WORD Christchurch Brings Four Award-Winning International Authors To Ōtautahi Christchurch This Autumn

WORD Christchurch will present four events this April and May ahead of their annual spring festival, featuring award-winning authors from Ireland and the United States: Niall Williams, Louise Erdrich, RF Kuang, and Karen Hao. 

Niall Williams: Capturing Irish Life (IRELAND)
6pm - 7pm, Tuesday 21 April

Tautoru TSB Space at Tūranga

For one night only in New Zealand, join us for a celebration of Irish storytelling with Booker Prize nominated writer Niall Williams (Ireland). Capturing  the magic of everyday life in his beautifully observed novels, Williams’ 1997 bestseller Four Letters of Love is now a major film starring Pierce Brosnan and Helena Bonham Carter. Illuminating the extraordinary within the ordinary, his 2019 novel This Is Happiness (“one of my very favourite books.” - Ann Patchett) chronicles the arrival of electricity in the small Irish village of Faha in 1958. Williams’ latest novel, Time of the Child is “a slow-burning, finely crafted novel about second chances, humanity and familial love” (The Observer). Chaired by Kate de Goldi.

Karen Hao: Empire of AI (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

6pm - 7pm, Monday 11 May

The Piano

Longtime AI expert Karen Hao (USA) has extensively covered OpenAI since 2019. In her book Empire of AI: Inside the Reckless Race for Total Domination, the award-winning investigative journalist recounts the meteoric rise of OpenAI and shows us the sinister impact that this industry is having on society, tech ethics, and the alarming spike in the need for energy and water required to power it all. Hao’s incisive reporting has put her at top of the list when it comes to voices of influence around this very contemporary, rapidly changing issue.
She joins The Press journalist Victoria Meakin in conversation.

“Empire of AI is a heroic work. Karen Hao is a gifted journalist… If you think the digital future is safe in the hands of brilliant scientists, smart investors, and earnest political leaders, think again.”
Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

Presented in partnership with Auckland Writers Festival.

Louise Erdrich: Land, Legacy and the Python’s Kiss (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

6pm - 7pm, Tuesday 26 May

The Piano

Join us for a rare opportunity in Ōtautahi Christchurch to see Louise Erdrich (USA), one of the greatest living American writers. The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of The Night Watchman and The Round House is back with the highly-anticipated short story collection Python’s Kiss. Twenty years in the making, these captivating stories explore the surreal, the sacred, and the endurance of love. Erdrich is one of the most significant writers of the second wave of the native American Resistance, and her stories have a powerful resonance here in Aotearoa New Zealand. She joins Nic Low (Ngāi Tahu) for a conversation about her decades of chronicling the tribal experience, grappling with treaty rights, ancestral memory, and the "Mighty Red" river. 

Presented in partnership with Auckland Writers Festival.

RF Kuang: From Yellowface to Katabasis (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

8pm - 9pm, Thursday 21 May

The Piano

The #1 New York Times bestselling writer RF Kuang (USA) joins us to discuss the imaginative worlds she creates in her blockbuster novels. The viral Yellowface is a biting and propulsive satire of the publishing industry, while the cult hit Babel imagines a wildly counter-historical version of Oxford University. Her latest book Katabasis brings together dark academia and fantasy and is destined to be a classic. Rachael King chats with this literary global sensation.

Presented in partnership with Auckland Writers Festival.

WORD Christchurch warmly acknowledges its major funders: Creative New Zealand, Christchurch City Council, and the Rātā Foundation.

Event Details:
Niall Williams: Capturing Irish Life (IRELAND)
6pm - 7pm, Tuesday 21 April |Tautoru TSB Space at Tūranga

Karen Hao: Empire of AI (UNITED STATES)
6pm - 7pm, Monday 11 May | The Piano

Louise Erdrich: Land, Legacy and the Python’s Kiss (UNITED STATES)
6pm - 7pm 26 May |The Piano

RF Kuang: From Yellowface to Katabasis (UNITED STATES)
8pm - 9pm, Thursday 21 May |The Piano

Tickets for all events are available now through the events section at wordchristchurch.co.nz.

ABOUT WORD CHRISTCHURCH

WORD Christchurch is a charitable trust that curates and presents a dynamic festival and series of events each year centred around words, stories and ideas. The 2026 festival programme will be launched on 15 July, with the festival itself taking place 1 - 6 September. Expect a variety of sessions, including special events, one-on-one conversations, panel discussions, performances, and workshops, offering opportunities for a wide range of people to engage, learn, and connect.

WORD celebrates 30 years of festivals in 2027.

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