46 authors receive delayed public lending right money
Thursday, 19 March 2026
Forty-six authors who missed out on a public lending right scheme payment last year due to an administrative bungle have now been offered the money they were entitled to.
The library sincerely apologised for any inconvenience and confusion caused to the authors, who were being contacted directly, said National Librarian Rachel Esson.
The library was reviewing its processes and the scheme itself, to prevent the error from happening again.
A total of 272 other people were contacted, to confirm they were were ineligible for a payment.
Read more:
It comes after Internal Affairs Minister Brooke Van Velden earlier this month said the bungle did not meet her expectations for the National Library.
The library previously admitted that, due to an email sent out in error in July 2025, 318 authors were told they were registered for the public lending right last year, when in fact they were not.
This meant an unknown portion of eligible authors in that group were not paid in mid-December, when 1248 other eligible authors were paid.
The public lending right, established in 2008 to replace the New Zealand authors’ fund, provides payments to New Zealand authors, illustrators and editors, in recognition of the fact their books are available in libraries.
Registered authors are entitled to receive an annual payment based on the number of copies of their titles that are held in New Zealand libraries. Numbers are confirmed by surveying.
Payments for the 46 authors who earlier missed out, came from existing National Library funding and was based on the 2025 book rate.
Esson said the library had received useful feedback about how the scheme’s registration process could be improved, including requests for an automated response to let authors know their registration was received.
In the absence of an automated response in place yet, the library has been manually sending acknowledgement of registration this year.
A group involving sector representatives, government workers, and other interested parties met this month to discuss the scheme, and will continue to do so over the coming months, Esson added.
Anna Mackenzie, chairperson of the public lending right advisory group and one of two NZ Society of Authors’ members on that committee, previously told The Post the vast majority of authors struggle to make a living in Aotearoa, with most supplementing their writing income with other work.
The average income from writing of authors across New Zealand was about $16,400, Mackenzie previously said. “Whether the annual [public lending right] payment is a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, it also represents recognition of the effort and commitment of our writing community.”
On the downside, many authors were ineligible due to restrictions built into the scheme. Digital books, school libraries, and the Blind and Low Vision Library were all not included, for example.