Jacinda Ardern says NZ is ready and willing to take refugees from Nauru and Manus Island. (Video first published in August 2018)

An Iranian-Kurdish journalist who wrote an award-winning book on a smartphone while detained on the infamous Manus Island has arrived in New Zealand.

It is the first time Behrouz Boochani has been able to leave Papua New Guinea, where he has been held by the Australian Government, in six years.

﻿Boochani wrote his acclaimed book No Friend but the Mountains, which details life on Manus Island, while detained. It has won several international awards, including the Victorian Prize for Literature, which is Australia's richest literary prize.

He arrived at Auckland Airport on Thursday night where he was greeted by Amnesty International and MP Golriz Ghahramam.

Thrilled and exhausted and free 😭 pic.twitter.com/iTEg1m6WyV — Golriz Ghahraman (@golrizghahraman) November 14, 2019

He flies to Christchurch Airport on Friday morning and will be speaking on November 29 as part of literary festival Word Christchurch.

READ MORE:

* The freedom to meet your audience

* Manus Island asylum seeker tied down, force fed in PNG hospital

Boochani was warned to leave Iran in 2013 because the Kurdish language magazine he wrote for published anti-government articles. He fled to Indonesia.

He then paid a people-smuggler $5000 to take him to Australia. His boat was one of two found by authorities after being lost at sea for a week. Boochani was arrested and taken to the Manus Island Processing Centre.

The Manus Island facility held asylum seekers and refugees caught trying to get into Australia by boat. It had a reputation for poor treatment of those detained there.

Australia's 'turn back the boats' policy means asylum seekers are barred from entering Australia. Those at Manus Island and other detention centres were resettled in countries other than Australia if their refugee claims were found to be legitimate.

The Manus Island centre was closed in late 2017, and Boochani was one of more than 300 people forcibly removed from centre. He was imprisoned in Papa New Guinea until August, when he was moved to accommodation on Port Moresby.

Boochani is able to travel to New Zealand because of help from UN refugee agency UNHCR, which organised his departure and helped him get a visa, sponsored by Amnesty International.

He said what the Australian Government had done on Manus Island and Nauru (another detainment centre) had negatively affected Australia, the region and globally, and it was important to share the story with the people of New Zealand.

"I am here to warn against this kind of system, which is designed to deter refugees from seeking asylum and ultimately has caused grave harm and torture. I am here to ask New Zealand, the Government to take a leadership and allow those who remain in PNG and Nauru to find safety."

Supplied Iranian-Kurdish author Behrouz Boochani is visiting Christchurch to speak at Word Festival. (File photo)

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern previously offered for New Zealand to take 150 refugees from Manus Island when the detention centre was still operating.

Boochani said Christchurch was a city that had "educated the world" by leading through kindness and humanity in response to the March 15 terrorist attack.

Word programme director Rachael King said Boochani's trip had been months in the planning and the festival was delighted to welcome him.

"His story is powerful, his resilience is extraordinary, and his words have moved and rallied people around the world. That his book has brought him here is testament to the power of literature as an agent for change."

Amnesty International's executive director Meg de Ronde said Amnesty was thrilled to sponsor Behrouz's visa.

"For Behrouz to be able to appear at Word Christchurch, it's a testament to the human will to survive.

"This is a spark of hope after he has fled violence and persecution, first in Iran and then from Australian authorities.

"The New Zealand government has stepped up and shown leadership by allowing the acclaimed journalist and writer to visit for this event.

"Refugees are people who deserve a safe home, and a life of freedom and dignity. It's great to see Behrouz's talents recognised and rewarded in this way."