Writer

Your twenties are often framed as the best years of your life.

But for many women, this decade can be messy, uncertain, lonely, and emotionally exhausting as we grapple with friendship shifts, career confusion, heartbreak, identity changes, financial pressure, and the realisation that adulthood, more often than not, looks way different to what we once imagined.

In Our Twenties is a new nationwide storytelling and creative development project exploring the experiences, challenges, questions, and transitions that shape this decade for young wāhine in Aotearoa.

We’re looking for twenty women, aged 20-29, from regional communities across Aotearoa to write a personal essay reflecting on their experiences through this decade so far.

Contributors will:

• Take part in a virtual workshop to explore the stories, themes, and moments that have shaped your twenties so far.

• Participate in a virtual creative writing workshop with an author and award-winning journalist, developing technical writing skills.

• Develop a personal essay articulating your experiences of this decade (relationships, health, career, friendship, travel, etc).

• Receive one-to-one mentoring and creative support throughout the writing process.

• Create alongside a cohort of other wāhine from across Aotearoa also reflecting on their twenties.

At the end of the programme, your written piece will be professionally edited, designed, and published together in a limited-edition print and digital magazine.

See inourtwentiesstories.substack.com/p/call-for-contributors-in-our-twenties for more details on the programme.

Express your interest in participating via forms.gle/E4W6gec4cHQJLegw7