For four days, Te Whare o Rukuita, in Princes St, is hosting a range of workshops and panels for the ninth annual NZ Young Writers Festival.
The festival had a raucous opening night on Thursday with a live show about improv comedy as a writing form.
But this year’s festival is no laughing matter.
The festival, for writers aged 15 to 35, features a wide range of disciplines, including novels and poetry as well as modern contemporaries such as zines, podcasts and blogging.
Co-director Ruth Harvey said this multi-disciplinary aspect of contemporary writing was the unofficial theme for the festival.
The festival as a whole exemplified how different forms of writing could "dovetail together" and be diversified based on who you chose to collaborate with, she said.
"Different people got matched with different events, so some of these young writers are coming together never having worked together before.
"I think that brings an energy, a freshness and an unexpected tone to it that I think the young writers themselves will really learn from, as well as the people attending," Ms Harvey said.
In the first panel, a playwright, a poet and two comedians discussed the works that put them each respectively on the map, for better or worse.
Auckland-based playwright, journalist and panel host Sam Brooks said it broke down the barrier between artists and audience to create a welcoming environment.
"As a writer, once you put a piece of work into the public sphere, you have no control over where it goes," he said.
"To have some space for all of us to talk about that, and to take questions around how an audience relates to that, is also fun."
The festival runs until tomorrow.
