Archived: Auckland Writers Festival

The 2025 Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi O Tāmaki reveals one of the starriest lineups in years, inviting New Zealanders to spend a week with the world’s most interesting people.

The festival takes over the Aotea Centre and select venues across the city for one week only, Tuesday 13 – Sunday 18 May 2025.

For 26 years Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki has showcased some of the world’s most celebrated storytellers and thinkers. This May, 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.

As well as authors talks, discussions debating the latest global issues and masterclasses on everything from writing comedy to crafting historical fiction, there’s a new emphasis on bringing literature to life in unique ways. That’s well-covered this year with audiences able to enjoy the rare opportunity to share a theatre with eminent Irish writer and recent Fiction Laureate Colm Tóibín; 2025 Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey; British actress and author Dame Harriet Walter DBE; major US novelist of Leave the World Behind and Entitlement Rumaan Alam; author of the phenomenally bestselling One Day David Nicholls; Catherine Chidgey in her first event for The Book of Guilt, as well as the 2025 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction champion in their first appearance after winning.

Sir Ian Rankin, the multimillion-copy worldwide bestseller and creator of John Rebus, will take the stage, as will recent crime writer phenomenon Chris Whitaker. The programme is rich in translated literature too, with leading Latin American horror writer Mariana Enriquez; Japan’s Sayaka Murata, Booker shortlisted author of The Safekeep from The Netherlands, Yael van der Wouden, as well as writers from South Korea, France, Tahiti, Canada and the UAE appearing.

Festival director, Lyndsey Fineran, likens the Festival experience to “a great book shop brought to life” where visitors can wander over to the different areas of the site that pique their interest. The Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki has an outstanding global reputation – it is the biggest festival of its kind (per capita) in the Southern Hemisphere – and brings audiences from all over the country, and the world, to Tāmaki Makaurau in May. It’s one of Aotearoa’s most beloved, and attended, cultural experiences. Last year surpassed all previous Festivals, with record-breaking attendances of more than 85,000.

Public tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster or by calling 0800 111 999. The event is designed to be accessible and welcoming, with more than 25% of the festival events free of charge.

The festival is for everyone who wants to experience what books are capable of: opening a world of wonder.

See the full programme here.