Auckland Writers Festival breaks attendance record, ‘Lioness’ the number one bestseller

The Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki reported that this year’s festival program, held 14–19 May, has ‘broken all attendance records’.

The festival recorded more than 85,000 attendees at 167 events, with 25 events sold out completely and most venues at near capacity. Among the 240 guests were Sam Neill, Paul Lynch, Bonnie Garmus, Catherine Chidgey, Selina Tusitala Marsh and Ann Patchett.

Popular sessions included debates and in-depth discussions on topical issues, including book banning, voting rights, democracy and climate change. One quarter of the program included free and unticketed events, such as the session on Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi), an exploration of the life of 2024 Honoured Writer Anne Salmond, and a session exploring speculative fiction.

This was the first festival run by artistic director Lyndsey Fineran, who joined the festival team in August 2023, and managing director Catriona Ferguson, who joined in January 2024.

Fineran and Ferguson said: ‘We’re going to be processing those six days for about six months … A phenomenal thank you to everyone who lent their stories, support and energy to make it happen and for filling our city with a celebration of writing. What an explosion of creativity, kindness and bookish magic it was.’

The festival reported that ‘feedback from attendees overwhelmingly spoke to the buzzy atmosphere and warmth, which spilled from the venue and out into the city, showcasing Tāmaki Makaurau’s vibrant energy to local and international guests’.

Festival chair Leigh Melville said she was heartened by the large number of people of all ages who attended. ‘The festival is an undoubted highlight of the year for readers and writers; thank you to everyone who attended and our amazing festival team, including our legion of volunteers, who helped make this year’s event such a huge success,’ said Melville.

Festival bookstall

The Women’s Bookshop reported selling close to 11,000 books at its pop-up bookstall at the festival, which is an increase of almost 50% on the previous year.

Bookshop director Carole Beu said: ‘The big theatre at the Aotea Centre seats 2200 people and it was full for almost every session.’

Emily Perkin’s Lioness, the recent winner of the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Award fiction prize, was the number one bestselling book at the festival, while the Paul Lynch’s 2023 Booker Prize winner, Prophet Song, was number two.

The bestselling titles were:

1. Lioness (Emily Perkins, Bloomsbury)
2. Prophet Song (Paul Lynch, Oneworld)
3. Question 7 (Richard Flanagan, Knopf)
4. Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s invisible life (Anna Funder, Hamish Hamilton)
5. The Earth Transformed: An untold history (Peter Frankopan, Bloomsbury)
6. Lola in the Mirror (Trent Dalton, Fourth Estate)
7. The Story of Art Without Men (Katy Hessel, Hutchinson Heinemann)
8. The Covenant of Water (Abraham Verghese, Grove Press)
9. Our Missing Hearts (Celeste Ng, Abacus)
10. Lessons in Chemistry (Bonnie Garmus, Penguin)
11. The Grimmelings (Rachael King, A&U Children’s NZ)
12. The Dictionary People: The unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary (Sarah Ogilvie, Vintage).

Pictured: The festival bookstall. Credit: Auckland Writers Festival.

Category: Local news