NZ Young Writers Festival 2026 programme lands
The Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust invites you all to the 2026 NZ Young Writers Festival.
E sui faiga ae tumau fa’avae | The form changes but the substance remains the same.
Born from the kaupapa ‘by young writers, for young writers’, this festival encourages storytellers to put their roots down into a ground that has been nurtured by those who came before them, so they can grow into their own identity with confidence and excitement.
The festival creates a welcoming, inclusive, and accessible space for skill-building, creativity, performance, and community connection.
The programme of eight events begins on Friday 2 October with Pou Kōrero, Pou Talanoa: Posts that Speak, a couple of hours of refreshments and readings from this year’s cohort of wānaka participants.
The following two days are packed with workshops covering zine-making to ritual, community care to slam. The Otago Poetry Slam Champs will be held on Saturday 3 October, always a high-energy and fun event. The University of Otago Burns Fellow Rachel Burns will host a panel conversation about being brave on Sunday afternoon.
DFAT Festival Producer Vanessa Beck says, “The programme is looking exciting, full of fresh voices and challenging topics. We’re looking forward to welcoming lots of writers to these events, which are all free to attend and open to the public. We’ve been really inspired working alongside our tuakana, teina and workshop hosts to develop the programme — their voices are so powerful and so interesting.”
NZ Young Writers Festival 2026
Fri 2 - Sun 4 October
Te Whare o Rukutia & Dunedin Community Gallery
The full programme is available at youngwritersfest.nz/2026-programme.
The NZWYF wānaka
In 2025, the NZYWF model evolved to deepen the experience of some of Aotearoa’s most committed young writers, piloting a wānaka at Puketeraki Marae with the support of Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki and Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou. Following its success, this year’s festival has continued with this model.
The wānaka will be led by two tuakana, Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks and Eric Soakai, who bring comprehensive and inspiring literary experience to share with the 26 young writers. They will also be mentoring two of the participants, Tara Leckie and Yueke Li, who will each present a public workshop.