Our Writers at Auckland Writers Festival 2024
What's On - Moa Press What's On - Little Moa
Saraid de Silva
Saraid de Silva is a Sri Lankan Pakeha writer and creative based in Tamaki Makaurau. She is the co-creator and co-host of Radio New Zealand's Conversations with My Immigrant Parents, a podcast and video series in which immigrant whanau across Aotearoa have frank conversations about love, ancestry, home, food, expectation and acceptance.
Saraid was a contributor to A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand, and her work has been featured in The Spinoff, Fashion Quarterly, Pantograph Punch and Tupuranga Journal.
EVENTS
WRITING ACROSS GENERATIONS
SAT, 18 MAY 2024: 10:00am - 11:00am
Waitākere Room, Aotea Centre
Shilo Kino
Shilo Kino (Ngā Puhi, Tainui) is a Newsroom columnist and a contributor to The NZ Herald, The Spinoff, The Pantograph Punch and The Guardian. She is taking an immersion te reo Māori course and making the podcast Back To Kura, and is the author of children’s book The Pōrangi Boy. All That We Know is her second book. She currently lives in Tamaki Makaurau.
EVENTS
STORIES TO SAVE LANGUAGES
FRI, 17 MAY 2024: 2:30Pm - 3:30Pm
Limelight Room, Aotea Centre
Kate Evans
Kate Evans is an award-winning journalist and nature writer from New Zealand. Her work has been published in The Guardian, The Observer, Scientific American, National Geographic, Undark, and BioGraphic. She is a regular contributor to New Zealand Geographic magazine and has won multiple national media awards for science and environmental journalism and feature writing. She has also worked as a television producer and video journalist for the BBC, ABC, TVNZ, and the Washington Post, reporting from West Africa, Indonesia, the Whanganui River and the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.
EVENTS
A FEIJOAN LUNCH
WED, 15 MAY 2024: 12:30Pm - 2:30Pm
Origine,Commercial Bay Level 2/172 Quay Street, Auckland CBD
Olivia Spooner
The Girl From London is Olivia's first historical fiction novel. Olivia has completed a number of writing courses, including a Masters in Creative Writing at AUT and has had several short stories published.
Olivia lives with her husband and three children in Auckland, NZ, and runs independent bookstore The Booklover Bookshop in the seaside suburb of Milford. She is the host of the Booklover Banter podcast where she chats with other booksellers, authors, publishers and others working in the book industry.
EVENTS
HERSTORY: BRINGING WOMEN OF THE PAST TO LIFE
SAT, 18 MAY 2024: 11:30am - 12:30pm
Waitākere Room, Aotea Centre
Airana Ngarewa
Born and raised in Pātea - Poi E Country, Airana Ngarewa (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru, Ngāruahine) is the author of the bestselling novel The Bone Tree. He won the short story and poetry competitions at the Ronald Hugh Morrieson Literary Awards in 2022.
EVENTS
WRITING THE NEW ZEALAND MAN: A NEW ERA
FRI, 17 MAY 2024: 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Limelight Room, Aotea Centre
HOW TO SURVIVE TE ARA KI TE ORA
SAT, 18 MAY 2024: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Hunua Room, Aotea Centre
Sam Smith
Sam Smith is a bestselling writer, comedian, and former-dentist. He pivoted from dentistry to comedy after a MS diagnosis caused him to partially lose his vision. He is a head writer for the TV show 7 Days, creates the tasks for Taskmaster NZ, and wrote for Wellington Paranormal. He is the go-to audience warm-up act for many shows including Dancing With the Stars, The Project, Have You Been Paying Attention? and Patriot Brains.
EVENTS
DON'T SCARE THE DENTIST!
SUN, 19 MAY 2024: 10:30am - 12:00pm
5th Floor - Activities Galore
