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We spotted a few familiar faces from the AUP whānau in the newly digitised archives of Going West Books and Writers Fest...
09/06/2026

We spotted a few familiar faces from the AUP whānau in the newly digitised archives of Going West Books and Writers Festival. Hundreds of recorded conversations and photographs and assorted ephemera from 30 years of literary programming are now freely available to browse thanks to the Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.

You can hear all of these writers and more speak about and read from their work in recordings made at Going West events over the years.

Selina Tusitala Marsh, interviewed about 'Fast Talking PI' (2009); Michelle Leggott, giving a performance (2008); Dorothy Urlich-Cloher, interviewed by Michael King (2003); Elizabeth Smither with Fleur Adcock for a reading (2001); Peter Simpson delivers a lecture on Colin McCahon's Titirangi years (2001); Anna Jackson reads from her chapbook in AUP New Poets 1 (!) (2000); Dame Anne Salmond, interviewed by Ian Wedde on 'the historian as a narrator' (1998); Robert Sullivan reads from his then-unpublished collection Star Waka (1998); AUP Director Sam Elworthy interviews Robin (Robby) Robilliard about her book Hard Country: A Golden Bay Life (2014).

Photographs by Gil Hanly, Going West Writers Festival, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, NZMS-2475-2010-P248

We are mourning the loss of Keely O’Shannessy, our gorgeous designer, artist and friend. Our hearts go out to her loved ...
08/06/2026

We are mourning the loss of Keely O’Shannessy, our gorgeous designer, artist and friend. Our hearts go out to her loved ones.

Keely had such a beautifully thoughtful approach to her work and would produce countless iterations of her cover designs in different arrangements and hues, all of them exquisite. She drew all her own artwork and her range was remarkable, always hitting just the right note. She was as lovely in life as she was in her work, and we will miss her very much.

Here are a handful of the covers she designed for us over the years.

04/06/2026

Taranaki 🗻 Witi Ihimaera Smiler will be at the upcoming Winter Fest in a session on reclaiming voice, history and whakapapa in contemporary Aotearoa, joined by multi-instrumentalist Kingsley Spargo.

📍4th Wall Theatre, Ngāmotu New Plymouth
🕑 Sunday 21 June, 2pm

Tickets are limited, secure yours via

'If We Knew How to We Would begins with a suite of poems that are intensely physical, the poet tracing their body and th...
03/06/2026

'If We Knew How to We Would begins with a suite of poems that are intensely physical, the poet tracing their body and the bodies of others into the text, detailing faces, mouths, hands, stomachs and skin . . . ‘Chain of connected resentment’ recalls a former lover ‘who scooped out parts of me like a melon baller. Like a finger dragged through pudding, through onion dip.’

Francis Cooke reviews Emma Barnes' second poetry collection, If We Knew How to We Would, for Landfall Tauraka.

Meet the author 💥Loretta Riach is a q***r artist and writer from Tāmaki Makaurau currently living in Naarm. Their writin...
02/06/2026

Meet the author 💥

Loretta Riach is a q***r artist and writer from Tāmaki Makaurau currently living in Naarm. Their writing has appeared in journals in Aotearoa and Australia, including Starling, The Spinoff, Sweet Mammalian, Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems, Minarets and Sick Leave. In 2025, they were an artist-in-residence on the island of Klovharun, Finland.

Loretta's poetry collection, 'Possum', is published in AUP New Poets 12. Pre-order now or find it in bookstores from 9 July.

Meet the author 🌟Anuja Mitra was born in San Diego but calls Tāmaki Makaurau home. Her poetry, fiction and essays have a...
01/06/2026

Meet the author 🌟

Anuja Mitra was born in San Diego but calls Tāmaki Makaurau home. Her poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in local and international publications including Landfall, Cordite, Poetry Aotearoa, Turbine | Kapohau, Starling, Sweet Mammalian and takahē, as well as several anthologies. She has also reviewed books and theatre for online platforms.

Anuja's chapbook, 'Bruised history', is featured in AUP New Poets 12, out in July.

Meet the author🌛Zephyr Zhang 张挚 is a q***r writer, developer and ex-geotechnical engineer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Thei...
31/05/2026

Meet the author🌛

Zephyr Zhang 张挚 is a q***r writer, developer and ex-geotechnical engineer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Their poetry has featured in various literary crevasses including Starling, Sweet Mammalian, Cordite, Landfall and Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems. They are nocturnal.

Their chapbook, moonlight circuit, is one of three featured in the forthcoming book, AUP New Poets 12.

Photo: Todd Karehana & Julie Zhu

Erik Olssen's The Origins of an Experimental Society: New Zealand, 1769–1860 was recently shortlisted for the Ernest Sco...
30/05/2026

Erik Olssen's The Origins of an Experimental Society: New Zealand, 1769–1860 was recently shortlisted for the Ernest Scott Prize, recognising the most distinguished contributions to the history of Australia or New Zealand each year. Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Otago Tom Brooking recently reviewed the book for Landfall Tauraka.

After a brief hiatus, Oceans Between Us: Pacific Peoples & Racism in Aotearoa is now back in stock on the AUP website! T...
29/05/2026

After a brief hiatus, Oceans Between Us: Pacific Peoples & Racism in Aotearoa is now back in stock on the AUP website!

Thirteen Pacific scholars rise to turn the tide on racism in Aotearoa, dissecting the ways it is embedded in New Zealand’s core systems, from education and health to justice and climate. Through ten essays rooted in the vā – the relational space of story, dialogue and environment – each chapter builds on the next, weaving together lived experiences and sharp insights.

Oceans Between Us is both a testimony and a call to action. Get your copy today.

Coming soon ⚡The latest instalment of the AUP New Poets series, featuring Zephyr Zhang, Loretta Riach and Anuja Mitra, t...
29/05/2026

Coming soon ⚡The latest instalment of the AUP New Poets series, featuring Zephyr Zhang, Loretta Riach and Anuja Mitra, three poets who, with humour, vulnerability and flair, craft collections that navigate being young in precarious times.

From editor Anne Kennedy's foreword, 'There are curious synergies between the poets and their ideas on place, on shifts of location, on society, the self, and on love . . . In these three remarkable chapbooks, we readers get to witness the exciting display of emerging voices in the process of spreading their wings as practising poets.'

The book will be published 9 July and available in all good bookstores. Pre-order now via the AUP website.

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