Radio New Zealand: A literary journal founded in Wellington two years ago has been named one of five international winners of a US literary magazine incubator prize.

Folly is an annual anthology of collectable art, commentary and essays, short stories and poetry.

The magazine won a silver medal at this years' Indie publishing awards in the USA.

The third issue of Folly is to be launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair next month.

Its founder, Emily Broadmore tells Kathryn what the incubator prize will mean.

Fresh from Chill Subs, Folly is named as a winner of the inaugural Incubator!

Says Chill Subs: We had 128 magazines apply to our incubator program (wow!). For those who missed it, we're giving 5 magazines $1000 each, a CLMP membership, and access to our team and network of advisors who've been experimenting with sustainable lit mag models for decades.

Folly Journal is splitting its annual $1,000 Folly Prize between two writers whose work caused division between the international reading panel and the Wellington Writers’ Studio.

The 2025 prize winners are Katy Knighton of Australia and Kaanti Raju of New Zealand.

The decision to split the prize came after Katy Knighton’s story of satirical absurdism, about a town obsessed with teenage masturbation, generated such polarised responses that editors placed it on the desk at Wellington Writers' Studio for a week, inviting feedback from local writers.

‘Some people thought it was a work of genius, exploring moral panic, societal hypocrisy and how communities navigate youth sexuality. Others thought it was dreadful and that we’d be cancelled,’ says Editor Emily Broadmore. ‘One person left a note on it simply 'Why?' Another person sent us three laugh-cry emoji.’

Knighton says the story’s first line arrived in her head, the product of raising three teenagers. ‘What an endorsement for quirky hilarity,’ she says. ‘I was laughing as I wrote.’

Folly Editor Emily Makere Broadmore is interviewed by Steve Watson of Stack Magazines UK.

The magazine describes itself online as, “The rebel child of the literary New Zealand scene,” and, “The love child of a literary journal and a Victorian gossip rag,” and it seems that Folly journal doesn’t have any problem with the idea of ruffling a few feathers. It all adds up to a magazine of contradictions that wants to do things differently, and I hope you’ll enjoy hearing Emily’s story of overcoming establishment criticism to create a fresh new literary voice for New Zealand.

In a plot twist no one saw coming (least of all the editorial team), Folly Journal - New Zealand’s fastest-selling literary journal and occasional menace to the nation’s cultural gatekeepers - has just won an international book award.

Folly magazine bursts onto the scene, not with quiet reverence, but with a vibrant and unapologetic energy. Described as the “rebel child of the literary scene” and a “strange new journal” aimed at those perhaps tired of the more traditional literary establishment, Folly carves out its own unique space. It embraces being “a bit of fun”, intended for enjoyment and perhaps even a little “general mistreatment”, whether displayed on a coffee table or kept in the bathroom.  

Many would agree it’s an act of utter folly to start up a traditional print literary journal in this day and age, let alone a ‘high end, coffee table’ production, so the name, Folly Journal, certainly seems apt for this print-only literary publication featuring cultural commentary, creative writing, essays, poetry, and “carefully curated scandal.” Trying, as Founder and Editor in Chief Emily Makere Broadmore says, to be “lightish, ornamental, and intriguing. Each issue documents our cultural moment in all its messy, magnificent glory in an inviting and accessible magazine format.”

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.