30 years of conversation.
Online, for everyone, forever.
All our stories are yours to explore. The Going West Festival’s archives are now discoverable online through Auckland Libraries’ heritage collections database, Kura.
Hundreds of audio recordings. Thousands of photographs. Three decades of literary and cultural history made searchable for readers, researchers, former audiences and future generations.
The Within These Walls Series formed part of the Going West Festival’s 30th anniversary celebrations, and marks a moment of arrival for Shadbolt House as it comes into its own as a writers’ residency and literary hub.
Thank you to those who joined us in the glade at Piha for the poetry writing exploration and making your mark in The Listening Sand on Sunday 2 November 2025
Going West celebrates Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu), our new New Zealand Poet Laureate for 2025-2028
In 2024, we completed approximately a third of the work required to restore the property’s structural integrity. We are now preparing to launch the next significant stage of work needed to establish the house as a full writers’ residency.
The Going West Trust and the Shadbolt family celebrate Shadbolt house receiving a Category 1 historic place listing.
Our dedicated archivist, with support from the Auckland Library Heritage Trust and Lotteries Heritage, has completed the marathon effort of archiving the Going West festival audio collection for 1996 – 2019.
The House Within, just premiered in Wellington, holds a delicate lens to the fascinating life and work of one of Aotearoa’s literary treasures, Dame Fiona Kidman.