Toby Buck is an award-winning writer and editor working at the intersection of place 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 a strong human voice and intellectual rigour.

JOURNALISM

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.

Is This Happiness?

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

Gabriel

Onsite reporting 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 conversation with Yuki Kihara on Paradise Camp at the Venice Biennale.

Portable Miracles

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

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

Out of the Box

A local DIY Coffin Club reveals grace, charity, plain speaking on mortality, and happiness … as well as coffin painting.

↓ Wine, Food & Material Culture

How taste and labour shape the way we live.

Big Red

Are New Zealand winemakers re-imagining a new “big red” wine identity? What does that say about changes in category, value, and tradition?

Regeneration

Essay-style exploration: this JR Prize Winner ‘A World Upside Down’, celebrates wine, soil, and culture in a piece that resists easy categorisation.

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.

Jurassic Art

Sam Neill goes beyond celebrity to discuss a lifelong craft, his own family story, and the sensory poetics of viniculture.

Harvesters

A vivid photo portrayal of seasonal harvest workers in Hawke’s Bay (by Richard Brimer) shows labour, landscape, and the real hands behind food production.

↓ Commentary / Short Form

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.

Feel free to reach out.
And to Nancy and Dave, who keep emailing, no, I do not do plumbing or electrical work in Lancashire. And I have not done so in the past as you keep insisting. All other writing, editorial or strategy projects, I’m happy to discuss.