Toby Buck is an award-winning writer and editor working at the intersection of place, langauge, and ideas.

He’s won the Katherine Mansfield Prize, the Landfall Essay Prize, a Sargeson Commendation, and a D&AD Silver Pen, and his essays, journalism, and criticism have appeared in North & South, JancisRobinson.com, and The Spinoff.

Based in Amsterdam at Quiet Studio, he has produced commercial work for National Geographic, Tate Modern, TIME, Bloomberg USA, Magnum Photos, and others. He works with international clients on writing and editorial projects that require research, intellectual rigour, and a strong human voice.

Featured Essays & Longform

Profiles & Reportage

Material Culture

Short Form

Get in contact.

↓ Featured Essays & Longform

Culture, identity, and meaning.

In a still From Netflix the Serpent - a man and woman wearing sunglasses walking through an alleyway. The character is based on a famous serial killer. This article is about the man who stopped him.

Herman & The Serpent

The story of a friend who caught a serial killer. Character and form bend at the edge of crime writing.

Is This Happiness?

A critical exploration of the UN World Happiness Report. Can global wellbeing be quantified? Or do metrics obscure more than they reveal.

Gabriel

A human-centred feature from the front lines of a Pacific Cyclone.

A cross-sectional diagram of a household water heater showing the cold water inlet, tank, heating element, and hot water outlet.

‘Profound writing - full of persuasive visual detail, with an incredible ear for everyday speech.’

Emma Kneale, Landfall Journal Editor

‘Brash, unapologetic and completely confident writing. It takes a series of risks, almost sinks itself,
and somehow gets away with it.’

Charlotte Grimshaw, Mansfield Award Judge

Simple line drawing of a palm tree on a small island with a hill, set against a black background.

↓ Profiles, Interviews & Reportage

People and context.

A woman and a child in traditional attire standing on a grassy field, with a thatched-roof hut, palm trees, and three indigenous men dressed in traditional clothing with floral accessories praying in the background.

Oceania in Venice

A profile of Yuki Kihara on Paradise Camp, Pasifika performance, and the Venice Biennale.

A group of ten older adults, along with one middle-aged woman, posing outdoors against a pink wall with a small tree on the left. Several are holding wooden sticks or staffs, and they are smiling.

Portable Miracles

A look at the the cultural logic behind a unique national literature programme, the role of New Zealand’s Poet Laureate.

A row of tall palm trees under a clear blue sky.

Out of the Box

A cultural portrait of a DIY Coffin Club reveals grace, mortality, and happiness, intertwined inside local community activities.

↓ Wine, Food & Material Culture

How taste and labour shape the way we live.

Sunset over a coastal landscape with green hills, agricultural fields covered with plastic, a winding road, water bodies, and rocky islands in the distance.

Big Red

A speculative essay. New Zealand winemakers might be re-imagining a new “big red” identity? But what does that say about changes in category, value, and tradition?

A close-up of bunches of ripe, dark purple grapes hanging from a vine amidst green leaves.

Regeneration

An essay-style exploration. “A World Upside Down” celebrates wine, soil, and culture in a piece that resists easy categorisation. JR Prize Winner

A man stands next to a vintage truck with the words "Central Two Paddocks Otago" written on it, in a green outdoor setting during daytime.

A Jurassic Art

An interview with Sam Neill that goes beyond celebrity to interrogate lifelong craft, family, and the sensory poetics of viniculture.

Harvesters

A vivid photo portrayal of seasonal harvest workers in Hawke’s Bay shows labour, landscape, and the often invisible hands behind food production.

↓ Commentary / Short Form

Provisional and exploratory.

Espalier

A remembrance that lets detail ripple out into larger questions of memory and belonging. jancisrobinson.com

Fresh Claret

An ode to the most collaborative of grapes. Notes of home, nostalgia, the coast … and strawberry.

I’ve also made work for Magnum Photography, MTV, Lexus, Quartz Media, Alfa Romeo, The Whitney, National Geographic, National GalleriesUK, Bloomberg, the Tate Modern, the Contemporary Art Society, VICE, Jaguar, TIME Magazine, Rockstar Games, and others.