Festival News

News
New Zealand Young Writers Fest 2024!
New Zealand Young Writers Fest 2024!

Running from 13th to 15th September here in Ōtepoti/Dunedin, the NZYWF is back, celebrating their 10 year Birthday this year, with an amazing line up!

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Board of Trustees Vacancy
Board of Trustees Vacancy

We are still on the hunt to fill a vacancy on our Board of Trustees. If you live in Ōtepoti and like reading and reading (and reading), then this is the job for you.

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Come and Work With Us!
Come and Work With Us!

The Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival is currently looking to fill two positions. A Bookkeeper & Board Administrator, as well as a vacancy on the Board of Trustees. If you want to find out more about either of these, you can download the info pack here!

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2025 Dates Announced!
2025 Dates Announced!

Book lovers and literary fans, mark your calendars - the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival will be back for 2025, running over the weekend of the 17th - 19th October!

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Dunedin Writers & Readers

The Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival is a celebration of writers, readers, ideas and all things literature. You’ll love this festival if you enjoy library shelves stacked with treasure, discussing books with avid readers, being part of big conversations and expanding your horizons. Join with like-minded book lovers as we gather around the ancient fire of story.

Our city is a stronghold of indigenous story in Te Waipounamu, mai rā anō (since long ago). It is a UNESCO City of Literature, the home of Aotearoa’s first university, built on a bedrock of letters, poetry and prose crafted for us by generations of storytellers. A literary festival has been part of that heritage for more than 30 years.

Behind the scenes

The Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival (DWRF) started a new chapter in 2023 with the recruitment of Kitty Brown (Ngāi Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) as Festival Director, Jen Stokes as Associate Director, four new Trustees and a fundraising manager.

How to support us

The are many ways of supporting a mighty non-profit organisation like the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival.

Dunedin Writers Festival

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If you're in Pōneke this weekend, go hang out with our festival whānau @verb_wellington! What an amazing line up they have for you, starting tomorrow ⚡ Full to the brim with writers, readers, poets and creatives, check out the full programme here:
Don't miss your chance to see the award-winning Prima Facie by Suzie Miller! An Ōtepoti Exclusive, produced and directed by Lara Macgregor and starring Serena Cotton, this electrifying Tony award-winning play is an unforgettable one-woman tour de for
It was Hone Tuwhare's birthday this week 🥳 Why not celebrate and take an imaginative visit to Hone's crib at Kākā Point, conjured by the reflections and responses of poets, artists and the Tuwhare Creative Residency. With your guides Jeanette Wika
📣 On this weekend! The Hocken Collections is hosting a slide talk by Wellington-based writer and editor Helen Beaglehole about her latest book 'Light and Reflections: The house and the art in our lives', with photography by Matthew O'Reilly. Helen
This Saturday, as part of the Ōtepoti Dunedin Heritage Festival, you can snoop around the basement of the Athenaeum Library @dunedinathenaeumlibrary (book your tickets at the link below), then head out to a dramatic reading of The Hunting of the Snar
Applications are now open for the @universitybookshopotago Summer Writer in Residence in Association with Robert Lord Writers' Cottage Trust Award. Applications close on the 6th October for a residency in January and February 2025, in line with the
Mānawatia te reo! Maimoatia te reo! Tairangatia te reo! Kia kaha te reo Māori 😍 Sign up and show your support for Māori Language Week Te Wiki o te Reo Māori! For more ideas on how to celebrate Ake Ake Ake, a Forever Language, head on over to www.re
Help us welcome Joy Cowley to Ōtepoti!! Joy recently moved to our beautiful city AND is releasing a new book 'A Lot of Silly: A Book of Rhymes and Nonsense'. You're invited to celebrate the launch of her book on Sunday 29th September at 4.30pm -

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