Home
Events
About
Past Festivals
Media
Support Us

Support Subscribe

Support Subscribe

Home
Philip Matthews

Philip Matthews

Philip Matthews

Philip Matthews is a senior journalist with The Press. He won Reviewer of the Year in the 2022 Voyager Media Awards and is the author of The Quiet Hero (Allen & Unwin, 2023).

Events at Word

Social Feed

wordchch

WORD Christchurch gets the city buzzing with books, ideas and kōrero.
Next fest: 27-31 August 2025
Respectful chat only please!

Come celebrate with us! Our 2025 festival programm

Come celebrate with us! Our 2025 festival programme will be revealed on Wednesday 9 July. Be the first to pick up a festival programme brochure so you can plan your WORD experience. See you at the Art Gallery?

#christchurchnz #wordchch #sharethejoy

💚 Volunteer with WORD Christchurch! 📗 Help

💚 Volunteer with WORD Christchurch! 📗

Help us make the city buzz with stories, kupu and ideas! We’re looking for volunteers to join our team for this year’s festival. It’s a flexible, rewarding way to gain experience, connect with the arts, and be part of an amazing crew.📚

👉 Head to wordchristchurch.co.nz/volunteers for role details and to register.

#volunteernz #wordchch #christchurchnz #supportlocal #nzbookstagram

Manawātia a Matariki! Manawātia a Puanga! We hop

Manawātia a Matariki! Manawātia a Puanga! We hope you are celebrating, remembering and planning in a way that suits you and your whānau.

This beautiful whetu - star - is on the cover of Gavin Bishop’s Matariki pukapuka for tamariki.

@penguinbooksnz
#Matariki #maorinewyear #nzlit #wordchch

Our Patrons, Supporters and Friends help us make g

Our Patrons, Supporters and Friends help us make great things happen in our city. Would you like to join us? If you can, we’d love your support through a donation. Head to wordchristchurch.co.nz/about/supporters/ (the link is in our bio).

#supportlocal #christhurchnz #wordchch

Maurice Gee 22 August 1931–12 June 2025 We are

Maurice Gee 22 August 1931–12 June 2025

We are saddened by the news that the great writer Maurice Gee has died. Gee wrote more than 30 novels for both adults and children, including Under the Mountain and The Plumb Trilogy, which is commonly regarded as one of the most significant achievements in New Zealand literature. What a remarkable literary legacy.
📸 Robert Cross

Warmest congratulations to our beloved Morrin Rout

Warmest congratulations to our beloved Morrin Rout who has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) announced this morning in the King’s Birthday Honours for her services to the arts, particularly literature.

A dedicated reader and unstoppable champion of writers, Morrin was the co-literary director of the Christchurch Writers Festival pre-WORD Christchurch from its inception in 1997 until 2012. She was also a founder of the Hagley Writers Institute, co-presented RNZ’s Bookmarks show, and still talks about books with a dedicated focus on Aotearoa writers on her Plains FM show Bookenz which started in 1994. Morrin is such a treasured member of the WORD Christchurch whānau. Please join us in congratulating her!
.
.
.
#MorrinRout #NZBooks #KingsBirthdayHonours #BookChampion

Warm congratulations to WORD Christchurch 2024 gue

Warm congratulations to WORD Christchurch 2024 guest Ōtautahi’s Amelia Murray a.k.a @fazerdaze who was awarded both the Te Tino Reo o te Tau Solo Artist of the Year and Te Tino Pukaemi o te Tau Album of the Year at the 2025 @aotearoamusicawards this week!

We loved having Amelia with us for the special 2024 festival session Ideal Home Noise with 2024 @independentmusicnz Taite Music Prize winner @veraellen_ 💫
.
.
.
#WordChch #AMA25 #AotearoaMusic #NZMusic #Fazerdaze #AmeliaMurray #SoftPower #VeraEllen

We're so excited about the next @latenightpoetryho

We're so excited about the next @latenightpoetryhour with @hey.ray.shipley - WORD favourites @islahuiapoet and @dominichoey are featured guests. Tickets are by koha, and we bet they are flying out the door so get booking for Friday 6 June via @littleandromedachch!

Here's pics of Dominic in action at WORD 2022, and Isla in 2025.

#christchurchnz #nzpoetry #latenightpoetry #supportlocal

TONIGHT: 25 years of @pacificunderground with the

TONIGHT: 25 years of @pacificunderground with the @christchurchsymphonyorchestra and some of the best Pacific talent in the country. There are still tickets available for this special moment celebrating these storytellers of our city. If you came along to our Dawn Raids reading and Pacific Underground panel last year you know this will be an absolute treat.

Faafetai lava PU for everything you do - what a legacy!

#pacificlegacyproject #cso #pacificunderground #christchurchnz

Cheap flights to WORD Christchurch! @airnz has a s

Cheap flights to WORD Christchurch! @airnz has a sale on right now so book a quick break to Ōtautahi Christchurch for the last week of August. The programme is looking excellent... but you won't know about that until 9 July.

#cheapflights #grabaseat #christchurchnz #wordchch #nzbooks #litevents #bookstagram #litfest

WRITER'S TIPS! These from novelist, short story wr

WRITER'S TIPS! These from novelist, short story writer, essayist, and professor of creative writing Kirsty Gunn offer food for thought before her event on Monday(tomorrow!) with us. See you there?

👉Have a dedicated place in which to write - the corner of the kitchen table will do, but just make sure it's the same place. It's all part of building a sense of routine around your writing practice - and routine strengthens practise.

👉Anger. Disgust. Joy. Laughter. Despair. Wonder. A book that ignites all these feelings, and sometimes all at once, is a book that might trouble us.

👉But being troubled by our reading is good!

👉 It means we are fully involved and are thinking for ourselves about this world we live in.

Kirsty's short story collection Pretty Ugly was shortlisted for the 2025 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, so many thanks to @newzealandbookawards for getting these tips from Kirsty!

@otagounipress #theockhams #repost #nzlit #writingtips #wordchch

Some winning weekend reading for you! All four o

Some winning weekend reading for you!

All four of these wonderful @newzealandbookawards-winning books are certainly worth your time. Head to your local independent bookstore or library for your copies.

@thwupbooks @harpercollinsnz @aucklanduniversitypress @otagounipress #theockhams #nzlit #nzbooks

Gather up your book-loving friends, put on your be

Gather up your book-loving friends, put on your best frocks and fedoras, pop the bubbles, and settle in to watch the livestream of the biggest book awards in the country. It's Ockhams time!

The full ceremony will be livestreamed by a professional crew. Simply go to the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards FB or YouTube pages from 7pm sharp on Wednesday to watch all the action as it happens.

📸 from the 2021 party. We encourage you to recreate this in your living rooms.

#theockhams #bookawards #watchathome #whowillwin #nzlit

📣We are sounding the 'limited tickets remain' k

📣We are sounding the 'limited tickets remain' klaxon - if you'd like to warm up by the fireside in the Great Hall at @artscentrechch with one of Norway's best-selling writers we suggest booking this weekend on our website.
.
.
.
#larsmytting #nordicbooks #norwegianwood #sisterbellstrilogy #christchurchnz #historicalfiction #litevents #autumnseason #bookstagram #ticketsavailablenow #linkinthebio

A little teaser from Dervla McTiernan before her e

A little teaser from Dervla McTiernan before her event wih WORD on Tuesday. Have you got your tickets yet?

“When I write characters in a scene, in my mind

“When I write characters in a scene, in my mind I’m there in the room, I’m moving through it, I can smell the room, I can hear the sounds.” - from an excellent @sundaymag interview with Michael Bennett, it's worth a read!

Michael Bennett's award-winning trilogy of crime novels following fictional detective Hana Westerman follow a career writing and directing programmes such as Outrageous Fortune and The Gone, to the 2010 feature film Matariki, to writing a graphic novel in collaboration, and his mahi on the wrongful murder conviction of Teina Pora.

He'll have quite a bit to talk about with @dervlamctiernan then! Hear them in conversation with Liz Grant on Tuesday 13 May. Tickets available now, through links in our bio.

Thanks to @harpercollinsnz for bringing these two crime fanatics to Ōtautahi.

#wordchch #autumnseason #christchurchnz #litevents #bookstagram #ticketsavailablenow #yeahnoir #crimefiction #truecrime #truecrimecommunity #truecrimenz

Introducing Kirsty Gunn: 📗Six novels – Rain,

Introducing Kirsty Gunn:
📗Six novels – Rain, The Keepsake, Featherstone, The Boy and the Sea, The Big Music and Caroline’s Bikini
📘extended essays and short stories about identity and Katherine Mansfield – Thorndon, My Katherine Mansfield Project and Going Bush
📗three collections of short stories – Pretty Ugly, This Place you Return to is Home and Infidelities

...and an event with WORD in conversation with @steelydass on Monday 19 May.
Tickets available on our website!

#linkinthebio #bookstagram #autumnseason #litevents #wordchch #christchurchnz #prettyugly #fiction

Who said crime doesn't pay? @dervlamctiernan and M

Who said crime doesn't pay? @dervlamctiernan and Michael Bennett are best-selling writers of gripping page-turners, bringing their Irish and Aotearoa thrillers to international audiences. Here are just a handful!

Have a read on these dark nights before our event with them on Tuesday 13 May - tickets from $20 and available on our website now: www.wordchch.co.nz

#bookstagram #crimefiction #christchurchnz #wordchch #autumnseason #thriller #litevents #yeahnoir

🚨 MAY EVENTS ALERT 🚨 @Derlvamctiernan (Irel

🚨 MAY EVENTS ALERT 🚨
@Derlvamctiernan (Ireland), Michael Bennett (Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Whakaue), Kirsty Gunn (Scotland/NZ) and Lars Mytting (Norway) all come to Ōtautahi Christchurch next month to share their stories with you. More info on the trio of events on our website: www.wordchch.co.nz - book your tickets now.

A big ngā mihi to @harpercollinsnz, @otagounipress and our pals at @aklwritersfest for helping us make the magic happen!
.
.
.
#litevents #christchurchnz #wordchch #norwegianwood #historicalfiction #autumnseason #prettyugly #fiction #crimefiction #thriller #bookstagram

REPOST from @ngaiomarshawards: "Quelle bonne nouv

REPOST from @ngaiomarshawards:

"Quelle bonne nouvelle! We're thrilled to share more details about our first-ever Mystery in the Library event in Akaroa, the wonderful historic French settlement on Banks Peninsula in Canterbury.

Crime writing has come a long way since Dame Ngaio Marsh set a handful of her popular Inspector Alleyn tales among the landscapes of Aotearoa, shifting from puzzling entertainments to modern tales delving deeply into people, places, and psychology.

Child welfare expert turned mystery writer Marie Connolly is joined by YA thriller writer Heather McQuillan and past Ngaios finalist for a fascinating korero on the art and craft of thriller writing, the importance of people and place, and what makes Dame Ngaio's home region of Canterbury a great place for storytellers. Ngaio Marsh Awards judge and local Canterbury librarian Fiona Jay will cross-examine the culprits."

WHEN: Thursday, 10 April 2025
WHERE: Akaroa Library, 2 Selwyn Avenue, Akaroa 7520
WHEN: 5.30pm doors open for a 6pm panel discussion
COST: free! But registrations are key. Check out the @ngaiomarshawards account for more info.

#yeahnoir #ccclibraries #crimefiction

Follow on Instagram

Home
Events
About
Past Festivals
Media
Support Us

Contact us

PO Box 29 270, Christchurch 8440 | Level 1, The Piano - 156 Armagh Street, Christchurch 8011

Ph: +64 3 377 5313 admin@wordchristchurch.co.nz

Privacy Statement

© 2025 WORD Christchurch All rights reserved.

Website Design & Development by Publica

Skip to content

Accessibility Tools

Increase Text
Decrease Text
Grayscale
High Contrast
Negative Contrast
Light Background
Links Underline
Readable Font
Reset