New Zealand Literature

Poet Laureate Chris Tse curates a selection of recent books by Aotearoa’s East and South East Asian writers to mark Lunar New Year.

Charlotte Yates explores the history of her series of musical collaborations between contemporary composers and the work of New Zealand's finest writers at the 2021 Going West Festival. Audio

Jane Mander is best known for her 1920 novel The Story of a New Zealand River, widely thought to be the underlying narrative for Jane Campion's film The Piano. The daughter of an MP, sawmiller and… Audio

Multi award-winning New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey is just about to release a new book, Remote Sympathy. It's her sixth book - earlier novels In a Fishbone Church, Golden Deeds, and The Wish… Audio

Fiction writer, critic, essayist, art curator and former NZ Poet Laureate, Ian Wedde has a new book out. The Reed Warbler is his eighth novel and is being billed as a masterpiece. A work of fiction… Audio

New Zealand journalist and award-winning author Maurice Shadbolt believed New Zealanders should tell their own stories - and now his story is being told in Life as a Novel: A biography of Maurice… Audio

The winner of the inaugural Michael Gifkins Prize for an unpublished novel was announced in Auckland at the Auckland Writers' Festival on May 19. The winner receives a publishing contract with Text… Audio

Professor Lydia Wevers is a literary historian and critic awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature. She tells us about her new book and why she's so fascinated with New… Audio

The first ever bilingual publication of 25 of New Zealand’s best poems translated into Chinese, with a huge potential readership in China, is launched with a tea ceremony, calligraphy and readings. Audio, Gallery