Kia ora folks,

Wow, what a month! I've been out there living my best Pride Month life, and somehow still fitting all the writing in there as well. Let's dive in...

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The actual writing this month:

• I have written so many words towards grant applications this month. What for? Well, read on and later in the newsletter, I'll let you know the next exciting development in my writing career...
• I've written a few bits and pieces of poetry this month. There's another little development further down in this newsletter in regards to that!
• I have had so many interviews with industry folks about AI and its intersection with the NZ theatre scene, all towards my article for Playmarket which is due early March. It's been so interesting to talk to these people who I would have been otherwise too shy to introduce myself to. I love that having this purpose behind my conversations has enabled me to speak to people on the cutting edge of this major issue.
• I'm actually... enjoying revision?! I found myself unironically calling revision 'fun' the other day. I guess I really have grown as a writer :)

Update on the Auckland Queer Writers Anthology

Usually I send these newsletters on the eve of the final day each month, but today I'm sending an evening ahead. That's because tomorrow is the launch party of the Auckland Queer Writers Anthology and I will be BUSY. So busy, picking up catering, setting up the room and the projector etc., reading an excerpt and making speeches, signing copies, and then celebrating at the afterparty - busy! Forgive me, but you will have to wait until next month for photos from the shindig.

It was a really smooth experience working on all this, actually. Jade and Jamie have been amazing to work with. There were definitely a few headaches on the way (special licence procurement, booooooo) but in the end, it's all so worth it. To be honest, I was getting a bit over things, but then we received the draft of the foreword by Lil O'Brien, author of Not That I'd Ever Kiss a Girl, and wow. It just reset everything for me, and helped me see the forest for the trees again. Want to know what was in it? Then buy the book (please!). https://books2read.com/RainbowStars​

Will we ever do this again? Not in 2027, I don't think. But maybe 2028. Either way, I'm sure you'll hear about it!

Peregrine Pax Update

Those of you who have been with me since before June last year might know I've been waiting on the feedback of my manuscript that I sent to Huia Publishers at the end of the Te Papa Tupu programme. The middle grade novel I sent them is tentatively titled Peregrine Pax: My Best Friend is an Interdimensional Shape-shifting Time Traveller. The word finally came back from them: they are going to have one of their editors, at their expense, put my novel through a structural edit. Then in my own time, I have to revise and resubmit.

This is quite exciting! I'll finally get a full edit from an editor in a professional publishing house. For those of you who self-publish and pay freelance editors, you know that is expensive. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what they say.

It's also quite astonishing how slow traditional publishing is. I've been warned of this many times before, but it's a different feeling to be in it myself.

So yeah, I'll let you know how that goes!

Yep, I am doing a play after all!

It was a wee little rollercoaster for me over the last month or so. I thought I had missed out on the slot I applied for, and I resigned myself to it just not being the right time. But then another group pulled out, and so it's confirmed now: I will be putting on my family-friendly pantomime Old MacDonalds's Farm this July during the first week of the school holidays at the PumpHouse Theatre in Takapuna, Auckland. I'm very excited about getting back to theatre after a break to have my kids. I have had my nose to the grindstone these last few weeks getting some grant applications in with very little turnaround between the confirmation and the due dates. So... watch this space! You'll definitely be hearing all about this one over the next few months.

On the blog this month:

I've popped another Lore Drop on the blog, this time about my closest-to-famous-in-NZ work, the play Spilt Milk. Did I peak at age fourteen? Probably not, but this play that I wrote in my little teen existential crisis has been an enduring cornerstone of my creative career. Learn more here: https://hiriadunning.com/2026/02/27/lore-drop-6-spilt-milk/​

What's coming up for me next month:

• The AQWA launch is happening tomorrow (still February, yes, but you'll hear about it next newsletter). I am so looking forward to celebrating the wonderful folks who helped us put the book together. It's also rare for me to have a celebration for writing being finished. We celebrate shows being done in theatre, but I've never celebrated a book I've been involved with before, so I'm stoked to get that sort of catharsis for once.
• I will be reading two poems at this event (https://1001spheres.org.nz/page/art-day-2026) somewhere in the 2pm-3pm slot headed by Carrie Rudzinski. So chuffed to be included <3

• And then the very next weekend, I'm jetting off to Akaroa in the South Island for the Readers and Writers Festival. I was a recipient of their fellowship fund, so my attendance is all paid for and I get a modest accomodation stipend. Lucky me, right? I'm going to try to use the opportunity to my best advantage and actually TALK to people who I find interesting.
• More grants applications! It's endless. But very worth it if/when the funds come in.
• I'll continue with my major novel revisions, and hand in my finished article to Playmarket.
• And of course, I'll be prepping for production, with rehearsals starting in May! Fun times!

Wishing you an excellent March <3

Arohanui,

Claire Hiria