Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki has made the decision to postpone the 2022 Festival to 23-28 August.

Over the last few weeks, as NZ has been entering the Omicron phase of the pandemic, the Festival team has been considering all options to optimise our chances of delivering a live 2022 Festival for our writers and to our supporters and partners.

With the health and safety of all our artists, audience, volunteers, crew and staff top of mind, and noting the chance of successfully delivering a full Festival in May looks highly unlikely, we have made the decision to postpone this year’s Festival until 23-28 August 2022, at the Aotea Centre in Auckland. The Ockham NZ Book Awards will continue on Wednesday 11 May, as previously announced, in a format to be confirmed shortly.

This is a one-off shift, and we fully intend to return to the Aotea stage in May 2023, with a great line-up of international guests (some of whom are already locked in!)

We will continue to do everything we can to deliver you a brilliant annual programme and look forward to sharing it with you, albeit slightly delayed.

The full August programme line-up will be announced in mid-June, with tickets on sale shortly after.