Iona Winter

Category: creative writing

• A Counter of Moons creative writing grief guest writer Lifting the Lid Festival New Zealand social issues suicide bereavement

  Speaking to suicide bereavement – A Counter of Moons at Lifting the Lid Festival (audio)

  Heartfelt thanks and my deepest respect to the 2025 Lifting the Lid Festival last weekend. Thank you for providing such a generous and inclusive space to discuss all things death and dying. Thanks to Dr Annetta Mallon for having a fearless conversation with me, about suicide bereavement and my creative…

  November 20, 2025
• A Counter of Moons creative writing grief Lifting the Lid Festival love New Zealand Literature parenting poetry Reuben Samuel Winter social issues suicide bereavement women writers

  Lifting the Lid Festival 2025

  I’m delighted to share that I’ll be presenting at the Lifting the Lid International Festival of Death and Dying again this year. The 5th annual festival lifts the lid on everything death and dying, through conversations, interactive events, workshops, art and craft sessions, live music, poetry and performance from around the…

  November 3, 2025
• A Counter of Moons creative writing grief suicide bereavement

  Grief and the healing powers of creativity: Interview with Helen Lehndorf

  Helen Lehndorf and I recently had a slow cooked interview via the ether, and she has generously shared it on her blog this week (link below). Once again, I am grateful, indebted, thankful, relieved (insert any other useful descriptor here) that a writerly friend hasn’t shied away from speaking about…

  August 21, 2025
• A Counter of Moons CLNZ/NZSA Writers’ Award creative writing Flash Frontier grief NZ Books Reuben Samuel Winter social issues suicide bereavement women writers

  ‘Keep the kōrero open’ book interview

  Recently, I had the privilege to speak with friend and writerly colleague Michelle Elvy at Flash Frontier, about A Counter of Moons (interview link below). https://flashfrontier.com/keep-the-korero-open-iona-winter-talks-with-michelle-elvy-about-her-new-book-a-counter-of-moons-artwork-by-kirstie-mckinnon/ Responding to interviews about this book, while welcomed, hasn’t been easy. A Counter of Moons is the most vulnerable kind of writing I’ve done,…

  August 11, 2025
• Aotearoa creative process creative writing Māori Māori Writers New Zealand poems poetry

  Poipoia te Kākano

  In February, I was invited to respond to a mixed media exhibition Poipoia te Kākano at the Forrester Gallery in Oamaru, Otago https://www.culturewaitaki.org.nz/Whats-On/Poipoia-te-Kakano Poipoia te Kākano showcases work from Kāi Tahu artists Caitlin Rose Donnelly, Allison Beck, Kate Stevens West, Jess Nicholson, Megan Brady, and Emma Kitson. At the exhibition…

  March 8, 2025
• creative writing flash fiction New Zealand

  The curve of the hill home

  Heartfelt thanks and aroha to takahē Magazine, for publishing a new flash fiction story The curve of the hill home as part of their Matariki Short Short Story Celebration, in Issue 111.

  August 12, 2024
• Anthology Aotearoa creative writing Elixir & Star Press grief loss love New Zealand Literature

  Q&A with Elixir & Star Press (aka me)

  I’ve had a few people ask, ‘Where did the name Elixir & Star Press come from?’ ‘Elixir’ was Reuben’s 2015 Totems album, and ‘Star’ was his first word.  The other question has been, ‘How come you’re doing this?’ After researching (a lot) about grief whilst writing A Counter of Moons, I…

  January 17, 2023
• Aotearoa creative writing grief loss love mental health New Zealand poetry suicide suicide bereavement

  Rejections and openings

  I’ve come to loathe the 17th each month, being the counter of moons that I am these days. 21 months last week since Reuben took his life, and despite meandering through the day fully aware of it, it wasn’t until I checked messages from him, in the weeks before he…

  June 21, 2022
• Aotearoa creative writing Dunedin City of Literature events flash fiction indigenous Kamau Taurua/Quarantine Island Landfall multimedia Māori New Zealand New Zealand Literature poetry Queenstown Writers Festival reviews social issues Te Hau Kāika The Best Small Fictions then the wind came

  November…the month of surprises

  October was exceptionally difficult, with the ending of a relationship I had given myself fully to, health issues that resurfaced requiring serious management, and on top of that a tonne of preparation for the Te Hau Kāika exhibition. ‘Bring on freaking November,’ I said (in a surreptitious manner under my…

  November 28, 2019
• Aotearoa creative writing flash fiction Māori Writers New Zealand Literature Queenstown Writers Festival then the wind came women writers

  Queenstown Writers Festival

  I had the privilege of being invited to facilitate a Flash Fiction Workshop this weekend, at the inaugural Queenstown Writers Festival. Imagine my surprise to find the event had sold out before I arrived! E hika! My wonderful group and I spent two hours exploring the form, and headed out…

  November 11, 2019