about me

Damien Levi (he/him) (Te Āti Haunui-a-Paparangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāpuhi, Pākehā) is a publisher, editor and arts facilitator.

In 2022, he launched the online LGBTQIA+ arts and literature journal, bad apple, and acted as its lead editor until its close in 2026.

During this period, he published more than 500 pieces of writing and art from a cohort of around 250 contributors. To further promote bad apple’s kaupapa, Damien has published zines, facilitated workshops, staged readings and participated in panel discussions.

While studying the Graduate Diploma in Publishing (Applied) at Whitireia, Damien received funding to publish Spoiled Fruit: Queer Poetry from Aotearoa (2023), co-edited by Amber Esau, and founded Āporo Press, under which the book was published.

Upon graduating, he interned as a publishing and editorial assistant at Penguin Random House New Zealand in 2023 and joined Verb Readers and Writers Festival as a guest co-programmer alongside Chris Tse, Rosabel Tan and Te Hā o Ngā Pou Kaituhi Māori representatives Rangimārie Sophie Jolley and Trinity Thompson-Browne.

After returning to Verb for the 2024 festival, Damien took on a new role at Auckland Council Libraries as the library publishing specialist, focusing on filling gaps in the collections with books for minority communities. In this position, he edited the essay collection Tāmaki Makaurau 2025: Essays on Life in Auckland (2025).

In 2025, Damien started an arts and culture podcast, local loser. The podcast focuses on candid conversations with local creatives about what’s happening in Aotearoa and beyond, primarily with a literature focus.

Damien’s poetry and essays have been published online and in print in places such as The Spinoff, The Big Idea, E-Tangata, Quick Brown Dog, Mayhem, Aotearoa Poetry Yearbook 2025, and Everything That Moves, Moves Through Another edited by Jennifer Cheuk (2024).