Within These Walls: Conversations and Masterclasses at Shadbolt House
This series forms 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. The conversations include Catherine Chidgey with Rosetta Allan, Simon Wilson with Paula Penfold and Domnic Hoey with Mark Easterbrook alongside a series of creative masterclasses led by author Dominic Hoey, scriptwriter Gary Henderson, and poet Anne Kennedy. Subscribe to our newsletter to be among the first to hear about upcoming events.
Award-winning author and poet Dominic Hoey joins Mark Easterbrook for the third in our Within These Walls series — an intimate late-afternoon conversation about writing, class, and the stories that shape us. Saturday 19 April 2026.
On Sunday 29 March journalists Simon Wilson and Paula Penfold join Within These Walls for the second in our series of intimate late-afternoon conversations, in discussion about truth, power, and journalism today
On Saturday 28 February author Catherine Chidgey, opens Within These Walls — a series that brings together intimate late-afternoon conversations with writers and journalists, alongside a programme of creative writing workshops.
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.