Powles has written one novel and two non-fiction books. Her first book, Touch Compass (2007), traces the lives and stories of the members of the dance company of the same name.[6][7] Powles was the director of the performance touring company Rifleman Production Limited between 2006 and 2008.[8]
New Zealand author Fiona Kidman describes Powles's first novel, Weathered Bones (2009), as "a book full of real women from an exciting new writer."[9]Australia's Women's Weekly describes Weathered Bones as a "very contemporary" work that discusses "issues surrounding mental illness and the pain of love."[10]Landfall gave Weathered Bones a positive review, labeling the novel's protagonist lighthouse keeper Mary Jane Bennett "one of New Zealand's earliest feminists."[11] Powell went on to write the short story "Caged" for the Landfall Autumn 2012 issue.[12] She also wrote a series of articles for Stuff.co.nz about building her family home in West Auckland in 2015.[13]
Powles's latest book, When We Remember to Breathe (2018), is a collaboration with poet and playwright Renee Liang. The book traces the conversations of the two writers in the early stages of pregnancy.[14] Both writers committed themselves to writing one paragraph a week during their pregnancy.[15] Powles and Liang describe their work as "lay[ing] bare the raw joy, beauty, discomfort and humour of modern motherhood."[16] A share of the book's profits were given to the charity organisation Good Bitches Baking.[16]
Powles has written the screenplay for a New Zealand film in development, Tenderwood, directed by Alyx Duncan and produced by Firefly Films.[17] The films current synopsis is: "An estranged daughter tries to reconnect with her belligerent mother whose mysterious illness leaves her stuck in the centre of the room – both women must accept that the mother may be turning into a tree."[18]
