WORD writers: Who or what has made waves in your life?

WORD Christchurch Festival 2026 is on from 1 to 6 September. Ōtautahi Christchurch will be the place to be if you love writing, reading, or ideas!

WORD asked Festival writers and performers the question:

Who or what has made waves in your life? Why?

"My time in the natural world shapes me every day. I see patterns and systems that are reflected in people and communities. We are nature, and the more we surrender to the intricate web of life, of which we're just one undertaking, the more peace and understanding we'll find." Angela Clifford

"My tuakana Dr Kelly Waiana Tikao is my older cousin-sister who I've always been close to and looked up to. She is a powerful wahine toa who has made waves by reviving customary Māori birthing practices (as well as many talents in other fields). Kelly was also a support person at the homebirth of our daughter Matahana, and an inspiration behind my first solo album Whaea (a celebration of motherhood). She gave heartfelt launch speeches at my launches for my books Mokorua and Pepeha Portal." Ariana Tikao

"Dying or abused children I have encountered in my job - deeply traumatising but it has taught me how to navigate the grief of families and has entrenched for me why it is important to make a difference for them." Barbara Dreaver 

"My book-loving family! From as far back as I can remember, my parents and my older sister (Melanie, also an author) treated me to a treasure trove of storytelling. They read me mountains of library books, and enchanted me with loads of outrageous made-up stories. From tall tales of forty-eyed dragons, talking trees and battling spiders, to bed-time favourites of witches in cherry trees, tea-drinking tigers and courageous sailor dogs, I rode the waves of adventure and intrigue, sparking a passion for creating my own stories for children." Belinda O'Keefe

"Watching Kira Muratova’s Melody for a Street Organ - that was a turning point in my approach as a writer." Brannavan Gnanalingam 

"My wife. When I first laid eyes on her. Damien Wilkins, when I first laid eyes on him. Vincent O'Sullivan for treating me like a writer. Lawrence Patchett and William Brandt. Camaraderie etc." Breton Dukes

"Learning about Dada as a 20-year-old entering art school really legitimised the artistic value of performance, pranks, activism and the ephemeral (printed manifestos et al)." Bryce Galloway

"My journalism career has opened the door for me to meet incredible people in many different countries who have changed my perspective on life in multiple ways. From the New Zealand medic who rushed from his home in Bangkok to help his adopted country of Thailand cope with the devastation of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to the Beijing mother who has spent decades fighting for someone to be held accountable for the killing of her teenage son in the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, people have a remarkable capacity to help others and to stand up for what they believe in, even when it costs them dearly. I wrote my memoir, Every Second Counts, because I wanted to document the extraordinary ways I’ve seen humans rise to challenging circumstances. Even though journalists often have to report on stories of profound suffering and injustice, in amongst it, I’ve always found hope in how people respond." Charlotte Glennie 

"The people I think of as my muses have given me all I need for my work." Charlotte Grimshaw 

"Rangimoana Taylor - as a mentor when starting out writing Māori stories." Cindy Diver

"Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner - my fave novel, published 100 years ago this year." Claire Mabey 

"It's perhaps quite boring and not at all unique but the internet continues to make waves, good and bad, in my life. Growing up through alongside the internet affected me in indescribable ways. As a young person in semi-rural New Zealand seeking more from the world, it presented opportunities to be connected. In a literary sense, I have read some of the most engaging, beautifully penned writing in weird corners of the net. I have also read some of the worst dribble churned out by human and machine." Damien Levi

"Kevin Barry. His writing reminds me of what's possible as an artist." Dominic Hoey

"Loss has shaped me more than anything else. It changed the questions I ask, the research I pursue, and ultimately the books I write. But so have the remarkable people I've met through my work, whose courage reminds me daily that resilience isn't about being tough - it's about learning how to keep living wholeheartedly despite life's inevitable challenges." Dr Lucy Hone 

"My whānau, my friends, and nature." Ekant Veer

"My mother Shirley Maddock. She was a trail blazing maker of television and writer of books, and also an actor and broadcaster. her first novel With Gently Smiling Jaws is amazing. I read it in my early 20s and it's so good, based on her experiences of going to New York on a Fulbright in the 1950s. Growing up knowing about her body of work before I came along, then seeing her sitting at her type writer writing books, articles and letters, we all wrote a lot of letters, Mum was the most incredible role model and I miss her every day. I named a character in Seed for her, and wrote a version of the mother she might have been for me as I grew older. And what sort of grandmother she could have become, if she hadn't died when I was 30." Elisabeth Easther

"Silence. The silence imposed on my mother by Motor Neuron Disease and, lately, the silence with birdsong where I live now." Elizabeth Knox 

"My Mum. She has been a constant source of inspiration and support Harvey Milk- gay, US politician, tragically assassinated. Chris Knox, The Clean, Martin Phillips, Graeme Downes, Shayne Carter and every Dunedin musician who changed my life." Grant Robertson 

"The disappearance of my brother at sea when I was a teenager made huge waves in my life. It's given me a depth of feeling and a way of looking at the world through a lens of risk and the fragility of life. I think it's made me a more compassionate person - you never know what's going on on the inside of someone's life by looking at the outside. It gave me a sense of the weird and wonderful and mysterious and macabre which sometimes makes its way into my writing." Heather Haylock

"The changing waves of ideologies in education. I believe in balance and yet we swing like a pendulum. It's been a dizzying ride." Heather McQuillan 

"My Grandfather for remaining committed to his paintbrush. My Grandmother's Love. My parents for their unceasing support and belief in me. My first yoga teacher for introducing me to what lay beyond appearances. My many school teachers for their embodiment of love and learning. Deborah Green for inviting me to let the art lead. Andrew Trotter for pointing to what was always there. The Port Hills of Christchurch for holding my heart." Hilary Jean Tapper  

"My parents Bill (Mutalau, Niue) and Rauru (Atiu & Manihiki, Cook Islands) met in Aotearoa in their youth. Their conscious decision to raise a family back home in the islands was a wave that has blessed my life. I was born in Niue and spent most of my life growing up there as one of eight children. We lived in Mutalau where our wider village was an educational space to learn more about our culture, history and values. These experiences have shaped my world view, confidence and resilience. Those nearest and dearest to me have influenced and inspired me in many ways." Inangaro Vakaafi 

"My mother. My book is dedicated to her. She taught me to love books and to be strong, even in hard times. She taught me we need be compassionate, and to keep imagining a better world." Ingrid Horrocks

"Knowing my language and that has strengthened my identity". Jason Tiatia 

"My whanau make waves in my life - immediate daily waves - and then there's a second current of longer deeper waves from artists who use their craft to re-awaken us to the realities of this beautiful, challenging world we live in, people like Tame Iti, Yayoi Kusama, Janet Frame." Jo Randerson 

"Teachers, grandparents, old friends, new friends, the woman who helped me when my four-year old son needed the toilet while we were in the middle of the checkout queue in a busy supermarket just the other day." John Summers 

"Music. It helps me make sense of myself and the world around me." Jon Toogood 

"Family and school - for better or worse, I'm here talking to you, because of them." Joseph Trinidad

"I might be getting all Josh McGush here, but Sacha! She has changed and shaped my life for the better.  I love her writing, her stories… and her! Together we have made 5 picturebooks, 7 kids songs, one TV show, a home and two kids… and sometimes questionable life choices involving too many snacks.  We fell for each other while making our third book together, The Bomb (a picturebook with waves being made by some sweet manu dive-bombs). What Sacha creates is amazing and I find it truly mind blowing in its creativity and uniqueness. It’s original, honest, playful, heartfelt, inspiring, funny and beautiful – again, like her! It is the best thing in the world to create stories with Sach and I’ve loved creating illustrations for her since day one! I feel very lucky.  I think we are totally on the same silly-heartfelt wave-length." Josh Morgan  

"Wave making for me is about navigating contradictions, difference, identity, class, culture, expectations, people, places and things. It is about relationships, within and without. It is my children; Manu, Nixie and Atticus, my mum Hapeti, dad Hoterene, my recently passed sister Jeni Leigh, it is my whānau, my hapū, my communities and workspaces, it my partner Daniel, and the many knowledges I have inherited and been introduced to. It is Moana Jackson, Sacha McMeeking, Byllie Jean Zeta, it is wāhine Māori, Aunty Herena, storytellers, philosophers, plants, the city and Indigeneity. Ōtautahi provides the backdrop with its earthquake swamps and missing mosques. Waves are made by oceans that connect rather than separate, people are not at the centre, we are simply a fixture of its cycles, and when we de-centre ourselves, we become a part of, not apart from." Juanita Hepi 

"My English-teacher mother, cold water swimming, addiction and recovery, infertility - I've been tossed about by the tides and dived into things when I couldn't see the bottom. Mostly come up laughing though." Kate Camp 

"The Canterbury earthquakes. Without the wealth of archaeological data uncovered as a result, we wouldn't have founded Christchurch Archaeology Project and I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now." Katharine Watson 

"Having children changed my live in ways I'm still only figuring out now." Laura Borrowdale 

"My parents, because they encouraged us to love reading and pursue the work we loved the most; my wife, Tina Makereti, because she has such a generous heart and interesting mind; our daughters, because they're so brilliant and have already got it all sorted out." Lawrence Patchett

"Zadie Smith blew my mind when I first read White Teeth, and I still reread it every few years." Lizzie Tollemache  

"My friends, family, and community are forever creating waves of change, aroha, balance, belonging, and safety." MahMah Timoteo 

"In my writing life the biggest wave-maker has been Margaret Mahy, whose books have had a strong influence on my writing. I adore Margaret’s books … everything from the musicality of their delicious language to outrageous storylines and loveable characters. The Word Witch weaves her magic words (like “horrakapotchkin” and “rumbustification”) into spellbinding stories where the impossible becomes possible. When I first began dreaming up picture books Margaret gave me some great advice and encouragement and made me feel like a real writer." Melanie Koster 

"The survivors of attacks because of their resilience." Michal Dziwulski 

"My education and career in librarianship has shaped my worldview. I'm always thinking about preservation, information, and how we shape the future with what we keep of the past. I have a Master's in Information Science from Te Herenga Waka, and work as a librarian. Taking Liam McIlvanney's crime course changed my writing, and was the main reasons I was able to sit down and write a full novel. I'd never considered reading crime fiction before, let alone writing it! Because of that course, I stanchly believe writing can be taught, and that the craft of writing can be demystified. I was born in 2000, and spent my early years in writing circles online, writing both original stories and fanfiction. I really believe there's merit to having a writing community, and especially to experimenting with fanfiction, because it gives you a chance to flex writing muscles which otherwise require you to do your own worldbuilding and character development. I spent many decades confused about my sexuality - it took me 25 years to come to terms with being a lesbian. That confusion shaped my reading and writing life, because it drew me to different kinds of fiction, where the same extreme feelings of shame and love I felt were represented in characters. As a result of that shame, I also spent a lot of time in my own head, making up stories where I didn't have to explain myself." Molly Crighton

"I spent a lot of time with my Grandfather on the family farm and learnt many early habits - good & bad from him!" Nick Gill

"The work of Always Becominging always rocks me in the best way." pip adam 

"I’ve been thinking often lately of Jools and Lynda Topp, who made so many kiwis’ minds and lives more open. Through my life, the Topp Twins have shown the joy and responsibility of living authentically, to be true to ourselves and our communities." Rebecca Hawkes

"My partner, Ema - because she's French and has no hang ups about learning someone else's language or making space for other people. Also, she's a magnificent mother to our daughters." Richard Shaw 

"Social reform advocates and anyone who stands up for fairness and justice. People who quietly get on with the work. Those who know how to inspire others to think critically. People who can really laugh. And wild nature." Ruben Miller

"I know this will sound sappy, but it’s Josh. Meeting him has made the biggest, bestest, most beloved wave in my life. Everything I love the most has come from the magical luck I had in being paired with him on our first picture book together. Our publishers, HUIA, deserve a big shout out for that too - they’re the ones who teamed us up, and I’ll be forever grateful to them for bringing Josh into my life. Josh and I published two books together before falling in love while creating our third picture book, The Bomb. We're picture book creators with a picture book love story!" Sacha Cotter

"A tidal wave of great New Zealand authors and their great books drives me forward. Two authors in particular, were a huge driving force in my life - Janet Frame and Keri Hulme. Janet's 'Owls Do Cry' gave me hope in the darkness because it reflected the way people can be misunderstood and stigmatised. And Keri Hulme. I interviewed Keri many years ago and recall a scatter of shells on her desk at the University of Canterbury. Keri was and is, sand and sea and bush. Her book, The Bone People, spoke to a deep spiritual tug between people and the land. Keri and those determined women who started the Spiral Collective - a publishing house to publish a book that was turned down by conventional publishers - a book that went on to win the Booker Prize, made waves that still carry me. But on a close, personal level, I would have to say my husband - a truly good man, a local and national hero, John Edmundson, and my three darling Samoan-Tokelau'an sons, Kelynge, Ben, and Marco Samasoni. They are the waves that carry me, as I carry them, always." Saige England 

"My amazing teachers. The horrible people who are mean, bullies, unjust who have motivated me to stand strong against the wrong." Tania Roxborogh 

"The single biggest influence on my life was the tragic death of my best friend when I was a teenager. Until that point, I had no idea what career I wanted to pursue. His death changed the direction of my life completely and ignited a determination to understand how science could help answer the questions left behind after tragedy. It ultimately led me into forensic science. Thomas Coyle 

"Gaaa. Don't make me choose. If you do, I'll just choose my daughters. Okay then: my daughters. Because." Tim Corballis 

"When I was about 7 or 8, a family friend passed down a big stack of old Asterix and Tintin books. I was already a keen reader and loved to draw, but reading those sparked a deep love of comics - I felt like I had found a home!" Toby Morris

"James Baldwin came into my life at the perfect time when I was struggling with my cultural and sexual identities. Victor Rodger

More about WORD Christchurch Festival 2026

• Paper copies of the festival programme are available at libraries, grab a copy or check it out online.
• Visit our WORD Christchurch 2026 page
• Explore WORD Christchurch's website