Miro Bilbrough and Mohamed Hassan for Salons beamed into venue. In the halls we talked cancel culture, science, art, economics, crime, food, family secrets and more with Sue Kedgley, Ngahuia te Awekotuku, Dick Frizzell, Claudia Orange, Ghazaleh Golbakhsh, Brian Easton, Monique Fiso, Charlotte Grimshaw, Rebecca Macfie, Glenn Colquhoun, Anna Fifield and Rangi Matamua. Reb Fountain, Tom Scott and Marlon Williams chatted with Moana Maniapoto about songwriting and Auckland Speaks II showcased some of Tāmaki Makaurau’s finest spoken word poets. Alice Te Punga Somerville presented the Michael King Memorial Lecture and our STREETSIDE: Karangahape event showcased more than 40 writers on Friday night. Our workshop presenters,included Mary Karr, Carl Nixon, Kevin Barry, Eileen Merriman, Andrew O’Hagan, Michael Robotham and Shaun Tan. And, in a triumphant closing, Fiona Kidman, Patricia Grace, Witi Ihimaera, Vincent O’Sullivan, CK Stead, Brian Turner and Albert Wendt came together on stage for A Worship of Honoured Writers.
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2020
CANCELLED
The 2020 was to be our 20th Festival, with a stellar line up of guests to join the celebrations - including Ann Patchett, Colson Whitehead, Bernardine Evaristo, Liane Moriarty, Mary Robinson, Samantha Power, Philippe Sands, Lisa Taddeo, Patrick Gale, Chanel Miller, Tim Flannery, Deborah Eisenberg, Wallace Shawn, Omar Saif Ghobash, Julia Ebner, Cass Sunstein, Elizabeth Knox, Colin Thubron, Moana Jackson, Joshua Wong , Anna Fifield, Alan Duff, Tara June Winch, Haben Girma, Eleanor Catton, Simon Armitage, Joshua Whirehead, Jenny Bornholdt and Selina Tusitala Marsh, Peter Stanford, Barbara Ewing, Alan Bollard, Behrouz Boochani, An Yu, Leanne Shapton, Nathan Filer, Helon Habila, Francis and Kaiora Tipene.
In May during "lockdown", we launched our 13-week Winter Series with each episode featuring three writers most of whom featured in our cancelled 2020 programme. Our guests 'zoomed in' from all over Aotearoa New Zealand and the world, to chat with series host Paula Morris, read from their latest books and answer audience questions. All 13 episodes are available free on our website to watch or listen to at anytime, details and links below. Podcasts are also available on apple or Spotify.
