Acclaimed illustrator Donovan Bixley and the Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador Kate De Goldi are to be the keynote speakers at the Storylines Children’s Writers and Illustrators’ National Hui to be held in Auckland the weekend of 3-4 October 2026 at Dilworth School in Auckland.

The Hui is being run by the Storylines Children’s Literature Trust Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki.

Featuring a wide range of speakers, workshops, panels and opportunities for networking, the hui offers an exciting two-day programme for published or aspiring children's/young adult authors and illustrators from across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Donovan Bixley ONZM is an internationally acclaimed illustrator and author, winner of the Mallinson Rendel Illustrators Award, presented by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand for a lifetime achievement as an illustrator. His picture books and junior fiction have won multiple awards and been published in multiple languages, and he has twice been selected for the International Youth Library's White Raven Award, recognizing the top 200 children's books in the world.

Kate De Goldi is the Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador, an Arts Foundation Laureate and a former Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal winner. Among her award-winning books are The 10pm Question, Annual 1 and 2, and The ABC With Honora Lee, and she is an acclaimed reviewer, speaker and expert on children’s literature.

Helen Villers, chair of the Friends of Storylines, says “Storylines’ previous National Hui in 2017 and 2022, attended by more than a hundred, are remembered as rare occasions for our writers and illustrators for the young to come together from all over the country, to network and learn from others’ knowledge and experience.

“The 2026 programme will again include Storylines’ traditional, fun-filled Saturday night Literary Banquet. It will be a grand, unmissable weekend!”

The full programme for the Storylines National Hui and early bird registrations will be available in early February www.storylines.org.nz