Going West’s Sir Graeme Douglas Orator in 2015 was writer Stephanie Johnson. Addressing the festival theme, Holding the Line, Stephanie delivered a hilarious and biting satire of neoliberalism in New Zealand, donning a wig to take on the parodic character of Amanda Tauiwi Reinhardt Carlton, the ‘National Party Poet Laureate’ (Tauiwi is a Māori word for non-Māori, used here by Johnson to poke a stick at well-heeled upper-class conservative white women).

The author of 16 books including The Writers’ Festival,  six plays and radio dramas and two books of poetry, Stephanie has appeared at Going West many times since the first festival in 1996.

She is the winner of multiple awards, fellowships and honours; in 2019 she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature, as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours. Stephanie has taught English and creative writing at the University of Auckland. She is also a teaching fellow at the University of Waikato, and co-founded the Auckland Writers' Festival with Peter Wells, and served as creative director and trustee