Published by the Sunday Star Times, Nov 2024

On the same day that I lunched in the Capital with a well-known left-leaning public intellectual, Act leader David Seymour was spotted on ThreeNews flicking through the pages of the newly released issue of Folly Journal.

My sister, an Aucklander oblivious to politics (although I assume she was aware of the hīkoi) messaged me excitedly. Folly's on tv! I took a photo!

Interview on RNZ Afternoons, 5 December 2024

There's lots of talk around finding unity around at the moment ... various politicians here and around the world are promising to bring people together.   

But it seems like it's not really happening, in fact if any anything, it feels like the political divide between left and right is getting worse. An opinion piece in the Sunday Star Times just this weekend examined 

Titled Ending the echo chamber: How to find where left and right unite - was written by Emily Makere Broadmore. 

And Emily some interesting observations about why the left and right don't talk to each other anymore. 

Unity Books sat down with Folly Art Director, Dana Turner, where she shares the vision, purpose and unexpected success of Folly Journal.
November 27, 2024

What were you doing when you came up with the idea for Folly?

Like any good writer, our editor in chief Emily Makere Broadmore created what she couldn’t find. A journal that combined the overseas rigor of overseas publications with the kind of stories you want to read at Midnight Espresso after too many shots of tequila. Think of Folly as the lovechild of a Victorian gossip rag and a literary journal.

For the New Zealand Festival of the Arts

13 November 2024

Folly is an annual print only anthology of art, short stories, non-fiction and poetry produced in Wellington city. Published in November each year, the 2024 issue has just been launched. I had a chat with Folly's editor, Emily Broadmore about why she chose to create a print journal in an increasingly digital world, how she selects the stories and what readers can expect.

Interview with Folly editor, Emily Broadmore | Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts

As reported by The Post.

George Titheridge wrote their winning short story in the bath, on their phone. As you do.

It’s called flash fiction, where brevity still makes way for character and plot.

The yarn, a provocative tale about a risqué relationship, won a prize for the best short story in the inaugural Folly Journal - a curation of experimental and lighter literary works, made up of fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and commentary.

New Wellington journal rejects ‘literary elitism’ | The Post

As reported by The Post, 2024

In 2023, Broadmore established the Wellington Writers Studio, upstairs from an art gallery corner of Cuba St and Ghuznee St in the 128-year-old Berry Building.

Once home to the New Zealand Photographic Company and William Berry, a popular portrait photographer, the building has been home to many artists over the years, including musicians and a dancing school.

Short Story Competition: Finding the right space to do your writing | The Post

For Newsroom’s ReadingRoom, 2024

I edit Wellington journal Folly. Last year, we called for stories from New Zealanders that were “a bit sexy”. A few fans of the retired journal Aotearotica sent stories of Ponsonby parties and sexual encounters, but we weren’t after erotica. We wanted joyful, punchy, choke-into-your-coffee stories about the side of life and relationships that aren’t flaunted to the world. And we wanted them written in a way that we hadn’t seen before in New Zealand.

Sex in Wellington

A Fashionable Endeavour Funding A Literary Folly  - Good Magazine

As founder of the Wellington Writers’ Studio and editor/publisher of Folly (an eclectic anthology of lighter literary works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by Wellington Writers’ Studio), Emily saw phone chains as the ‘perfect folly’ – a potential source of revenue for publishing projects.

For ReadingRoom on Newsroom, 2024

Issue 002 is eclectic. Curious about the wastage in our public sector that would make your tax dollars cry? Sounds like it made the author cry too. Wanting to know the bedroom antics of a regional business network CEO? Networking events will never feel clean again. Want to know which famous broadcaster left his Calvin Kleins in a girl’s bed the morning after? At least they were clean.

In the world of independent publishing, Rowan Taigel stands out with her innovative approach to poetry. With a background in supporting English Literature students and a passion for the arts, Rowan has transformed her love for poetry into a unique form of creative expression: the zine. We sat down with Rowan to explore the inspiration behind her zines, her creative process, and her thoughts on the literary world.

Art director Dana Turner on what it's like to live in The Pink House

Art director Dana Turner on what it's like to live in The Pink House | The Post

Dana Turner came to art direction as a second career, after primary school teaching. She and her sister founded Folly magazine, and Dana jumped at the chance to join her and pursue her passion for art direction.

Emily Goldthorpe, Folly’s Managing Editor, takes us through her past in art and publishing and what she has in mind for Folly’s future.

To ReadingRoom subscribers in Nivember 2023, an hilarious account of ReadingRoom Steve Braunias’ first impressions of Folly.

The big news of the week in New Zealand was something that positioned itself as far away from New Zealand literature as possible: the launch of Folly, a strange new journal with short fiction, short essays and short poems, aimed at people with short attention spans and zero interest in what the so-called literary establishment considers good writing.

Gavin Chai is a figurative painter and artist based in Auckland. He specialises in the traditional technique of oil painting on wooden panels and canvases and paints the world through a subtle introverted glaze.

Do you have any rituals that you follow to get into your creative practice?

Every morning after breakfast, I would pick up an art book by certain artists, flip to specific pages, mostly featuring painting reproductions that might tell me something about my ongoing works. I'd then make a cup of strong coffee and top it off with a playlist of music rich in polyphony. I need the combined alchemy of colour, music and taste to brew ideas, dream fantasy, cultivate sensibilities, or at least to wake myself up. Perhaps I also enjoy daydreaming and taking a walk to the beach, although I can hardly call them rituals.

This video is made with the support of NZ on Air Public Interest Journalism Fund.

When Emily Broadmore decided to start NZ’s newest literary journal, Folly, the word she kept hearing was ‘brave’. 

After all, they were “basically three women who nobody knew in the industry, who had no literary credibility.” And who, with no prior literary publishing experience, decided to create a brand new literary journal. 

Broadmore, fellow co-founder and Marketing Director Tiana Jones and Art Director Dana Turner, faced skepticism and patch protection in starting the journal. But none of that stopped them in their pursuit of a new kind of literary journal that they say embraces funny, silly and sexy writing that they feel hasn’t had a home in Aotearoa.

This is a story of rejection - met with the subtle skill of not taking no for an answer and sticking to your guns.

For WOMAN magazine, by Sharon Stephonson

November 2023

As part of Folly’s “fun, provocative, risqué” shtick, and as a way of funding the project, Emily decided to hold a series of events at a local Wellington sauna. It sounds delicious: a group of 15 women sitting around in hair wraps, sweating out toxins while being read pieces from the first issue. 

Not everyone was on board: some in Aotearoa’s literary community brandished their online pitchforks, displeased by such an unconventional approach.  

Fritha Waters is a UK writer based in Norfolk, who writes mainly short and flash fiction.

Catherine Hart is a writer who completed her master's in creative writing at AUT last year. She primarily writes romance novels centered around polyamorous queer aliens. She also enjoys crafting more general fiction in shorter formats. Catherine first learned about Folly through the New Zealand Society of Authors, which inspired her to write this piece.

Snakes is an old nickname and the pseudonym of a New Zealand writer who has spent much of their time living overseas and working in the creative arts.