Event Update:

Please note the venue and time for the event have changed. The event will now be held at Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre and will take place from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm (previously Hunua Room, 1:00–2:00 pm).

If you held a ticket for the original 1 pm time, your ticket will automatically update with the new venue and time (instructions from Ticketmaster will follow about how to update your ticket if you’ve already added them to your mobile wallet).

Charlotte McConaghy is the New York Times best-selling author of Once There Were Wolves, Migrations and most recently, Wild Dark Shore, which begins with a woman washing up on a research station on a remote island halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica.

It was an instant New York Times bestseller, a Time Must-Read for 2025 and selected for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club – and the queue for it in Auckland’s library network has been 500+ strong for months.

In her first visit to the Festival she sits down with Sonya Wilson to reflect on her lauded writing career to date, and the gripping, propulsive literary thriller that has brought her to the attention of a host of new readers.