Disclaimer: I’m really super biased — this was one of the coolest things I’ve ever had the privilege of being a part of.
The New Zealand Young Writers Festival celebrated its eleventh year in 2025. Beyond promoting the voices of young writers aged 15-35 over the weekend of September 13th, the festival team this year aimed to centre the festival in tikanga and Te ao Māori. Produced by Dunedin Fringe, NZYWF involved the usual public line up of workshops and panels, but for the first time it also included a wānaka held at Puketeraki Marae in Karitāne.
Selected young writers spent three days under a tuakana/teina model — combining peer mentorship, creative inspiration, and skill-building. Tuakana writers included Josiah Morgan, Ruby Macomber, Rauhina Scott-Fyfe, and Young Writer in Residence Nick Tipa who had the pleasure of spending two weeks writing at the Robert Lord Writers Cottage here in Ōtepoti.
“Over the past few years, the NZYWF has already felt like a giant wānaka for writers from across the country to converge in Ōtepoti,” Josiah noted before the festival. Making this into a reality with 20 young writers was hugely successful, and the community that emerged was beautiful to see, and even more beautiful to be a part of.
Learning about writing through a tikanga Māori lens was hugely important for me, as well as exploring ideas of context and history, both in terms of land and applying this to my own writing. This entire experience took me out of my comfort zone, and not just because I had to wake up at 6:30am for the sunrise instead of my usual noon. Learning and discussing forms of writing I hadn’t tried before, like poetry and personal essays, and discussing everything from habits to craft with people my own age was absolutely invaluable.
The writers there were abuzz with appreciation for the experience. Making space for creatives to “just be creatives” secluded from the outside world was especially important. “It was so special and so rare and such a privilege to be involved in,” said Helena Leon Mayer, one of the writers in attendance.
The weekend itself featured an evening of presenting writing to one another and events on slam poetry, personal narrative and whakapapa-based writing, zine-making, and a panel on publishing insights. Overall, it truly was a dynamic weekend of literary exploration.
“It's been such an incredible time. Every year we are so blown away by the talent and passion of the next generation of literary talent in Aotearoa,” commented Fringe Co-Director and Creative Producer Kate Schrader. “This year was no exception.” The whole team at Fringe were absolutely incredible, especially Kate, Katrina Thomson, and Ruth Harvey.
Te Awhirēinga, who performed her work for the first time during the wānaka and later became the Slam Poetry Champion, encouraged, “Do all the things you haven’t done before because there is a beautiful community here that can catch you if anything goes wrong. Practice your art, whatever it is. Even if you’re new at it, keep it alive.”
To get sappy for a moment, being surrounded by so much passion and talent – especially among young artists – was a seriously special opportunity. It reminded me that young people are good for more than just fighting over Electric Ave tickets (I admit I made my friends do this for me on my behalf). We created a community in which we could share and create freely, and we would all encourage everyone to take opportunities like this in their own fields because it is absolutely irreplaceable.
The importance of the wānaka was reinforced by comments throughout the cohort of the current arts climate in Aotearoa and abroad, under threat from cuts to funding and the impending threat of generative AI to creative careers. But while the kōrero has focused on the resources and productivity aspects of the arts, the wānaka highlighted community and the joy of collaborative creation. “We've had the opportunity to create together. There should be more opportunities like this, they’re so valuable. Keep funding the arts please, please, please,” said one of my peers. Core funders Creative New Zealand, The Otago Community Trust, and The Dunedin City Council were instrumental
in making sure this event went ahead the way it did — with every event free to attend. UNESCO City of Literature, Southern Cross, and Otago University School of Humanities, and every other partner that made this festival happen deserve a shout out for helping to power the vision of a festival by young writers for young writers.
If you missed the memo on this festival, podcasts of the events will be released soon, and the Dunedin Writers and Readers festival is on the 17th-19th of October — a nice break before launching into exam prep. Now more than ever, we need art, and we need young people to keep engaging with art. Poet Laureate Robert Sullivan put it best (as expected) at the wānaka, “It’s nice to meet you all. And to know you exist.”