What is the future for writers in Aotearoa?
Becoming a full-time writer is the ultimate dream for many aspiring authors, but how does that dream translate into reality, and how receptive is New Zealand’s literary scene to newcomers? What does a career as a writer look like here in 2025 Aotearoa? And, with the shifting sands of the country’s creative sector, what does the future look like for emerging literary artists?
Living in Taranaki, where we seem to have a disproportionately high talent pool of acclaimed authors, means that I was able to find writers who were happy to share their own personal experiences, as well as what they see when they peer into the crystal ball of New Zealand’s future literary landscape.
Emma Hislop
Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu) is a graduate of the IIML (International Institute of Modern Letters) master’s programme and the author of Ruin, (Te Herenga Waka University Press), a collection of short stories which won the coveted Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in 2024.
Q: What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve been given?
Emma: I’ve been lucky to have a few key people give generously of their time over the years. One piece of advice I received was ‘Pay it forward’ which I try and do. Another was writing is like a muscle and the more often you write, the stronger the writing will get. I’ve found that to be true, I find it easier to write every day than to stop. If I stop, it’s hard to start writing again. So I write every morning at 6am, for as long as I can. Sometimes it might only be twenty minutes, but it’s better than nothing. Then I’m still in the game.
Q: Having a book published is a monumental event, what surprised you most when your book, Ruin, was published?
Emma: There were two things. One was how it was a relief to pass it on to the team at Te Herenga Waka because I’d been writing it for ten years. There was a lot of care. The other thing was how much of the ‘business of having a book out stuff’ I didn’t know. I’m forever grateful to my publicist at Te Herenga Waka University Press, Tayi Tibble, for her support and answering all my pātai. There was so much I didn’t know.
Q: How are you feeling about the future for writers in Aotearoa?
Emma: The future feels pretty bleak at the moment. There’s very little funding and so many worthwhile projects and awesome kaituhi and the system puts us up against one another. I dream of a basic universal income for people. I’m grateful for my Te Hā Taranaki mates and for coffee and cake hui. That, and the writing are honestly the things keeping me going.
Airana Ngarewa
Airana Ngarewa (Ngati Ruanui, Ngarauru, Ngaruahine) wowed the writing scene with his first novel, The Bone Tree, (Moa Books) in 2023; a debut which held the number one NZ fiction spot for twelve weeks. This year, he published Pātea Boys, a bilingual collection of interwoven short stories revolving around life growing up in Pātea. Airana’s view of ‘the writing world’ is that he doesn’t really feel he belongs within it – for him, it’s story that rules, not how it’s delivered.
Q: What advice would you give to an emerging writer?
Airana: My go-to piece of advice is you can’t tell a good story badly.
Q: What has surprised you most about having your work published?
Airana: At kaupapa I used to be introduced as my father’s son. Nowadays they call me ‘the writer’.
Q: How do you think the future looks for our writers?
Airana: I must admit I don’t think a lot about writers. It’s not a community I feel I belong to. That said, I hope that those who carry stories find a way to share them. The medium I think is the least interesting part. A book is as good as a movie is as good as a microphone placed in front of the paepae.
Jacqueline Bublitz
Jacqueline Bublitz’s books, Before You Knew My Name and Leave the Girls Behind (Allen & Unwin) span the globe both in success and setting, winning international awards such as the 2022 Australian Book Industry Awards for General Fiction Book of the Year and two Davitt Awards (Best Debut Crime and Reader’s Choice). Also in 2022, Jacqueline was the sole female shortlisted for the Gold Dagger Awards UK.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received about writing?
Jacqueline: The advice that took me from simply being able to craft a lovely sentence to actually writing a novel came from Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott. Until I read her take on Shitty First Drafts, I was so caught up in the idea that ‘good’ writing came naturally, when in reality it’s a process that involves many iterations to get from idea to published book. Before I was a working writer, whenever I attempted to start a new story, I would edit myself off the page, but now I let myself ‘just write’ that first draft. It can be uncomfortable to switch from carefully editing an existing piece of work to throwing words at a page, but as the word count goes up on the SFD, I remind myself that there is a story buried underneath all that gunk, just waiting to be excavated.
Also, when it comes to feedback, stay open, but always consider the source. That’s MY advice to emerging writers.
Q: What surprised you the most about becoming a published writer?
Jacqueline: In a way, it’s turned out to be very similar to any other job I’ve had, and that might be what’s surprised me the most. How much the ‘dream job’ really is just getting up, motivating yourself to do the mahi, and conceding that so much is out of your control from there. Market trends, consumer behaviours, the economy – these factors and many more can impact how your book finds its audience. I’m very lucky to do this full-time, and I have an awesome, transparent publisher on this side of the world, but I don’t think it was assumed that I’d want to be this informed when it comes to the business side of things, so I made sure they knew this from the start. It has really helped me set my expectations, or at least align them with theirs, which in turn has helped me stay sane.
Also, the waiting. There’s a lot of waiting in this job. It’s basically long turnaround times, and short deadlines. I’m still getting used to that.
Q: What does the future look like for writers in Aotearoa?
Jacqueline: I don’t know if I can predict anything these days, and I’m really only qualified to muse on the current state of traditional publishing, but I do know what I’d like our future as creatives to look like …
I think we’ve seen some strong support of commercial fiction recently, with things like Moa Press coming on to the scene, and the introduction of the Allen & Unwin Fiction Prize. We have local, independent publishers that haven’t been swallowed up by the Big Five (see: Australia), and we continue to have an incredibly rich literary scene (not that I necessarily like to distinguish between literary and commercial writing), and our arts festivals are such wonderful showcases of all the talent in this country. But I’d like to see more writers being given the opportunity to do this full-time. More grants and residencies and awards … and advances that allow writers to get down to work with some level of financial security.
That’s probably wishful thinking, so I think authors will constantly need to find new ways of connecting with readers, something that self-published authors do so well. I’d also love to see a bigger push for our work to reach a global audience, and I think literary agents can play a big part in that.
Last but not least, with all the nonsense going on around the idea of diversity somehow diluting our sense of identity, I really hope Aotearoa continues to embrace all of the different stories we have to tell, and how the principles of DEI remain vital to our industry. Not only for writers, but for readers, too!
To summarise the thoughts of these writers; the importance of community is key for many.
Emma discussed Te Hā, a close-knit Taranaki whānau of writers who meet to tautoko and motivate each other. The issue of writers being able to support themselves and their families financially is also a common thread, with grants dwindling and the cost of living growing, a system which nurtures new talent and keeps food on the tables of our established writers is the only way that we will be able to develop our creative industry. Airana discussed valuing the story as the first priority, and that the medium through which it’s delivered is secondary. This is perhaps a way for emerging writers to consider how they could shift a goal of publication to other goals where the story is delivered in less conventional ways. Jacqueline’s wero to nurture diversity in our industry is one that we should all rise to, when the world feels like it’s playing favourites, we need to broaden our intake to include those whispering from the wings.
I am extremely appreciative of the authors who took time out of their schedules to share their thoughts with me. Ngā mihi nui ki a kotou to Emma Hislop, Airana Ngarewa and Jacqueline Bublitz for sharing their whakaaro.
Their books are available at all good bookstores now.
