Industry Insights with The Big Idea and Auckland Writers Festival: Publisher Edition

In the second of three events, The Big Idea Editor Gabi will talk with two publishers to demystify the publishing process.

Damien Levi (Te Āti Haunui-a-Paparangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāpuhi, Pākehā) is a publisher, editor and arts facilitator. His micro press, Āporo, was born out of the online LGBTQIA+ arts and literature journal, bad apple in 2023. Now it's first novel, Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent is up for the Ockham Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. Levi also works as a publishing specialist at
Auckland Council Libraries – a role that's seen him publish books like Tamaki Makaurau 2025: Essays on Life in Auckland.

At the other end of the publishing scale, Grace Thomas works for Penguin Random House, the New Zealand home of the world's best-known publishers and Aotearoa’s largest local publisher. While she may be a little more behind the scenes, she won a bidding war for Jacinda Ardern's recent book and has also been behind local authors like Dominic Hoey, Scotty Morrison and Charlotte Grimshaw. 

The relaxed panel will run from 11:00am – 11:30am at the Kōrero Corner on level 5 and is free to attend.