Josiah Morgan

Morgan, Josiah (he/him, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Maniapoto) is an actor, drama teacher, performer, facilitator, reviewer, editor, and writer from Ōtautahi Christchurch.

Josiah’s work has been featured in The Spinoff, Landfall, Out Here, eel magazine, Aotearoa Yearbook and Mayhem, among many other international journals, online blogs, and magazines. Josiah regularly writes for Aotearoa-based journals such as ‘Bad Apple’, and was published in the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook in 2022 and 2023.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Anthropology and English and a minor in History from the University of Canterbury.

Josiah starred in his first professional performance role in Carl Nixon’s ‘The Raft’ in 2007 and in 2011 he danced with the Royal New Zealand Ballet in their production of ‘The Nutcracker’. Josiah now focuses predominantly on physical theatre, having adapted some of his own works for the stage.

In 2021 Josiah’s book ‘Road: A Postlapsarian Comedy’ (Feral Dove Press) won the Macmillan Brown Writers’ Prize, which recognises exemplary English works by a current student or recent graduate, from the University of Canterbury English department.

Josiah published another full-length book, ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, with Amphetamine Sulphate in 2022. His chapbook publications include ‘Inside the Castle’ (2021), ‘Circles’ (2020), ‘Road: A Postlapsarian Comedy’ (2022).

Josiah has performed full-length adaptations of his works ‘Inside the Castle’ and ‘Circles’ at the Little Andromeda Theatre in Christchurch, and has also participated in the popular live poetry performance ensemble Show Ponies.

In 2022, Josiah featured on the ‘Feral Dove’ podcast speaking on his early artistic inspirations, the influence of sexual identity on writing, working in theatre, publishing books as a young person and handling work/life balance.

From April-June in the same year, he was the recipient of a Toi Ōtautahi residency funded by Christchurch City Council, and produced the work [Crisis Call] using Dada writing methods.

In 2023, Josiah took part in the New Zealand Young Writer’s Festival, participating in the panel ‘Writing Across Disciplines’ and the improvisation event ‘Fast Laughs’.

Josiah’s latest work, i’m still growing, will be published with Dead Bird Books in 2024.