Lyndsey's Highlights: Auckland Writers Festival

Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki takes place between 13 – 18 May when tens of thousands of people from all over the country will once again take their pick from a jam-packed programme of over 170 events across a range of venues and sites in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau. More than 170 New Zealand writers and close to 50 international participants will appear in the programme, which is bursting with well-known literary powerhouses, global thinkers and fresh new voices. The programming team is led by Lyndsey Fineran, who came from the world’s longest-running book festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival. We asked her for her picks of the Aotearoa talent at this year’s Festival.

STREETSIDE: BRITOMART Ahead of the packed Aotea Centre programme beginning 13 May, I’m really excited for STREETSIDE: BRITOMART to begin the bookish fun in the city on Friday 9 May. Slam poetry, storytelling and everything from zine-making to a giant literary wrestling ring in Takutai Square will transform Britomart into the coolest book party in town for one night only. All free and unticketed.

2025 Honoured Writer: Gavin Bishop A big proportion of a Festival programme each year focuses on the new: newly published books, new commissions, new ideas, new voices - which is wonderful. But one long-running tradition at Auckland Writers Festival I really admire is a venerated author and their body of work being celebrated each year in the headline, Honoured Writer interview. It’s had quite the roll call: Maurice Gee, Karl Stead, Patricia Grace, Fiona Kidman, Albert Wendt, Witi Ihimaera, Joy Cowley, Vincent O’Sullivan, Tessa Duder, Brian Turner and Anne Salmond. This year we’re delighted to be honouring multi-award-winning children’s author, Gavin Bishop, who will join Miriama Kamo to reflect on a remarkable career as both an author and illustrator of more than 70 books. I didn’t grow up in NZ and with Gavin’s work, but I’ve quickly fallen in love with it as an adult, and it’s clear how much of a cornerstone Gavin’s work is to generations of families. When Gavin accepted our invitation, he very generously said ‘this is a huge compliment not only for me but all the other writers for children in this country. I accept with enormous pleasure and pride.’ - I suspect it’ll be a session at which we’ll see some happy tears!

Catherine Chidgey: The Book of Guilt

When we reflect on the books of the year at 2025’s close, I would put good money on Catherine Chidgey’s The Book of Guilt being in that prized pile. I’m so admiring of Chidgey’s craft as a writer - as well as her incredible imagination and daring range of genres, time-zones and styles she’s spanned in her work to date. Set in a home for children in 1970s England, The Book of Guilt is an unnerving exploration of belonging in a world where some lives are valued less than others and is deservedly generating huge buzz both here and overseas. It sparked an international bidding war, and has recently been selected for the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Book Club in the UK. AWF-goers are lucky to be able to attend her first public event for the book where Chidgey will be in-conversation with Kate de Goldi, before she inevitably heads off on her global tour…

Someone Saved My Life Tonight Nā Tētahi Ahau i Whakaora i Tēnei Pō We’re lucky to have the excellent Michael and Matariki Bennett lending their curatorial brilliance to AWF once more, and I love this storytelling session they’ve curated. Seven writers, from near and far, each have seven minutes to tell a story about someone who – literally or figuratively - saved their lives. Funny, devastating, revelatory, inspiring – we don’t quite know where the storytellers are going to take us. As a Director, that’s mildly terrifying (!) - but it’s also the magic of live events, and proof of the amazing things that can come when you hand trust over to others. I also love the symmetry created by us opening the public programme with the Gala Evening (for which a stellar line-up of writers will be responding to the theme ‘The Moment I Knew’), and having this as one of our closing sessions. It’s a courageous thing to share a personal story in these settings – and both the performers and the audiences seem to walk a little taller after these brave sessions.

North to South: Stories, Songs and Voices of the Land I love the power Festivals have in uniting writers from different corners of the world in interesting ways. Thanks to the British Council’s Connections Through Culture grant we’re bringing Roseanne Watt – an amazing musician and poet from the Shetland Islands together with New Zealand’s Nadine Anne Hura. You’d struggle to find two islands further apart than Shetland and Aotearoa New Zealand, but many of the concerns are shared: each have an indigenous tongue and culture that is being revived and fought for and each, at the far north and south of the world, are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Roseanne and Nadine will be working together in a micro-residency in advance of the Festival in the Far North, then joining us at the Festival to discuss what they’ve discovered.

Nordic meets NZ And staying on the theme of north to south, it’s very special to have seven writers from the Nordic region poised to join NZ writers in a range of fascinating discussions. Norway’s Lars Mytting will chat Nordic and Māori mythology with Whiti Hereaka; PEN Award winner Hanne Ørstavik will discuss capturing grief with Ockham shortlistee Damien Wilkins; Sámi writer Elin Anna Labba will explore indigenous literature with NZ lit experts, and, with both NZ and Nordic countries ranking high in the world happiness leagues, Finland’s Antti Tuomainen will join NZ writers including Dominic Hoey to discuss what life behind the happiness headlines looks like. All conversations you won’t hear anywhere but AWF – that’s very special and exciting. Lyndsey Fineran, Artistic Director, Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki

Head to https://www.writersfestival.co.nz for more information and to secure your tickets.