Lyndsey Fineran, Artistic Director of Auckland Writers Festival 15.05.25

I’d love to tell you that I’m writing this in a serene study somewhere, with a steaming cup of coffee in hand while I offer reflective thoughts on the literary festival landscape. The reality? I’m typing from the wings in the darkness of the Kiri te Kanawa Theatre during our first evening Aotea Centre event while a major author speaks to 1500+ people a few feet away.

The event’s 90 min run-time - the result of many months of preparation, wrangling and logistics to make it all come together – is when people might assume I would take a seat in the auditorium, and a breather.

In a way you do, but it's a very short and different kind of breather. It’s the moment you know all the threads that have gone into that one session have finally tied together: you’ve sold a good house, the author is feeling well cared for and their many logistics have run smoothly, the chair is briefed, your audiences and supporters cared for, the bookshop primed with stock, the team happy and humming in each of their roles.

You watch from the wings to see it all take flight, allowing yourself a happy and proud breath.

And then….you dive into the next thing.

Author X’s flight has been delayed, but they’re going to reroute via city Y. The host you’ve carefully lined up for a major author interview has had an emergency, and can you please brief someone else to speed-read for a career-spanning interview in three days’ time. Sponsor B would love to meet Author B but it can only be a 3.25pm on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, and Film crew X would love to film with Huge Author Y but NOT if its windy – is that ok? etc. etc.

And that’s just my end of things: then there’s the myriad of production, ticketing, artist care, marketing, sponsorship, bookselling roles and more all done by a team of people who could fit in a decent sized elevator.

I looked back at my email folder for this one event, lasting 90mins, and it was 180+ emails deep – and multiply that by the some 240+ writers in the programme, and it’s a hefty old inbox. My colleagues’ will look similar. I’d love to work out the ratio of time spent preparation v.s event run time, but I’m a words person, so I won’t attempt that maths, but I know it would be sobering.

Why do we do it? Why work so long and in such depth for c.180 hours’ worth of events that are all over in 1 week?

Because, we believe ardently in what those hours can hold for the writers who are part of them, and the audiences who attend them.

Our Festival theme this year is Stories Start Here and that’s a very deliberate choice, because it acknowledges that while this event takes place over a week in central Auckland, the inspiration, connections and discoveries made within all corners of it multiply and reverberate far beyond the Festival dates and venue.

I’d love teams to be bigger. I’d love the mental gymnastic routine required in jobs like this to not need to be Olympic standard. I’d love writers and creatives to be valued properly across society, and I’d love any decision-maker who thinks the arts don’t make an impact or change lives to come spend even 5 minutes at our venue over the coming days, and just watch even one event spill out - and see the incredible chain reaction of excitement each one sets in motion.

It's now the early morning of Day 2 and I’m finishing this off between a 6am batch of emails and an 8am staff briefing, and by the time I get back to my hotel room tonight, I’ll feel like I’ve lived 3 lives. And that inbox will likely have a few new additions. But if that creates even one impactful hour for a writer, or a Festival attendee that stays with them long after we close the venue doors on Sunday evening, it’s worth it.

Written by Lyndsey Fineran.

The Auckland Writers Festival is held from 13th - 18th May. View the full programme here!