Miller has been named the 2027 Writer in Residence at the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML), part of Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. She will take up the residency in February, with support from Creative New Zealand.

It is a return to the place where she completed a Master of Arts in 2005, after studying history and English literature at the university. She later earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2008.

Miller said: “How amazing to get to spend a year on these projects back at the IIML, where it all began for me as a writer. After 15 years away from Aotearoa, I’m so lucky to come home to this.”

During the residency she plans to work on a new novel, a collection of poems and a commissioned libretto, the words for an opera, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Erebus disaster.

The anniversary falls in 2029. On 28 November 1979, Air New Zealand Flight TE901 crashed into Mt Erebus in Antarctica, killing all 257 people on board. It remains New Zealand’s worst civil disaster.

Miller will also collaborate with her Norwegian partner on a series bringing contemporary literature from Aotearoa to Norwegian readers through translation.

Her writing spans poetry, fiction and essays. Her poetry collections include The Limits, Nowhere Nearer, What Fire and Here & Thereafter, published in the UK earlier this year. Her debut novel, More Miracle Than Bird, was published in 2020, and she has twice won the Landfall Essay Prize.

Her career has also included work at the Waitangi Tribunal and the United Nations, along with teaching writing in the United States and Europe.

Professor Damien Wilkins, director of the IIML, said: “Alice has an extraordinary set of literary skills and it will be exciting to see her writing projects develop over the year.”

The residency is jointly funded by the university and Creative New Zealand and provides a writer with a year to concentrate on their work within the university’s literary community. There are no formal duties, although the resident is expected to participate in university cultural life.

Miller added: “Especially in these rocky times, to have a year among the brilliant community at Bill Manhire House is a massive privilege.”

Wellington City Libraries will celebrate the three digitised publications at Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui on Wednesday 28 October. Former contributors, publishers and the public are invited to the free launch.

For readers who remember picking up Capital Times each week, the archive brings back a publication that began with a different audience in mind.

Its predecessor, Capital Visitor, started in 1974 as a guide to Wellington’s attractions, restaurants and hospitality venues. Renamed Capital Times in 1982, it gradually became a weekly community newspaper.

John Bristed and Alison Franks bought the paper in 1990. As managing editor, Franks developed its coverage of the city’s arts scene over the following 22 years. The free newspaper ran for more than three decades.

The other two publications offer a view of Wellington in the 1980s.

John Dow and Gayle Page founded Agenda in late 1984, with its first issue appearing in early 1985. It carried news, reviews and event listings over the next five years.

W5 ran in 1983 and 1984. Edited by journalist and local historian David McGill, it included feature-length investigations and sold for $1, unlike the free Capital Times and Agenda.

The launch is part of Wellington Heritage Festival and runs from 5.30pm to 7pm in Ngā Pou Ruahine, Level 2 of Te Matapihi, 65 Victoria Street.

The publications are being made available through Wellington City Recollect. Launch details are available here.

The free festival, running from 2pm until 8.30pm, will bring together performers, families and community groups for an afternoon celebrating the traditions and cultures of Wellington’s Indian communities.

Visitors will be able to explore stalls selling Indian clothing, jewellery and crafts, enjoy henna painting and sample vegetarian dishes from different regions of India.

At the heart of the celebrations will be a programme of performances showcasing the talents of local dancers and musicians, from classical Indian traditions to contemporary Bollywood and Bhangra.

The stage programme begins with opening acts at 2.05pm, followed by an opening ceremony at 2.30pm.

Young performers will have their moment in the spotlight during the Starlights Kids Zone from 3pm. Classical performances follow at 3.40pm, with traditional and modern dance from 4.25pm.

The evening programme includes fusion performances at 6.45pm, Bolly World at 7.40pm and finale acts beginning at 8.10pm.

Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is one of the most important celebrations in Indian culture. Rooted in Hindu traditions and observed by communities around the world, it celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance.

The lighting of traditional lamps, known as diyas, symbolises hope, renewal and the welcoming of light into people’s lives.

In Wellington, the festival has also become an opportunity for different generations to share their cultural heritage and for the wider community to experience traditions that are an important part of the city’s identity.

Communities Action Trust New Zealand (CATNZ), which has helped produce Wellington’s Diwali festivals since 2009, is organising this year’s celebrations with support from Wellington City Council, the High Commission of India and Radio Tarana.

The longstanding partnership has helped establish Diwali as a regular occasion for community organisations, cultural performers and families to come together.

The festivities will finish with a short fireworks display over Wellington Harbour at approximately 8.50pm, subject to weather conditions.

Queens Wharf and other parts of the Wellington waterfront will provide viewing areas for the display, which follows the conclusion of the indoor programme at 8.30pm.

The festival takes place during Labour Weekend, ahead of the main Diwali celebrations on 8 November.

Entry is free. Visitors can check the Wellington City Council website for the latest programme details and any changes to arrangements.

Donato had been working on Wilding Pines during a Gold Coast holiday with a friend. Back in New Zealand, she still had only half a story and no ending. She submitted the finished work at 11.50pm.

“My writing is like that second life where all the real stuff happens,” she said in the University of Waikato’s announcement.

The story follows two people travelling south through the North Island towards Wellington. Donato drew partly on bands she loved as a teenager, exploring how pieces of conversation could establish characters and their surroundings.

Chief judge Becky Manawatu said she recognised the winner on her first reading, praising its distinctive voice and its understanding of people wanting to be wanted.

For this entry, Donato used the name Lourdes David, her late maternal grandmother. She was returning to a competition that had recognised her work before: in 2021, she finished second with The Duwende.

The Sargeson competition judges manuscripts without the writers’ names attached, and accepts work from both established and unpublished authors.

Donato has a master’s degree in creative writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her fiction has appeared in adda, Overland, The Spinoff and Newsroom.

Her work has also reached an international shortlist. In 2024, writing as M Donato, she was among 23 authors selected for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize from 7,359 entries. Her shortlisted story, Manananggal, follows a young woman visiting the Philippines who becomes caught up in her cousin’s life.

The Commonwealth Foundation describes Donato as a Filipino New Zealander based in Wellington. Alongside her creative writing qualification, she has an English literature degree from Victoria University.

The 2026 Sargeson awards were announced at the University of Waikato’s Frank Sargeson Memorial Lecture on 3 October.

Established in 2019 and conceived by writer Catherine Chidgey, the prize is named after New Zealand short story writer Frank Sargeson. Entry is free, with each writer allowed one original, unpublished story. The open division accepts work of up to 5000 words.

Wellington also features elsewhere in this year’s results. Tess Upperton received a highly commended placing for Cleaner, while Wellington High School student Esmé Hollings was highly commended in the secondary schools division for Running Parallel.

Wilding Pines was published by ReadingRoom on 10 October and can be read through the University of Waikato’s Sargeson Prize winners page. https://newsroom.co.nz/readingroom/

The Craft (his & hers) begins on Saturday 31 October, with projections running each evening from 8pm to midnight. People will be able to watch from the street outside the cottage at 68 Nairn Street, Mount Cook. The building will remain closed during the screenings.

Tini uses his own body in the work, performing rituals involving clothing and personal care. City Gallery Wellington describes the figures as a way of examining how people create and express their identities, and how colonial ideas of gender continue to shape those experiences.

The installation is curated by CIRCUIT for City Gallery and forms a new part of Unsettling Nairn Street, an exhibition inviting contemporary artists to explore the house and the histories of the land beneath it.

For Tini, who lectures at Massey University’s Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts, photography and video are ways to respond to colonial histories and express his own experience as Māori.

In an interview published by Wellington’s Enjoy Contemporary Art Space in January, he described making art as another way of talking and sharing with people.

“I’m compelled to make things, sometimes for myself and sometimes to share with others,” he said.

Tini also recalled that his first real art-gallery experience was at City Gallery in 2017, when he had just started art school. A Cindy Sherman exhibition, with its many clowns, had been an overwhelming introduction. His new work now joins a programme organised by that same gallery.

The cottage offers a setting with its own history of people deciding which stories and buildings matter.

Carpenter William Wallis built the house in the late 1850s after arriving from England with his wife Catherine. Three generations of the family lived there. Its survival was secured by a community campaign after the city council acquired it in 1974 with demolition in mind.

Heritage New Zealand records that the Colonial Cottage Museum Society fought to preserve the building. The council relented in 1977 and the house opened as a museum in 1980. It is now a Category 1 historic place.

Inside, the wider exhibition brings seven artists’ work into the ground-floor rooms. Co-curator Emma Ng has described how the installations draw attention to traces of the past, including the plants, waterways and family lives associated with the neighbourhood.

George Turner’s beeswax houses carry impressions of gorse, while Paula Collier suspends native Coprosma branches before the nursery’s old wallpaper. Heidi Brickell’s washroom installation refers to the buried Waimapihi and Moturoa waterways. Other works consider the household’s family relationships and the possessions people keep.

Visitors can see the indoor exhibition during the cottage’s regular opening hours. Tini’s work will bring another part of the exhibition into view after dark, through the upstairs windows.

Cavemen, made up of Tarn, Theo, Axel and Yohann, claimed the national title with performances of their original indie-rock song Scars and a cover of Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine.

The four young musicians have won $2,000 worth of musical equipment from the Rockshop for their school's music department, along with the opportunity to record a song.

It was an outstanding result for the Wellington region, with another local band, The Reset from Rangikura School, finishing second and winning $1,500 in musical equipment.

Third place went to No Way Out from Te Atatu Intermediate in Auckland, which received $1,000 in equipment.

The national competition followed regional Bandquest events around New Zealand.

At the regional events, students performed live using professional musical equipment, often experiencing the excitement of playing on a proper concert stage for the first time.

Regional winners received $300 worth of equipment for their school music departments and the opportunity to enter the national final by submitting a video featuring two songs.

Twenty-six bands reached the final, with performances ranging from original compositions to interpretations of well-known songs.

Judge and artist Riiki said the standard of musicianship among the young performers had been exceptional.

"I was truly blown away by the amount of talent in this year's Bandquest competition!" she said.

She particularly praised the drummers and the quality of the original songwriting, describing compositions that demonstrated musical ability well beyond the students' years.

Rockquest Promotions co-founder and director Glenn Common said Bandquest had helped young New Zealanders develop their confidence and creativity since the programme began in 2011.

He said watching children perform on stage for the first time and discover what they could achieve was one of the most rewarding aspects of the competition.

Many Bandquest participants continue developing their musical interests through secondary school, with some later entering the Smokefreerockquest and Smokefree Tangata Beats competitions.

Bandquest gives primary and intermediate students the opportunity to form bands, write music, rehearse together and perform before audiences while developing teamwork, resilience and confidence.

For Cavemen, the national victory also brings an opportunity to take their music beyond the school stage and record a song.

The competition is organised by Rockquest Promotions, powered by the Rockshop and presented by the Wright Family Foundation.

The exhibition, called CASTOMANIAC, ran from 5 to 11 October at Rice Pudding, Artists 24.7 and Subculture. It brought together work by children from Northland, Te Aro, Lyall Bay, St Patrick’s and Holy Cross schools.

Inspired by British artist Cornelia Parker, the children explored how ordinary objects could be taken apart, transformed and given new meaning through sculpture.

Some creations were small enough to fit inside matchboxes, while others involved suspended objects, light and installations made from familiar materials.

At Rice Pudding, on Constable Street, sculptures by 890 young artists were brought together in an exhibition exploring the personal significance of everyday objects.

The children were asked to consider a simple question: “What is the most significant thing you’ve collected that fits in your hand?”

Their responses became the starting point for artworks that visitors could explore, including miniature sculptures hidden inside matchboxes that could be opened to reveal their contents.

Further along Riddiford Street, Northland School pupils presented an exhibition at Artists 24.7 that explored the process of making art, including experiments, remakes and unsuccessful attempts alongside completed sculptures.

A third exhibition took the form of a window display at Subculture, bringing the children’s artwork into another part of Newtown’s shopping area.

The project went beyond giving children an opportunity to exhibit their work. Pupils were also involved in curating and designing the displays, while some children and their caregivers took responsibility for welcoming visitors and explaining the artworks.

This gave the young artists a direct role in deciding how their work would be presented to the public, rather than simply making sculptures for adults to arrange.

The project was supported by City Gallery Wellington and developed in partnership with Newtown Heart, with funding support from the TG Macarthy Trust and Hynds Foundation.

CASTOMANIAC also formed part of the celebrations surrounding the reopening of City Gallery Wellington at Te Ngākau Civic Square on 10 October, following renovation and strengthening work.

The gallery reopened with a major exhibition by Parker, whose internationally recognised sculptures and installations frequently involve breaking, crushing, suspending and reconstructing everyday objects.

Her exhibition, the first solo public gallery presentation of her work in New Zealand, features more than 50 artworks and runs until 7 March 2027.

For the Wellington schoolchildren involved in CASTOMANIAC, the project provided an opportunity to have their artwork exhibited in public galleries alongside the city’s wider contemporary arts programme.

The nine-track album was written, produced and arranged at Baker’s studio in Tītahi Bay during 2024 and 2025 and released on 9 October.

Baker says the songs deal with grief, community, resilience, love and self-reflection. They include the previously released singles All We Need, Trouble and Mighty Tree.

His collaborators include Wellington musicians Cory Champion, Louisa Williamson, Rikki Gooch, James Illingworth and Johnny Lawrence. The closing track, Never Give You Up (Pt. 1), features songwriter and producer Jordan Rakei.

Baker has worked in New Zealand’s soul music scene for more than a decade. The new record combines soul and contemporary production, with strings, guitar and keyboards among its arrangements.

He will tour New Zealand throughout October and early November, including shows in Dunedin, Queenstown, Wānaka, Napier, Mount Maunganui, Auckland and Christchurch before the Wellington performance.

The 31 October concert at Meow Nui is part of Baker’s first headline tour since 2021. Concert and ticket details are available at https://www.louisbaker.co.nz/

The winners were announced at the Embassy Theatre on 2 October, following a public screening of films created by local filmmakers for Wellington charities and community organisations.

The challenge brought together professional filmmakers, students and volunteers to produce short films that participating charities can use to promote their services, attract supporters and tell their stories.

Traces of Nut received the Supreme Winner: Judges’ Choice award for its work with Radiant Hope Community Trust, which provides food assistance, employment support and household essentials to people in need.

Filmmaking team Couch Kumara was named runner-up in the Judges’ Choice category for its film Livvy’s Story, made for New Zealand Riding for the Disabled. The team also received the Rocket Rentals Technical Excellence Award for another film, Behind Every Ride, produced for the same organisation.

The Most Creative / Out of the Box award was shared by two teams: Fairlie Professional, which created a film for Walk Wellington, and Copper Bus Productions, which worked with Dress for Success Wellington.

Dress for Success helps people develop the skills and confidence needed to enter or return to employment. Its services include interview preparation, career coaching, mentoring and work experience opportunities.

Team Wildflowers received the Empire Films Unfinished Story Award for its work with Newtown Community Centre. Michelle Cameron, working with the same team, also received the WIFT Female & Gender-Diverse Award.

The Wellington UNESCO City of Film Diversity in Film Award went to Young Joys for a film made for EKTA, an organisation supporting community connection and empowerment.

Reel You In received the Wellington UNESCO City of Film Emerging Filmmaker Award for its film with Barnardos Aotearoa, with the award presented to Finn Grieve and Jess Roulston.

Samuel James, working with Team Billie on a film for Cycling Action Network, received the Te Herenga Waka Above & Beyond Student Award.

The Portsmouth Award for Best Storytelling went to Butterfly Effect for its film featuring Wellington Women’s House, which provides safe and affordable accommodation for women rebuilding their lives.

The Community Film Challenge was organised as part of Volunteer Wellington’s activities marking the United Nations’ International Year of the Volunteer.

Participating filmmakers were matched with local charities on 11 September, giving teams time to develop their ideas before filming on 18 September and completing post-production the following day.

The completed films were submitted on 20 September, ahead of the awards screening at the Embassy Theatre.

The project was designed to give charities access to professional filmmaking skills while creating opportunities for students and emerging filmmakers to gain practical experience.

All the completed films, including the award-winning entries, are available to watch on Volunteer Wellington’s Community Film Challenge website.

Lisa Carrington Rescues a Rascal is Carrington’s second picture book, following Lisa Carrington Chases a Champion. Both books are illustrated by Scott Pearson.

The latest story follows Lisa, her family and friends into the New Zealand outdoors, where they pitch tents, read maps, cross rivers and climb rocks. When Colin the dog goes missing, their camping trip turns into a rescue mission.

The adventure introduces children to the idea that leadership is not only about being first or fearless. Listening, offering support, showing kindness and helping other people use their strengths all have a part to play.

Huia Publishers director Eboni Waitere said the book combines the freedom of summer camping with an important message for young readers.

“It has all the fun and freedom of camping, but at its heart is a powerful message: children do not have to be the loudest, fastest or most fearless person in the group to be a leader,” she said.

Carrington draws on lessons from sport and life to explore how children can remain calm and feel more capable when they encounter something new or uncertain. The book also includes a letter from Carrington and a question-and-answer section.

Carrington, who has eight Olympic gold medals and one bronze, is New Zealand’s most decorated Olympian. Pearson’s illustrations bring humour and movement to the outdoor adventure.

Huia has also published the te reo Māori edition, Ko Lisa Carrington me te Tohu Tainanakia. Both editions are available through bookstores and the publisher, with a recommended retail price of $29.

More information is available at Huia Publishers.