The First Chapter reveal for Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki 2026
Book lovers are in for an early treat with the announcement that Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki will host three major events across three evenings in March 2026. It will be the sole Aotearoa New Zealand appearance for a trio of dazzling international writers, in conversation with local hosts, providing a thought-provoking first chapter before the Festival proper, which takes place from 12 – 17 May.
First on the billing is acclaimed journalist and author M. Gessen (Wednesday 4 March), whom Timothy Snyder describes as “an indispensable voice of and for this moment”. A lauded opinion columnist with The New York Times and the author of 11 acclaimed works of nonfiction, most recently Surviving Autocracy and The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia, Gessen is a vital voice in modern journalism and literature whose books regularly top the bestseller charts.
Their fearless reporting and penetrating political analysis have made them a key guide to our bewildering times, offering incisive political insight and analysis of our tumultuous period of world history.
Next, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning American writer Percival Everett (Thursday 5 March) will discuss his lauded career spanning more than 30 books including Erasure (now a major film: American Fiction), The Trees and James.
James has barely left the bestseller charts this year and is a profound and ferociously funny reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. It swept the literary award circuit, earning Everett the Pulitzer and Kirkus Prizes, the National Book Award, and a second Booker shortlisting in just three years.
Finally, Vincenzo Latronico (Friday 6th March) is regarded as one of Europe’s most talented next generation writers. He is an Italian novelist, art critic and translator of authors such as George Orwell, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hanif Kureishi.
His fourth novel – and first to be translated into English - Perfection (tr. Sophie Hughes) is a powerfully observant and slyly devastating satire about a Berlin-dwelling, dissatisfied millennial couple that quickly became one of the most acclaimed and talked-about novels of the year. It was hailed as “generation-defining” by critics and shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize.
Latronico is presented in partnership with Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, where he will discuss Perfection, which Lauren Groff called “a jewel of a novel: precisely cut, intricately faceted, prismatically dazzling”.
First Chapter: Event Details
Tickets to all three events go on sale via Ticketmaster at 10am, Monday 3 November.
An Evening with M. Gessen
Date: Wednesday 4 March
Time: 7 - 8.15pm
Location: Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland Girls' Grammar School
Tickets: $45.50/$20 students
An Evening with Percival Everett
Date: Thursday 5 March
Time: 7 - 8.15pm
Location: Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland Girls' Grammar School
Tickets: $45.50/$20 students
Vincenzo Latronico: Perfection in partnership with Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Date: Friday 6th March
Time: 7 - 8.15pm
Location: The Auditorium, Auckland Art Gallery
Tickets: $24/$13 students
