Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi O Tāmaki To Present Multi-Award Winning Historian And Podcaster William Dalrymple

Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki is thrilled to present the internationally bestselling, multi-award-winning historian William Dalrymple, for a special out-of-season event.

Hailed as Britain’s finest living historian and a global authority on India, William Dalrymple has brought India’s past and present vividly to life to audiences worldwide through his record-breaking Empire podcast (with 85 million downloads and counting), and a host of acclaimed books including The Anarchy, The Last Mughal and Nine Lives.

His sole public Aotearoa New Zealand event will take place in Auckland on Wednesday 5 November and is the third in a special Spring season of events that also includes Romantasy queen Callie Hart (Monday 13 October) and Festival favourite Trent Dalton (Wednesday 15 October).

William will present his landmark book, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World, in which he draws from a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India as the great intellectual and philosophical superpower in Ancient Asia, and the spread of Indian ideas that would go on to transform world history, politics and economics.

From the largest Hindu temple in the world at Angkor Wat to the Buddhism of China, from the trade that helped fund the Roman Empire to the creation of the numerals we use today, India transformed the culture and technology of its ancient world – and our world today as we know it.

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday 5 November, 7.00-8.15pm

Location: Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland Girls Grammar, 16 Howe Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland 1011 Tickets: $40 (general); $20 (student), available from Ticketmaster

Don’t miss this chance to spend time in the company of one of the great minds and raconteurs of our time. William's talk will be followed by an in-conversation session and a book signing.

About Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki

Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki is an annual celebration of books and ideas and the leading showcase for national and international writers, thinkers and creatives to discuss their work to an Aotearoa New Zealand audience. As one of the Southern Hemisphere’s best-attended book festivals 60,000 – 85,000 attendees of all ages flock to the Aotea Centre in central Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland over six days in May. The 2026 Festival will take place between 12 – 17 May, with the ever-popular STREETSIDE: BRITOMART serving as a pre-Festival teaser on the earlier date of Friday 8 May. There are also a number of high profile out-of-season events planned to run throughout the year.

Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki would like to acknowledge the support of our Festival Patrons and the following key sponsors and funders: Principal Partner ARA Group; Platinum Partner: Freemasons Foundation; Gold Partners; Barfoot & Thompson, Creative New Zealand, Ockham Residential, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited.

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