Yesterday marked the final day of the three-day festival which attracted writers from New Zealand and Australia.
Aspiring writers and intrigued members of the public attended events ranging from a discussion of erotic writing to a Dunedin high school poetry slam.
Mr Hawkins said festival organisers and participants pulled off "a big idea on a small budget".
"The primary focus for us has always been trying to help foster a community of young writers from around the country and from Australia and it has been a great success."
A performance poetry evening and discussion of fan fiction escapades were the strongest events, he said.
"It has been good to celebrate fiction this year in a way that we haven’t really done previously.
"That was a gap we identified and having writers create new work especially for the festival in an environment like that is great."
The strength of the festival was evident in the calibre of writers willing to give up their weekend to participate, he said.
Early plans had been made for the fourth festival. Organisers would now concentrate on the Fringe Festival, to be held in March.
