A short programme blurb can’t do justice to Bill Manhire’s immense contribution to the country’s literary landscape.

He was Aotearoa New Zealand’s inaugural poet laureate, has won the Ockham NZ Book Award for Poetry five times, and founded and directed the International Institute of Modern Letters at Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, from which countless of the nation’s finest writers have emerged.

We are thrilled to be recognising Manhire as the Festival’s 2026 Honoured Writer, and have him join a list of luminaries including Witi Ihimaera, CK Stead, Patricia Grace, Joy Cowley, Fiona Kidman, Anne Salmond and Gavin Bishop.

While Manhire is unable to attend, Fergus Barrowman will lead a wide-ranging session about Bill's extraordinary life in letters and his major new collection, Lyrical Ballads.