Festival

Saturday, 15 August — 11:00am – 1:00pm

Join Giselle Clarkson (Omnibird) and Sacha Cotter and Josh Morgan (A Guide to Rocks) for a special story time at Te Ara Ātea.

Sunday, 16 August — 10:30am – 1:30pm

Did you know reading is a superpower? It can take you on wild adventures, even to a party at Tūranga!

Friday, 28 August — 5:30pm

Waimakariri Libraries invite you to celebrate National Poetry Day with the launch of Fuego, the World Congress of Poets Literary Journal.

Tuesday, 1 September — 7:00pm – 8:15pm

Multi-instrumentalist Riki Gooch (Ngāti Wai, Patuharakeke, Ngaati Maahanga) and award-winning writer Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) weave together sound and story, taonga pūoro and strings, in this special performance.

Wednesday, 2 September — 5:30pm

Join us at Scorpio Books for the launch of Green Sea, a gripping exploration of what it means to be lost in the New Zealand bush, by the award-winning writer John Summers.

Wednesday, 2 September — 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Bring your burning questions and best costumes for an engaging, all-things-romantasy discussion at Tūranga.

Wednesday, 2 September — 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Head along to our favourite whisky and cocktail lounge for an intimate evening of tarot and book chat with our best book witch Claire Mabey.

Wednesday, 2 September — 7:00pm – 9:30pm

Celebrate our rangatahi, what they have to say and the stories they want to share.

Thursday, 3 September — 5:30pm – 7:30pm

Join us for the launch of Emergence: New Writing from the University of Canterbury Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha.

03 Sep - 05 Sep 2026 — 5:30pm

A workshop about independently publishing your own work.

Thursday, 3 September — 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Have you got what it takes to be the WORD Lost the Plot champion of 2026? Join your effervescent host Claudia Jardine for a fun quiz like no other.

Thursday, 3 September — 6:00pm – 7:00pm

Celebrated writer and critic Olivia Laing’s The Silver Book is a queer love story and noirish thriller set in stylish 1970s Italy.

Thursday, 3 September — 7:00pm – 9:30pm

The Ōtautahi Poetry Slam returns to WORD Christchurch! Poets will be throwing down like their lives depend on it, raising the bar a little more over three intense rounds.

Thursday, 3 September — 8:00pm – 9:15pm

Papers past, read by some of our favorite voices in the festival including Elisabeth Easther and Ariana Tikao (Kāi Tahu). A special night of storytelling via scrawled messages and typewriter ink.

Friday, 4 September — 10:00am – 11:00am

He Told Us shows how a far-right terrorist escaped detection ahead of Christchurch’s 2019 attack. Terrorism researchers Chris Wilson and Michal Dziwulski uncovered crucial information that official agencies missed.

Friday, 4 September — 10:30am – 11:30am

The writer William Trevor said the short story form is defined by “the art of the glimpse.” It should be an explosion of truth. Its strength lies in what it leaves out just as much as what it puts in, if not more.

Friday, 4 September — 12:00pm – 1:00pm

In 1987, Sally Wenley was a driven, fun-loving and at times naughty high school sports prefect. After a fatal bus trip she became a paraplegic, her sporting dreams in tatters.

Friday, 4 September — 12:30pm – 1:30pm

Taonga are potent connectors travelling across space, time, and generations. Imbued with the whakapapa of our tīpuna, they connect our past, present, and future.

Friday, 4 September — 2:00pm – 3:00pm

One of our most celebrated writers returns with a part psychological thriller, part family saga, The Black Monk, Charlotte Grimshaw’s first novel since her sensational memoir The Mirror Book.

Friday, 4 September — 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This story of helicopter deer recovery in Fiordland is told through the lives of three brothers, Gary, Mark and Kim Hollows.

Friday, 4 September — 4:00pm – 5:00pm

World-leading Pacific correspondent, Barbara Dreaver and TVNZ’s first Asia correspondent, Charlotte Glennie talk about their powerful memoirs.

Friday, 4 September — 4:30pm – 5:30pm

The hilarious Pax Assadi has herded ducks in West Auckland and experienced catastrophic culture shock in Pakistan. He discusses his joyfully chaotic and painfully honest memoir, Mortified.

Friday, 4 September — 6:00pm – 7:00pm

The judges for the 2022 Booker Prize praised Shehan Karunatilaka's winning novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida for the ambition of its scope and its hilarious audacity.

Friday, 4 September — 6:30pm – 7:45pm

Snap up your tickets to this riotous session of tiny lectures. Five writers share their weird and wonderful deep obsessions!