The Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival (abbreviated as DWRF) is a literary festival held in Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. Since its inception in 2014, there have been in total six festivals, including a special Celtic Noir event in 2019. The event is based mainly at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery but utilises

Toitū Otago Settlers Museum The Toitū Otago Settlers Museum is a regional history museum in Dunedin, New Zealand. Its brief covers the territory of the old Otago Province, that is, New Zealand from the Waitaki River south, though its main focus is the city of Dunedin. It i ...

, the Otago Pioneer Women's Memorial Hall, the Dunedin Central Library and in 2021 the central live music venue Dog with Two Tails. Festival events include talks, book launches, workshops, a storytrain or storybus, and in some years the unveiling of a new plaque on the

Dunedin Writers' Walk The Dunedin Writers' Walk is a series of 25 commemorative plaques in the upper Octagon area of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. The plaques were installed to honour and celebrate the lives and works of writers with a Dunedin connection, many of ...

. In 2020 Hannah Molloy replaced Claire Finlayson as director of the festival.

Event history

The inaugural festival was held in May 2014, with events following in 2015, 2017, two in 2019, and then 2021. Previous to the establishment of the festival, there was a writers' event in Dunedin called Wordstruck!. Wordstruck! began as a writers' week initiated by playwright Roger Hall in 1989, and then ran biennially for almost 15 years; it may have been New Zealand's first writers' week.

2014 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

The inaugural festival ran from Friday 9 May to Sunday 11 May 2014, and had a line-up including Alexander McCall Smith,

Huw Lewis-Jones Huw Lewis-Jones (born 2 May 1980) is a British historian, editor, broadcaster and art director. Formerly a historian and Curator of Art at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Lewis-Jones left Cambridge in June 2010 to pur ...

Janice Galloway Janice Galloway (born 1955 in Saltcoats, Scotland) is a Scottish writer of novels, short stories, prose-poetry, non-fiction and libretti. Biography She is the second daughter of James Galloway and Janet Clark McBride. Her parents separated w ...

Nigel Leask Nigel James Leask (born 1958) is a Scottish academic publishing on Romanticism, Romantic, Scottish literature, Scottish, and Anglo-Indian literature, with special interest on British Empire, Orientalism, and Travel writing. He has been Regius Pro ...

, Eleanor Catton, Majella Cullinane,

Kate de Goldi Kate De Goldi (born 1959) is a New Zealand novelist, children's writer and short story writer. Her early work was published under the pseudonym Kate Flannery. Early life De Goldi was born in Christchurch in 1959. She is of mixed Irish and Italia ...

and

Julie Le Clerc Julie Le Clerc is a New Zealand food writer, chef, caterer, restaurateur and a presenter on TV food shows. Biography Le Clerc grew up in the Auckland suburb of Westmere. Her mother Loraine made and iced wedding cakes as a cottage industry, and ...

. Almost every event sold out. The first Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival in 2014 coincided with Dunedin's bid to become a

UNESCO City of Literature UNESCO's City of Literature programme is part of the wider Creative Cities Network. The ''Network'' was launched in 2004, and now has member cities in seven creative fields. The other creative fields are: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gas ...

2015 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

The success of Dunedin's bid to become a City of Literature was announced in November 2014. The 2015 festival ran 5–10 May, and included a series of literary lunches, workshops on romance, intellectual property, and writing for young adults, a "speed date an author" event, a centenary lecture recital for W.B Yeats, and a Janet Frame memorial lecture given by Daphne Clair de Jong. A plaque to writer Dan Davin was unveiled on the Dunedin Writers' Walk. The Fortune Theatre hosted a stage adaptation of '' Mrs Dalloway'', performed by Rebecca Vaughan. Guests included

Damian Barr Damian Leighton Barr (born 20 July 1976) is a Scottish writer and broadcaster. He is the creator and host of the Literary Salon, which started at Shoreditch House in 2008, and he hosts live literary events worldwide. In 2014 and 2015, he prese ...

Liam McIlvanney Liam McIlvanney is a Scottish-born crime fiction writer and academic at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and the inaugural holder of the Stuart Chair in Scottish studies at Otago. He is the son of William McIlvanney. Works Fiction *''All t ...

Anna Smaill Anna Smaill (born April 1979) is a New Zealand poet and novelist, and a former violinist. Early life and education Smaill was born in Auckland in 1979. She started playing the violin aged seven. She studied musical performance at the University ...

, Majella Cullinane, Nick Davies and Patricia Grace.

2017 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

The 2017 event ran from 9 May to 14 May. It included, according to Grant Smithies, "more laureates than you could shake a stick at", with over 80 writers, illustrators, performers and other guests. International speakers included Ian Rankin,

Stella Duffy Stella Frances Silas Duffy (born 1963) is a London-born writer and theatremaker. Born in London, she spent her childhood in New Zealand before returning to the UK. Early life and education Born in London in 1962 to a New Zealand father and an ...

, Hannah Kent,

Miranda Carter Miranda Carter (born 1965) is an English historian, writer and biographer who also publishes fiction under the name MJ Carter.Jake Kerridge ''The Telegraph'', 23 April 2015. Education Carter was educated at St Paul's Girls School and Exeter Col ...

and John Lanchester, alongside Bill Manhire,

Victor Rodger Victor John Rodger (born 1969) is a New Zealand journalist, actor and award-winning playwright
La Mama Theatre, N ...

, and

Catherine Chidgey Catherine Chidgey (born 8 April 1970) is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer and university lecturer. Her honours include the inaugural Prize in Modern Letters; the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship to Menton, France; Best First Book at bot ...

. British actress Rebecca Vaughan performed the one-woman play ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'', written by Elton Townend Jones. There were 36 events, including workshops, panel sessions, poetry readings, theatrical performances, and book launches.

2019 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

The 2019 event ran from 9 May to 12 May and included more than 60 writers. International guests included

John Boyne John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish novelist. He is the author of eleven novels for adults and six novels for younger readers. His novels are published in over 50 languages. His 2006 novel ''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'' was adapte ...

; UK hip-hop artist and author Akala, French picture-book author-illustrators Eric Veillé and Clotilde Perrin, novelist

Markus Zusak Markus Zusak (born 23 June 1975) is an Australian writer with Austrian and German roots. He is best known for ''The Book Thief'' and '' The Messenger'' (US title: ''I Am the Messenger''), two novels which became international bestsellers. ...

, feminist author Clementine Ford and Australian Children's Laureate Morris Gleitzman.

2019 Celtic Noir Festival

The 10–13 October inaugural Celtic Noir Festival featured a workshop on how to plot a thriller by Liam McIlvanney,

Fiona Kidman Dame Fiona Judith Kidman ( Eakin, born 26 March 1940) is a New Zealand novelist, poet, scriptwriter and short story writer. She grew up in Northland, and worked as a librarian and a freelance journalist early in her career. She began writing ...

talking about her true crime novel ''This Mortal Boy'',

Adrian McKinty Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish writer of crime and mystery novels and young adult fiction, best known for his 2020 award-winning thriller, ''The Chain'', and the Sean Duffy novels set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. He is a winner ...

, Liz Nugent and

Vanda Symon Vanda Symon (born 1969) is a crime writer and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the Chair of the Otago Southland Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. Three of her novels have been shortlisted for New Zealand's annual Ngaio Mar ...

, and Val McDermid, who was the Visiting Professor of Scottish Studies and Crime Fiction at the University of Otago.

2021 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

Hannah Parry and Elizabeth Knox at DWRF 2021

Due to the closure of New Zealand's borders for COVID-19, the 2021 festival featured only New Zealand-based speakers, with 55 guests over 35 events and five venues, Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin Central Library, Otago Pioneer Women's Memorial Hall, and cafe bar Dog with Two Tails. The story train that had featured at previous festivals was replaced with a story bus, departing from Dunedin Botanic Garden. Speakers included

Witi Ihimaera Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler (; born 7 February 1944) is a New Zealand author. Raised in the small town of Waituhi, he decided to become a writer as a teenager after being convinced that Māori people were ignored or mischaracterised in literat ...

Elizabeth Knox Elizabeth Fiona Knox (born 15 February 1959) is a New Zealand writer. She has authored several novels for both adults and teenagers, autobiographical novellas, and a collection of essays. One of her best-known works is ''The Vintner's Luck'' ( ...

, Nalini Singh, Vincent O'Sullivan, and Liz Breslin. During the festival, a new plaque on the

was unveiled, honouring romance writer Essie Summers.

2023 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

The theme for the 2023 event, which ran 13–15 October, was “Te Pūao - the place where the river meets the sea”. It marked fifty years of publishing by

, and 145 years since Katherine Mansfield's birth. The festival director was Kitty Brown ( Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe). The development of the programme involved two Māori curators for the first time, law professor Jacinta Ruru and history professor

Angela Wanhalla Angela Cheryl Wanhalla is a professor of history at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Her book about interracial marriage in New Zealand won the 2014 Ernest Scott Prize. Wanhalla was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi i ...

. The opening event was a powhiri at Ōtākou Marae, followed by a conversation between Ihimaera, Linda Tuhiwai Smith and

Monty Soutar Monty Glyn Soutar (born 1961) is a New Zealand historian and author. Early life and education Soutar lived in Ruatoria, Kawerau and Palmerston North as a child. He then attended Hato Paora College, which he credits for instilling pride in aca ...

. Other events included a 'soapbox poetry' event on election day, themed around politics. Featured writers and speakers included

Coco Solid Coco Solid (born Jessica Hansell in Auckland, New Zealand) is an emcee, writer, artist, director and producer. She is of Māori, Pacific and German heritage. Her musical style is a mixture of hip hop, disco and electronica. She created the a ...

, Chris Tse,

Emma Espiner Emma Espiner (née Wehipeihana) is a New Zealand broadcaster and political commentator. In 2020, she won Opinion Writer of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards. Biography Espiner grew up in Wellington. Her mother, Colleen Smith, was a feminist ...

David Eggleton David Eggleton (born 1952) is a New Zealand poet, critic and writer. Eggleton has been awarded the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for poetry and in 2019 was appointed New Zealand Poet Laureate, a title he held until 2022. Eggleton's work has app ...

Emily Writes Emily Writes is the pen-name of a New Zealand parenting writer based in Wellington. She has published two books on parenting, one of which has been adapted as a play. Biography Writes published her first piece of writing on her blog in March 201 ...

Fiona Farrell Fiona Farrell (born 1947) is a New Zealand poet, fiction and non-fiction writer and playwright. Early years and education Fiona Farrell was born and raised in Oamaru, in the South Island of New Zealand. She attended Waitaki Girls' High Sc ...

Leonie Pihama Leonie Eileen Pihama (born 1962) is a New Zealand kaupapa Māori academic. Career Pihama was born in 1962. She wrote her 1993 master's thesis at the University of Auckland with the title ''Tungia te ururua, kia tupu whakaritorito te tupu o t ...

, and

Ihumātao Ihumātao is an archeological site of historic importance in the suburb of Māngere, Auckland. Once a pā site, it stands on the Ihumātao Peninsula, at the base of Ōtuataua, part of the Auckland volcanic field. Its scoria cone reaches above ...

activist Qiane Matata-Sipu.

References

Festivals in Dunedin Literary festivals in New Zealand New Zealand writers {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival