FESTIVAL 2025
MEET THE 2025 WRITERS
Our Tuakana, Teina, and Festival Content Presenters are the creative hearts and minds behind the festival.
This year, a talented group of emerging voices are gathering for a special wānaka at Puketeraki Marae, forming a vital part of the 2025 festival. Together, they embody the voice of the festival, and will present their work during the festival weekend.
The wānaka and festival are supported by three Young Writer Tuakana, who help shape the kaupapa and offer mentorship to this year’s participants. We’ve also appointed a Robert Lord Writers Cottage Young Writer in Residence, who will spend two weeks at the cottage developing a writing project and contributing to both the wānaka and the festival.
TUNMISE ADEBOWALE
Tunmise Adebowale is a Nigerian-born New Zealander currently studying at the University of Otago. She placed second in the 2024 Robert Burns Poetry Prize (Unpublished Section). Her work has been published in The Big Idea, Arts Makers Aotearoa, The Spinoff, Tarot, takahē, Pantograph Punch, Turbine-Kapohau, Newsroom, NZ Poetry Shelf and Verb Wellington.
ELLA SAGE
Ella Sage is a nineteen-year-old poet, editor and student currently living in Ōtautahi. Her friends have accused her creative practice of being inspired almost exclusively by the ocean and love, and they’re not entirely wrong.
Storytelling has always been a part of Ella’s life, from drawing and authoring short picture books with her mum as a kid to her current pursuit of a degree in Media and Communications and English.
After rediscovering a love for poetry in high school, Ella joined Aotearoa’s largest youth-run magazine, Create Happy, as a writer before moving into an editorial role. Now, she’s the Print Editor for the University of Canterbury’s student magazine CANTA, and enjoys mentoring and supporting other writers through editorial work and in youth advocacy spaces.
TE AWHIRĒINGA HEPERI
Te Awhirēinga Heperi is a Māori writer and 3rd year student at the University of Otago. She is studying English with the goal of becoming a secondary school teacher. Her writing frequently explores themes such as identity, belonging, and resistance.
Her work spans poetry and spoken word, shaped by lived experience, cultural grounding, and a commitment to telling the truth. Te Awhirēinga’s voice speaks to the realities of being young and Māori, and to the ongoing legacy of resistance, from the whenua to the written word. Her writing aims to disrupt and challenge colonial legacies, seeking to restore the integrity of Māori voices within spaces that seek to erode them.
Te Awhirēinga writes to invoke change, delegitimise the complicit, and uplift tāngata Māori within the mana of their tūpuna.
MARIWAKITERANGI PAEKAU
Mariwakiterangi Paekau (Waikato, Maniapoto, Kahungunu ki Heretaunga) is a multidisciplinary artist whose primary medium is poetry. She has been a panellist (2022, 2023) and programmer (2024) for Verb Wellington. This year she has worked at Māorilands Film Festival and more recently as a production assistant for Kia Mau Festival. Mariwakiterangi was chosen as one of the Micro Residents for Verb in 2023 and was selected to attend and perform at the Emerging Writers Festival in Naarm in 2024. As a Scorpio sun girly, Mariwakiterangi’s poetry is inspired by her big emotions. Writing poetry is a way for her to express herself and a way for others to know they are not alone. Collectively feeling and healing through words. She is a member of Te Hā o Ngā Pou Kaituhi Māori, part-time student/hospitality worker, and a full time procrastinator.
NADIA SOLOMON
Nadia Solomon (Ngāi Te Rangi) is a creative writer, poet, and a professional yapper. She has been a panelist, interviewer and performer at writers festivals and art events and was a 2023 Verb Wellington micro-residency recipient. Nadia self-publishes her writing through Instagram and zines, and has had work published in Salient Magazine and Pūhia. Forever influenced by nature, love, and protest, Nadia’s writing serves both as a means of personal healing, and as an attempt to process and document a changing world. As a survivor of the mental health system, Nadia is passionate about systemic change, and community care.
Nadia is an active committee member for Te Hā o Ngā Pou Kaituhi Māori, an occasional crafter and a full time barista. She is a co-founder and host for Kirikiriroa Open Mic, a space for Waikato writers to share and connect. Kirikiriroa Open Mic is held twice monthly across Hamilton City Libraries.
SAHARA POHATU-TROW
Sahara Pohatu-Trow (Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whaoa, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a takatāpui theatre maker from Ōtautahi, currently based in Ōtepoti Dunedin.
Sahara attended the University of Otago from 2016-2019, and completed her Honours (BA) in Theater in 2020. They have since been a part of the Ōtepoti theatre scene in various capacities including stage management, writing, producing, and directing.
She is currently working towards a Masters of Creative Performance Practice at Toi Whakaari.
When not sitting in one of the various cafes around town and staring at a screen, Sahara can be found drinking too much coffee, attempting that day’s Wordle, or tackling that never ending laundry pile.
JOSH TOUMU'A
Josh Toumu’a is a queer Pasifika poet and uni student living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. He was the winner of the 2022 Schools Poetry Award, and a finalist in the 2023 Katherine Mansfield Short Story Competition. His writing has been published in several local journals, including The Friday Poem, Starling, Symposia, and elsewhere. He was a panellist for ‘The Secret Art of Editing Poetry’ in the 2024 Wellington Verb Writers Festival, and performed in ‘Love Letterz’ at the 2025 Kia Mau festival.
STELLA WESTON
Stella Weston (she/her) is a Pākehā writer from Rotorua. Her work has been published in Flash Frontier, Write the World, Toitoi, and a Penguin anthology. She has won the RNZ Short Story Competition, the Michael King Writers’ Centre’s Signals Competition, and the NaNoWriMo Novel Excerpt Competition, among others. Her children’s book on mental health, My Black Dog, was commissioned by the I Am Hope Foundation. In 2024, Stella received the Bushman’s Son Award for creative writing and, in 2023, a NZSA mentorship. She is currently finishing a novel. Her op-ed pieces and articles have been published in the Rotorua Daily Post and international websites including SwimSwam, Thrive Global, and Parentology. Stella is in her second year of a BSc in Psychology and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Otago/Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, and works as a staff writer for Critic Te Ārohi.
PAIGE WALKER
Paige Walker is a descendant of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Koata and is grateful to call Ōtautahi her home. She is enrolled in the 2025 Hagley Writers’ Institute, and her poem Non-Apology has been published in PŪHIA III. She writes to commute tension to tranquillity and has convinced herself she does it best at a cafe (she is broke).
ELIANA GRAY
Eliana Gray is a writer, musician and arts facilitator living in Ōtepoti. You can find their writing widely available in print and online in places such as: Landfall, Cordite, Overland and The Spinoff. They are the CEO of Girls Rock Aotearoa and run a series of creative writing workshops.
Filling an Empty Room – Pantograph Punch
The Friday Poem: ‘Cash register ding’ by Eliana Gray
Cordite-(The most terrible thing about being a poet is: The impulse to attach meaning to everything)
JORDAN IRVINE
Jordan Irvine (they/them) is a writer from Ōtepoti. They have been writing from a young age and started nurturing their talent in high school when a creative piece was published in the Otago Daily Times. They started studying English and theatre at the University of Otago in 2022 where they were able to hone their craft in essay writing, poetry and screenwriting. In 2024 they would become a staff writer for Critic Te Ārohi and the culture editor in 2025. Jordan’s work has also been published in Newzician and The Spinoff.
The Friday Poem: ‘Then Worse’ by Jordan Irvine
LILLIAN KELLEHER
Lillian Kelleher was born and raised in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and is currently studying English Literature and Creative Writing at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, where she also runs the Victoria University of Wellington Poetry Society. She likes to write poetry and short fiction inspired by memory, beauty, and medievalism. You can find her work in Kapohau/Turbine, Starling, and Circular.
TURBINE | KAPOHAU – Sestina #1
Starling – A Funeral in Pāuatahanui
HOLLY ROWSELL
Holly Rowsell (she/her) is a philosophy and literature student living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. She is a lover of cherries and an involuntary poet. Earlier this year she founded the poetry journal Nine Lives which launched its first issue in August. You can find the full issue at www.ninelivespoetry.com. You can read Holly’s poetry in Catalyst, Sweet Mammalian and Overcom, among other Aotearoa journals.
linktr.ee/hollyrrowsell
HELENA LEON MAYER
Helena Leon Mayer is a queer Pākehā writer who grew up in Hauraki, studied in Ōtepoti and has recently moved to Te Whanganui-a-Tara. They love cooking chaotically, sewing badly, and swimming even when it’s way too cold. You can find their writing in Starling Issues 18 and 19.
AROHA WITINITARA
Aroha Witinitara (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa) is a poet in their third year of study at Victoria University. They are originally from Masterton but live in Wellington now. You can find more of their work
in Starling, PŪHIA, Takahē and elsewhere.
Starling – The Production
Takahē – The tomatoes in my sapphic cottagecore fantasy are dead now and it’s all because of you
KRYSANA HANLEY
Krysana Hanley is a Pākēhā writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Throughout her life, Krysana has always used writing as an outlet. If her cat died, her crush laughed at her joke or a movie moved her, she would write about it. Her most heartfelt limericks were written about these times.
In her early twenties, while studying publishing, Krysana and her friend decided to write a poem every day to post on Instagram. This continued for two and a half years. After reestablishing her love of writing regularly, she began to write a fortnightly newsletter called The Kindling featuring a short story and poem in each issue. She quit her job at the end of 2024 to pursue a career in writing. Her days are consumed with writing short stories, essays, songs, and poetry.
TOREA SCOTT-FYFE
Tōrea Scott-Fyfe (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāi Pākehā) spends their summers doing conservation work in Te Rua-o-te-Moko | Fiordland and their winters writing in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Their writing has been published in Headland, Turbine | Kapohau, the New Zealand Alpine Journal, and Huia Short Stories 15. They hold a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters. They are working on a novel which intertwines pūrākau with their own experiences of wilderness, place and belonging.
AT THE BAY | I TE KOKORU – Wooden house, empty
HEADLAND – Hira Walks Quietly
TURBINE | KAPOHAU – Kahuraki (an excerpt from Pōkai)
TURBINE | KAPOHAU -Missed Direction
NICK TIPA
YOUNG WRITER IN RESIDENCE
Nick Tipa (Kāi Tahu) is an Ōtepoti-based writer and performer. Nick’s work is informed by whakapapa, whānau, and his adolescent years growing up at the foot of Pātearoa (the Rock and Pillar range). As an actor and musician, Nick’s writing grew from a desire to share his own stories. Earlier this year, Nick presented his debut solo play Babyface at the Dunedin Fringe Festival. Babyface was awarded the UNESCO City of Literature Beyond Words award. Nick is thrilled to take up residence in the Robert Lord Cottage for this year’s New Zealand Young Writers’ Festival.
JOSIAH MORGAN
TUAKANA
Josiah Morgan (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Maniapoto) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Ōtautahi. His latest book i’m still growing is out with Dead Bird Books now in all good bookstores. His other books were all released in the United States, including his hybrid text The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was performed as a six-hour-long performance artwork in Auckland Pride 2024. He believes in magic and the power of words to transform. Free Palestine.
The Friday Poem: ‘Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys’ by Josiah Morgan
RAUHINA SCOTT-FYFE
TUAKANA
Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks (né Scott-Fyfe) (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāi Pākehā) is a takatāpui poet, researcher and archivist based in Ōtepoti Dunedin. They whakapapa to Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Aerangi, Ingarangi and Koterangi. They have written poems and a research report about sea lions. In 2023, their poem nāwai, nāwai was highly commended for the Poetry in te reo Māori section in the Pikihuia Awards and published in Huia Short Stories 15.
RUBY MACOMBER
TUAKANA
Ruby Macomber (Rotuma/Ngāpuhi) is a poet, researcher and arts facilitator based in Tāmaki Makaurau. They are the curator of STREETSIDE for the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival and the 2024 New Zealand Young Writers Festival. In November 2024, her debut chapbook, My Moana Girls, was published by ngā pukapuka pekapeka. Her work features in local and national digital and print media, including Mana Moana: Pasifika Voices as part of COP28, Landfall, Metro, The Spinoff, Katūīvei, and Waka Kuaka. She works at the University of Auckland and manages Te Kāhui, a rōpū facilitating equitable arts opportunities in Corrections and communities.
LOUISE WALLACE
Louise Wallace is the author of four collections of poems and the novel, Ash, which is soon to be published in Australia, North America and the UK. She is the founder of Starling – an online journal showcasing the work of young writers from Aotearoa, a former Robert Burns fellow, and the editor of Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems 2022.
KITTY BROWN
Kitty Brown (Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a creative shapeshifter and cultural storyteller working at the intersection of literature, urban design, art, and mātauraka māori. She works to elevate the arts and culture in particular māori voices and values, helping communities connect with place and story.
LYNLEY EDMEADES
Lynley Edmeades is an author, poet and scholar. She is the author of three books, As the Verb Tenses (Otago UP, 2016), Listening In (Otago UP, 2019) and Bordering on Miraculous, a collaboration with painter Saskia Leek (Massey UP, 2022). Her current book project, Hiding Places, an autotheoretical exploration of the institution of motherhood, will be published in September 2025. She is the current editor of Landfall Tauraka: Aotearoa Arts and Letters and lectures in English and creative writing at the University of Otago
AMY GRACE LAURA
Amy Grace Laura is an award winning, published performance poet. In 2022, Amy was the joint champion of the the Pōneke Wellington Poetry Slam and placed 5th in Aotearoa that year at the National Slam Champs. As well as poetry, Amy performs live multidisciplinary theatre often as her alter-ego Letitia Lickkit an ASMR artist. Early this year she joint won the Most Accessible Event Award at the Dunedin Fringe Festival for her new show ASMR HOUR. Amy has been a feature poet for Sofar Sounds Wellington, Welcome To Nowhere Festival, Tauranga ZineFest, and Poetry In Motion. Her work is lyrical, political, occasionally comedic, and explores the everyday. Amy is the outgoing National Producer for Motif Poetry, a registered charity dedicated to ‘Putting Poets Places.’
