QWF Chair Tanya Surrey reflects on the 2024 festival and looks ahead to the first weekend of November, 2025.
A new year is a time to plan ahead but also a chance to reflect on the year that has been. While I enjoy long summer days with warm weather and a good book there is plenty to think about with Queenstown Writers Festival.
In 2024, our Festival Team took a leap of faith as we embarked on our biggest and most varied festival ever, with plenty of other projects happening in the background too.
A rebrand and a new website was a huge task in itself but we also decided to hold launch events in Queenstown and Wānaka with Ockham winner Emily Perkins, workshops for rangatahi and adults with Dominic Hoey, a writing competition and of course a programme of over 30 events.
It was an intense job for four volunteers and I reckon if we’d thought more about it before taking the leap of faith I’m not sure we would have gone ahead. It was all worth it of course.
Back stage there was drama, disagreements, joy, impatience and the ups and downs that come when you have a passionate and lively group of women with strong opinions in the same room. Luckily, our disagreements are completely overruled by our shared vision – to bring readers and writers together for a vibrant and energising weekend.
With 32 events, 25 guests, 1500 attendees and 350 books sold, 2024 was without doubt a successful festival. We built it and they came. The Festival Team is hugely grateful to our audiences, volunteers, sponsors and funders.
We love sharing our vision with our audience. Stories are powerful – they can inspire, motivate and enthral. Stories give us insights and new perspectives. They can force us to think. They entertain and educate. Who does not love a good story?
Now that the 2024 chapter of the Festival’s history is firmly in the rear vision mirror, it’s time to start thinking about the year ahead.
We’re working to bring another weekend of spellbinding storytelling to Tāhuna-Queenstown on the first weekend of November. The dates are locked in: Friday 31 October – Sunday 2 November 2025.
It’s easy to think that November is months away but as we all know time flies. The Festival Team has met to start planning for the 2025 Festival and we have plenty of ideas. I foresee more robust kōrero ahead!
Our goal is always to bring the best New Zealand writing to Tahuna Queenstown on the first weekend of November. Ultimately, the Festival is for you, our audience.
We want to know more about you and what you want to see and hear. We know we have a vibrant community of people who attend our events and enjoy hearing fabulous stories as much as we do.
Let us know who you’d like to see at Queenstown Writers Festival this year by emailing us on [email protected] or or send us a DM. Let’s bring on the storytelling in November 2025!
Tanya Surrey
QWF Chairperson
