• CNZ IIML Writer in Residence 2025 – open for applications

    Writer in Residence The Writer in Residence is an annual appointment to foster New Zealand writing, with support from Creative New Zealand. Applications are now open for the 2025 position, with a deadline of 30 September 2024. This is a full-year residency. About the residency The Writer in Residence appointment is jointly funded by Te […]

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  • Call for judges of the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards

    June 7th 2024   It may be one of the most rewarding reading jobs in the country: judging Aotearoa’s annual national book awards. Now, potential candidates for the role are being asked to put their hands up as the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards open the call for expressions of interest in being one of […]

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  • National Flash Fiction shortlists 2024

    The 2024 NFFD Short List! Readers can find the NFFD Short List on our site today. NFFD  invites everyone to attend an event near you on June 22 and come hear the best small stories in Aotearoa! All info about this competition is posted at the NFFD site, here. The youth lists are announced and […]

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  • Local New Zealand publisher Exisle Publishing launches the international Children’s Publishing Academy with a writing competition

      Dunedin-based book publisher Exisle Publishing has launched an international Children’s Publishing Academy aimed at supporting budding children’s book authors. The Children’s Publishing Academy provides a forum where authors can have the opportunity to learn from a leading children’s publishing professional as well as from other published authors. ‘Breaking through as a children’s author is […]

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  • BIG NAMES FEATURE ON NATIONAL CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD SHORTLIST

    For immediate release, Thursday 6 June 2024 Books that will delight and inform – from big names such as Joy Cowley, Gavin Bishop, Stacy Gregg, Tessa Duder and Donovan Bixley as well as talented newcomers – have been announced today as finalists in the 2024 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The […]

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  • $25,000 CLNZ NZSA Writers’ Award 2024 OPENS

    The CLNZ | NZSA Writers’ Award of $25,000 is one of the highest value non-fiction prizes in New Zealand literature, and is now open for applications.   He $25,000 te nui o te Karāti Kaituhi o te CLNZ me te NZSA, te karāti mātua mo ngā pakimaero-pono o ngā momo-tuhinga o Aotearoa. Ka taea e ngā […]

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  • The five regional winners of the 2024 Commonwealth Short Story Prize

    The Commonwealth Foundation is delighted to announce the five regional winners of the 2024 Commonwealth Short Story Prize: Reena Usha Rungoo (Mauritius) for the Africa region Sanjana Thakur (India) for the Asia region Julie Bouchard (Canada) for the Canada and Europe region (translated from French into English by Arielle Aaronson) Portia Subran (Trinidad and Tobago) for […]

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  • Emma Hughes wins Landfall Young Writers Essay comp 2024

     Emma Hughes has been announced as the 2024 Landfall Young Writers’ Essay Competition winner for her moving essay, ‘Fourteen Robyns’.   ‘Fourteen Robyns’ is a narrative essay about visiting a Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa clinic (formerly known as Family Planning) and witnessing the different lives that intersect in the emotionally charged space of the waiting room. […]

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  • Record-breaking attendance signals a new era for Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki

    May 20, 2024   The Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki has broken all attendance records, ushering in a bold and exciting new era for the Southern Hemisphere’s largest literary festival. Held at Auckland’s Aotea Centre from 14 – 19 May, attendance reached a record high of more than 85,000. The programme was designed to […]

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  • Announcing the Inaugural Mercedes Webb-Pullman Poetry Award

    New Zealand/Australian writer Mercedes Webb-Pullman died in Kapiti in July 2023. Mercedes’ family has decided to use any future royalties from her published works to fund an annual poetry award in her name, which in 2024 will be $500 NZD.   For this inaugural award, and in honour of Mercedes’ revolutionary spirit, entries are invited from […]

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  • Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel 2024 – Shortlist announcement!

    MEDIA RELEASE 17 May 2024 Text Publishing and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) are thrilled to announce the shortlist for the 2024 Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel. Four standout manuscripts by New Zealand writers have been shortlisted for this year’s prize: Beneath by J. […]

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  • Image of Tina Shaw announcing NZSA Shaw Writer's Award

    Applications open for a new award for New Zealand writers of fiction – $5,000

    The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) are proud to announce the launch of this new award which supports the completion and/or publication of new fiction by mid-career fiction writers from New Zealand. The NZSA Shaw Writer’s Award was established by novelist Tina Shaw to encourage the development of […]

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