Top Picks for Auckland Writers Festival

The 2025 Auckland Writers Festival, Waituhi o Tāmaki, programme has been revealed, and this year the festival brings the very best local and international writers of contemporary fiction and non-fiction, scientists, economists, poets, journalists and public intellectuals together with audiences to explore ideas, share stories and experience brilliant conversations. 

We’ve taken our pick from their jam-packed programme of over 170 events across a range of venues and sites in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau, with authors from Latin America, South Korea, France, Tahiti, Canada, the UAE and more appearing. More than 170 New Zealand writers and close to 50 international participants will appear in the programme for 2025, which is bursting with well-known literary powerhouses, global thinkers and fresh new voices.

Colm Tóibín | Sun, 18 May 2025 | 7:00pm – 8:15pm | Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre

Audiences will enjoy the rare opportunity to share a theatre with eminent Irish writer and recent Fiction Laureate Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn, Long Island, The Master and The Magician. He’s the author of ten lauded novels, collections of short fiction, several books of criticism and recently completed a tenure as the Laureate for Irish Fiction.

His latest novel, Long Island – a return to the world and characters of his beloved and best-selling Brooklyn – was hailed as a “masterpiece” by critics and proved so popular in his native Ireland that it was named Waterstones Irish Book of the Year and 1 in every 150 people in the country bought a copy.

His popularity, renown and adoration stretches well beyond the Emerald Isle, of course. In this special visit to Aotearoa New Zealand, Paula Morris meets him to discuss an extraordinary life in letters.

Space: Nature Writing’s New Frontier? | Samantha Harvey | 16 May 2025 | 5:30pm – 6:30pm | Waitākere Room, Aotea Centre

The first woman to win the Booker Prize since 2019, 2024 winner Samantha Harvey’s winning novel, Orbital, focuses on six humans, orbiting the glorious earth, reflecting on some of her main themes as a writer; natural beauty, science fiction and philosophy. The British author’s work has been translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Norwegian, Portuguese and Romanian.

All the World’s a Stage | Dame Harriet Walter DBE | 16 May 2025 | 8:30pm – 9:45pm | Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre

Harriet Walter is one of the world’s most accomplished Shakespearean actors, as well as a multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominee for her screen performances, which include Lady Caroline in Succession, Deborah in Ted Lasso, Dasha in Killing Eve, Lady Shackleton in Downton Abbey, and Clementine Churchill in The Crown.

Her decades with the Royal Shakespeare Company have seen her play most of Shakespeare’s leading women. Despite her immense admiration for Shakespeare’s mind, words and empathy for his female characters, the fact remains that his women rarely take centre stage, have far fewer lines, and their function in the plot is solely in relation to a man.

So began a project that would become She Speaks!: What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said. In it, she imagines in ‘Shakespearean’ verse and prose what, with more lines and stage time, we’d have heard the Bard’s leading women say. What did Gertrude long to say about her husband (Hamlet)? Why did Lady Macbeth feel she deserved to be Queen (Macbeth)? What did Juliet's nurse feel after Juliet’s death (Romeo & Juliet), and how did Olivia’s crush cause her to question her sexuality (Twelfth Night)?

She sits down with Jennifer Ward-Lealand to discuss her brilliant career, reflect on a life embedded in Shakespeare’s work, and perform her fresh takes on his women’s words.

David Nicholls | 18 May 2025 | 10:00am – 11:00am | Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre

Author of the phenomenally bestselling One Day David Nicholls had quite the year in 2024 with the “note perfect” (BBC) Netflix adaptation introducing his smash-hit novel  to a whole new generation of readers. His new novel You Are Here became the biggest-selling hardback release of his career. And prizes and praise rolled in: winning the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction 2024 and having the New York Times refer to it as “captivating” and The Sunday Times “a triumph”.

A will-they-or-won’t-they love story between two unlikely mid-lifers hiking the Northumberland coast path, it’s a novel of first encounters, second chances and finding the way home.

The Scene of the Crime | Ian Rankin, Dervla McTiernan, Chris Whitaker & Michael Bennett | 16 May 2025 | 10:00am – 11:00am | Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre

Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) – whose Māori detective-led Hana Westerman series is set in Aotearoa but has enjoyed a strong international reception – chats to the globe-spanning panel about how place and culture are reflected in their books. The “King of Tartan Noir” Ian Rankin is read eagerly across countries, cultures and languages, Chris Whitaker’s crime epics focus in on the darkness found in vast American landscapes and Irish crime writer Dervla McTiernan continues to set much of her work in her native Ireland, despite having called Australia home for the last 15 years. They’ll discuss the universal appeal of crime writing beyond borders and the art of conveying place, even from thousands of miles away.

Landmark LGBTQ+ Literature | Alan Hollinghurst, Chris Tse, Torrey Peters & Ngahuia te Awekotuku | 17 May 2025 | 11:30am – 12:30pm |Hunua Room, Aotea Centre

This panel brings together New Zealand and international authors to discuss propelling LGBTQ+ narratives into the literary mainstream. Featuring major British novelist Alan Hollinghurst (The Swimming Pool Library), Aotearoa New Zealand’s Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku (Tahuri) and US author Torrey Peters (Detransition, Baby) they join Chris Tse to reflect on their respective landmark works; discuss what they capture of their time and contexts; and consider literature’s role in responding to or shaping social attitudes to queer life.

Brannavan Gnanalingam: How to Write Your Book | Sun, 18 May 2025 | 1:00pm – 2:30pm | Waihorotiu Room, Level 4, Aotea Centre

Have an idea for a book but not sure how to start? Or made a start but a creative block or just the busyness of life getting in your way?

Luckily, we have Brannavan Gnanalingam (The Life and Opinions of Kartik Popat) – author of eight published books, as well as being a full-time practicing lawyer and family man – on hand to help.

In this workshop you’ll hear about ways to get your book written around life’s other commitments, and how to uncover your own process as you move from first draft to the final iteration.

A New Light | 15 May 2025 | 6:45am – 5:10pm | Various locations throughout the City Centre

From filing through the city on early Festival mornings with the fizz of anticipation for what’s ahead; to the satisfied journey home at the end of each day, filled with new ideas, stories and connections, the festival sets in motion a beautiful reverberation of words and fresh perspectives throughout the city.

To celebrate the city of stories that Tāmaki becomes during AWF, award-winning designer Marcus McShane will weave his bike-bound projector through the city’s streets and alleyways, casting on to its architecture Festival writers’ words that capture the beauty of daybreak and nightfall, each festival day.

This is a cycle-led projection route around the inner city that can be followed at walking pace. The full route will last about 1 hour, and attendees are welcome to join for its entirety, or drop in/out. Projection locations will be announced closer to the Festival.

“A New Light” will project speakers’ words around the city each daybreak and nightfall; BAFTA-nominated spoken word poet, activist and performer Lemn Sissay will start Saturday with his rousing “Let the Light Pour In” performance, and evening salons of spoken word, spicy stories and dark tales will keep crowds entertained until late.

PUKAPUKA ADVENTURES | 17 May 2025 | 5th Floor Aotea Centre

The entirely free PUKAPUKA ADVENTURES will include readings from beloved children’s authors, playtime sessions and workshops for young children alongside their parents. There is also a ticketed family offering, which includes, for the first time, a special gala night just for young bookworms and a chance for children to put their burning questions to author of the eternally popular Treehouse Series Andy Griffiths and Morrigan Crow bestseller Jessica Townsend.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Digital Session | 18 MAY 2025 | 11:30am – 12:30pm | Hunua Room, Aotea Centre

 All events are live and in-person except for two digital sessions, which will give attendees the opportunity to hear from Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, beaming in from New York to discuss her first novel in a decade. The announcement that major Nigerian novelist and activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was releasing her first novel in more than a decade set the book world abuzz, with international, national and local outlets naming it as a literary event of the year. And in this digital session, she will discuss the new novel Dream Count, set across America and Nigeria, that explores four women linked by friendship reckoning with their shared loves, regrets and desires.

Becky Manawatu: Getting the First Draft Down | 16 May 2025 | 5:00pm – 6:30pm | Waihorotiu Room, Level 4, Aotea Centre

The best advice for a writer is to write, write, write.

But in this day and age, with so much competing for our attention, you need to be wildly compelled to invest the time and work in writing projects that promise nothing in return.

How do you create something, using only your imagination, language, laptop or pen, that will pull you back to the writing desk, time after time, and cut through all the noise and competing demands?

How do you inject enough life into your first pages to sustain the momentum required to get to the finished first draft? Join the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction winner for Auē and Ockham NZ Book Awards longlisted for Kataraina author Becky Manawatu (Ngāi Tahu) for a masterclass on remaining focused on your work and getting your first draft down.

STREETSIDE | 9 MAY 2025 | 6pm-8pm | Britomart (Various Locations)

Last year the festival took to the city streets to spread stories, creativity and joy at STREETSIDE, the Friday night festival featuring slam poets, readings, performances and more in Britomart.

But this year, there’ll be a little change to its programming… this year’s STREETSIDE will serve as a pre-Festival opener, taking place on the earlier date of Friday 9 May, all so we can soak up as much festival fun as possible out in the city streets without the FOMO of wondering whether to be on site or in Britomart for it on the Festival’s Friday night.

This year, mark your diaries for Friday 9 May – a whole week earlier - as Tāmaki Makaurau’s writers, storytellers, musicians and more take over BRITOMART for a riotous evening of words and creativity and declare the city ‘open’ for the packed bookish days ahead.

It’s energetic, it’s surprising, it’s fun, and it’s a dedicated celebration of our city’s incredible artistic scene that’s free and open to all to be part of.

Look out for the programme being released in April to plan your route through the evening or just turn up and join the ride!

For the full programme of events, click here