NZYWF 2024_Programme_FINAL_DIGITAL

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CORE FUNDERS

SUPPORTERS & PARTNERS

MAJOR SPONSORS

ROBERT LORD

WRITERS

COTTAGE

TRUST

Tukua atu te hiku o te taniwha ki tana

wai e rere nei – Release your hold on

the tail of the taniwha so that it may

roam free in the flowing water.

Guided by one of my favourite

whakataukī, my curatorship for this

year’s NZ Young Writers Fest (NZYWF)

aimed to honour the various ways we

arrive on the page, stage and screen:

the big feelings, the villages beside

us, the narratives passed and those

that will persist long after us.

My arrival at the page was in response

to immense grief. Seven years later,

writing is still one of the few practices

where I feel inextricably human —

loss, joy, fear, love, love, love. I invite

attendees to this year’s festival to

really lean into that last one! Loosen

your grip on the products of your

creative endeavours and celebrate the

messiness of the process, the unlikely

connections, and the mana in your own

narrative whakapapa.

Ngā mihi nui ki Ngāi Tahu for holding

each creative who has made this

kaupapa possible.

Enjoy the 2024 NZ Young Writers Fest!

Mauri ora,

Ruby Macomber (Rotuma, Ngāpuhi)

NAU MAI, HAERE MAI

FROM GUEST CURATOR

RUBY MACOMBER

ABOUT

This year the NZ Young Writers Fest

turns 10! Proudly produced by Dunedin

Fringe, NZ Young Writers Fest (NZYWF)

uplifts the voices of young writers aged

15-35 and celebrates a diverse range of

wordsmithing. The festival is the only

literary festival in Aotearoa focused

solely on young writers.

We invite you to take part: from youth

to art and literature loving adults, all are

welcome to celebrate Aotearoa’s next

generation of literary talent.

FESTIVAL

INFORMATION

All festival events are FREE, or you can

‘Pay What You Want’ when booking a

ticket to support the festival. All ‘Pay

What You Want’ tickets directly support

Dunedin Fringe to continue offering the

festival in future years, to pay our artists

fairly, and to keep NZYWF accessible and

affordable so everyone can take part.

Whatever ticket you choose, we highly

recommend booking. Festival venues

and workshops have limited spaces.

Events are tagged by event type:

Conversation; Workshop;

Performance; Walk and Talk; and

Conversation/Workshop if a discussion

is followed by a participatory workshop.

Some events will be recorded as podcasts.

You can access the podcasts on Otago

Access Radio’s website (oar.org.nz) or on

our NZYWF website, after the festival.

Heartfelt thanks to the UNESCO Dunedin

City of Literature and Otago Access Radio

for making these podcasts possible.

ACCESSIBILITY

Venue accessibility information is

listed in the Festival Venues section

and on our website. We welcome mask

wearing during all festival activities,

and if you’re feeling unwell, please stay

home. If you have other accessibility

requirements, please get in touch:

look@youngwritersfest.nz

PRIVACY

We’ll ask for your contact information

when you’re making bookings so we

can contact you if there are changes or

cancellations to the event you’ve booked.

Please note: events will be photographed

for festival marketing purposes.

Book at

youngwritersfest.nz

New Zealand Young Writers Festival is a

Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust project.

Instagram

@NZYoungWritersFest

Facebook

@nzyoungwritersfest

Phone: +64 3 477 3350

Email: look@youngwritersfest.nz

Website: youngwritersfest.nz

FESTIVAL STAFF

Craig Birch-Morunga (Ngāpuhi,

Te Rarawa) - Videographer

Jessica Sutherland-Latton (Kāi Tahu,

Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Ngāti Porou,

Kāti Pākehā) - Kaupapa Māori Liaison

Kate Schrader - Co-Director

Katrina Thomson - Operations

Lil della Porta - Marketing &

Communications Manager

Meghan Ironmonger - Marketing

& Production Assistant

Ruby Macomber

(Rotuma, Ngāpuhi) - Guest Curator

Ruth Harvey - Co-Director

Sahara Pohatu-Trow

(Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whaoa, Ngāti

Kahungunu) - Production Manager

Festival branding and programme

Annah & Colour

MAILING LIST

dunedinfringe.nz/subscribe to hear more

about all Dunedin Fringe’s awesome

year-round programming!

Photo by Armstrong Photography

MAIN FESTIVAL

VENUES:

Te Whare o Rukutia

20 Princes St, Central Dunedin:

Wheelchair accessible; accessible,

gender-neutral bathrooms

Writers Lounge

@ Dunedin Community Gallery

26 Princes St, Central Dunedin:

Wheelchair accessible; accessible,

gender-neutral bathrooms

FESTIVAL VENUES

ADDITIONAL VENUES:

Blue Oyster Project Space

16 Dowling St, Central Dunedin:

Two steps up to the gallery, bathrooms

are not wheelchair accessible

Approx 4 minutes walk from main

festival venues

Dunedin Public Art Gallery

30 The Octagon, Central Dunedin:

Wheelchair accessible;

accessible bathrooms

Approx 1 minute walk from main

festival venues

Fringe HQ

19 George St, Central Dunedin:

Wheelchair accessible, gender-neutral

bathrooms are up steps

Approx 2 minutes walk from main

festival venues

New Athenaeum Theatre (the NAT)

23 The Octagon, Central Dunedin

(entrance down a corridor between

Thistle and The Craic):

Wheelchair accessible; accessible,

gender-neutral bathrooms

Approx 1 minute walk from main

festival venues

St Hilda’s Collegiate School Music Room

Access via 2 Cobden St, Central Dunedin:

Wheelchair accessible;

accessible bathrooms

Approx 18 minutes walk from main

festival venues via Filleul St

UNIVERSITY

BOOK SHOP STALL

A book stall featuring the

publications of this year’s

presenters – hosted by our

friends at University Book Shop

– will be open in Te Whare o

Rukutia throughout the festival.

Purchase a book and support

our talented young writers!

PROUD TO

SUPPORT THE

NEW ZEALAND

YOUNG WRITERS

FESTIVAL

P: +64 3 477 0752

E: southerncross@scenichotels.co.nz

www.scenichotelgroup.co.nz

‘We sweat and cry salt water so we know the ocean is really

in our blood’ (Teaiwa, 2017). Writers of Te Moana-Nui-a

Kiwa swim with their words; our narratives are embodied,

visceral and deeply intertwined with our senses of self. In

this panel discussion, 2024 Guest Curator Ruby Macomber

(Rotuma, Ngāpuhi) talks to Emele Ugavule (Sauniveiuto,

Serua, Fiji vasu Nukunonu, Tokelau kei Alele, Hihifo, Uvea),

Zech Soakai (Poutasi, Upolu, Samoa & Pangai, Ha'apai,

Tonga) and Stacey Kokaua (Ngāti Arerā (Rarotonga), Ngati

Pāmati, Pākehā) about what it means to be geographically

separated from the heartbeat of their whenua but to write

in proximity to whakapapa, and to (re)imagine the moana

through the beauty and complexity of contemporary

diasporic identities. They also explore creative techniques

that keep their bodies and narratives in conversation.

The 1980s saw young writers from Ōtepoti pioneer the

stylings that would earn them international recognition:

the Dunedin Sound. For The Remix, MC Tate Fountain

enlists a line up of poets and musicians – Eliana Gray, Isla

Huia (Te Āti Haunui a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Uenuku), Molly

Crighton and Tawhai Huriwai (Tough Guy) (Ngāti Porou,

Ngā Puhi) – to respond to the scene and its legacy in

the same city in 2024: with reprises, reverb, and perhaps,

indeed, a remix.

Moana Speaks from the South

The Remix

6.30pm-7.30pm @ Te Whare o Rukutia

8.00pm-9.00pm @ Te Whare o Rukutia

Conversation

Performance

FRI 13 SEPT

EVENTS

The land holds our stories. In conversation with Tessa

Patrick (Kāi Tahu), writers Rauhina Scott-Fyfe (Kāi Tahu,

Kāti Māmoe, Ngāi Pākehā), Tōrea Scott-Fyfe (Kāi Tahu,

Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha), and Iona Winter (Waitaha, Kāi Tahu)

explore the vast and intergenerational perspectives of

this land, its history, and its future, and how writers —

regardless of their whakapapa — can delve deeper into

this whenua within their work. This kōrero is for anyone

seeking to understand a unique way of telling stories with

curiosity and fervent intent.

Join 2024 Young Writer in Residence Sherry Zhang (Chinese),

playwright/spoken-word poet Nathan Joe (Chinese), and

journalist/playwright Sam Brooks for a workshop on how

to write compelling, zingy, and revealing dialogue. By taking

a cross-disciplinary approach, this workshop is useful for

any writer looking to understand how to make spells and

dialogue come alive.

Maximum 16 participants, registrations essential

The NZYWF Young Writer in Residence is made possible by the

generous support of the Robert Lord Writers Cottage Trust

Want to level up your poetry performance? Or learn what

slam is all about? Join Amy Grace Laura from Motif Poetry

for a fast paced, creative, and playful writing workshop.

You’ll drain your pens with new writing exercises, refine

your performance skills, and take away tips for post-

workshop slam poetry crafting. Ideal for new writers and

poets competing in the Otago Poetry Slam tonight!

Maximum 20 participants, registrations essential

Presented in association with Motif Poetry | Ruri Tūtohu

Te Ao Kāi Tahu: writing the whenua and

whakapapa of Te Waipounamu

Spinning Yarns!

Slam Poetry Workshop

10.00am-11.00am @ Te Whare o Rukutia

10.00am-12.00pm @ Fringe HQ (19 George St)

10.00am-12.00pm @ Writers Lounge, Community Gallery

Workshop

SAT 14 SEPT

EVENTS

Conversation

This participatory workshop explores the relational

aspects of the storying process. Emele Ugavule

(Sauniveiuto, Serua, Fiji vasu Nukunonu, Tokelau kei

Alele, Hihifo, Uvea), Makanaka Tuwe and Natasha Ratuva

(iTaukei) from the Studio Kiin collective will guide

attendees through an immersive experience. Incorporating

Indigenous-led movement practices and collective reading

and writing, Whose stori is it anyways? calls to the centre

the relationship writers have with the themes, characters,

communities, peoples and cultures they write about.

Maximum 16 participants, registrations essential

Whose stori is it anyways?

1.00pm-3.00pm @ Writers Lounge, Community Gallery

SAT 14 SEPT

Interviews, profiles, reviews, essays. At a grassroots level,

can these build communities? Join journalist Jamiema

Lorimer, Critic Te Ārohi editor Nina Brown and Pantograph

Punch kaiwāwahi and 2024 Young Writer in Residence

Sherry Zhang (Chinese) for a panel discussion on culture

journalism, its responsibility in representing communities,

and how meaning is transformed through different forms

and platforms. The panel is followed by a workshop to

develop your own culture pitch.

Leaning into the visceral, dynamic potential of multi-

medium expression for community-building and activism,

this short panel and collaborative workshop will equip

taiohi (young people) with skills to write and read for

the progression of movements and causes close to their

hearts. Join Guest Curator Ruby Macomber (Rotuma,

Ngāpuhi), Helena Mayer (German, Pākehā), Frances

Pavletich and Grace Cowley (Ngāpuhi) as they talk about

the movements close to them and how they engage with

and create texts to support their activism. Then break into

an ‘unconference’ style workshop to put the skills discussed

into practice by engaging with and creating pressing and

pertinent responses to texts.

Journalism as an Act of Community Building

Everything Pressing, Everything Pertinent:

Writing & Reading in Solidarity

2.30pm-4.30pm @ Te Whare o Rukutia

3.30pm-5.30pm @ Writers Lounge, Community Gallery

EVENTS

Workshop

Conversation | Workshop

SAT 14 SEPT

For the last two days, local high school poets, musicians

and dancers have been making cross-disciplinary

magic together with Show Ponies creator Freya Daly

Sadgrove. Come watch them put their poetic performance

experiments on stage for the first time!

Bringing this sell-out show to Ōtepoti for the first time,

Chinese-Kiwi writer Nathan Joe (2020 National Slam

Champ) has curated a celebration of BIPOC spoken word

artists. Dirty Passports features your favourite minorities

behaving badly, untwisting their tongues and shattering

stereotypes all for your displeasure.

Featuring David Eggleton (Rotuma, Tongana, Palagi),

Tough Guy (Ngāti Porou, Ngā Puhi), Ruby Macomber

(Rotuma, Ngāpuhi), and Rushi Vyas (South Asia, US).

Hosted by Nathan Joe (Chinese).

Since 2013, the Otago Poetry Slam has been an annual

highlight! This lively event brings together the most creative

poets in the region for a night of dynamic performances and

friendly competition with Motif Poetry's Amy Grace Laura

as MC. Whether you’re a seasoned poet or just starting out,

this slam offers a supportive atmosphere for everyone to

share their voice. Be a part of an unforgettable celebration

of poetry, creativity, and community!

Max. 12 competitors, to register email: amy@motifpoetry.co.nz

Presented in association with Motif Poetry | Ruri Tūtohu

Pony Camp Showcase

Dirty Passports

Otago Poetry Slam Champs 2024

7.00pm-7.45pm @ Te Whare o Rukutia

8.00pm-9.00pm @ Te Whare o Rukutia

7.00pm-9.00pm @ The New Athenaeum Theatre

EVENTS

Motif Poetry slam events are recommended for audiences

and poets aged 14+

Performance

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