Auckland Writers Festival regrets to advise the cancellation of its May 2020 Festival, owing to the critical Covid-19 situation and the Government’s ban on mass public gatherings.

We’re immensely proud of the programme for our 20th Festival that was launched just last week.  We are extremely sad not to have the opportunity to deliver it to our writing and reading community, but the health and well-being of all must be our paramount concern at this difficult time.

Thank you for your ongoing support for the Festival and we look forward to working with you again in 2021.

All purchased tickets will be fully refunded via Ticketmaster, and we will be in touch with all stakeholders over the coming days to discuss our change of plans.  If customers have any queries regarding their booking, please contact Ticketmaster 0800 111 999.

 

For parents of five Francis and Kaiora Tipene, the journey from daily working life at an Auckland funeral home to international stars – since The Casketeers started screening on Netflix American tourists have started showing up on their Onehunga doorstep – has been extraordinary. The series about the enchanting Northland husband and wife running an undertaking business imbued with the traditions of tangihanga, tikanga Māori, and Polynesian ways of mourning won Best Original Reality Series, and Best Māori Programme at the 2019 NZTV awards, and has now been followed by their book Life as a Casketeer: What the Business of Death Can Teach the Living. They talk life and death with Miriama Kamo.