The Featherston Booktown Podcast

A small book called Imagining Decolonisation has been a notable bestseller in New Zealand. People want to know more about decolonisation and colonisation, but often don’t know where to start. Our expert panel came together for a fascinating kōrero on this topic: Papawai Marae Kaumātua Paora Ammunson (Ngāti Moe, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Rangitāne, Te Arawa); writer and Te Tiriti o Waitangi policy advisor Tῑhema Baker (Raukawa te Au ki te Tonga, Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngāti ToaRangatira); writer, advocate and researcher Tina Ngata (Ngāti Porou); award-winning Irish author, playwright, journalist and farmer John Connell; and celebrated historian and author James Belich. John Campbell was the moderator.Recorded at the 2025 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

One of New Zealand’s biggest constitutional issues is how state law and tikanga Māori intersect. Join tikanga expert and lawyer Te Raumawhitu Kupenga as he unpacks this with a distinguished panel: former High Court Judge, Māori Land Court Chief Judge and longtime Waitangi Tribunal Chair Tā Edward Taihakurei Durie; Māori rights champion, Treaty expert and lawyer Annette Sykes; Treaty and public law expert and barrister Natalie Coates; and lawyer, mana whenua and Papawai Marae chair Herewini Ammunson).Recorded at the 2025 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Vincent O’Malley writes that war in the Waikato between July 1863 and April 1864 ‘goes to the very core of who we are as a nation’. The crippling legacy was loss of life, economic and cultural deprivation, land confiscation and over 150 years of ignored hurt and anguish. This kōrero – featuring historians and academics Tom Roa (Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto), Joanna Kidman (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa), James Belich, Vincent O’Malley and moderator Peter Biggs – shared perspectives on the Waikato War and the way its consequences continue today. The discussion was opened & closed by Paora Ammunson.Recorded at the 2025 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Norwegian author Lars Mytting’s book Norwegian Wood – the definitive woodcutter’s bible to preparing firewood – spread like wildfire around the world. No wonder, when our relationship with fire is ancient and universal and the age-old rituals around chopping and stacking wood continue to be a part of 21st-century life. Lars Mytting was in conversation with John Campbell.Recorded at the 2025 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.Thanks to the Nordic Council of Ministers and Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Today’s episode was recorded at a special event at The Royal Hotel in Featherston in November 2025, where journalist and author Ali Mau was in conversation with fellow journalist Melody Thomas. It was a fascinating discussion that was equal parts provocative, honest, and amusing. Ali’s memoir, No Words for This, is powerful, raw and beautifully written.Many thanks to our partners Hedley’s Books & Harper Collins Publishers.Please note that this episode contains depictions of abuse and sexual assault.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

For 10 years, Featherston Booktown has featured the best of this country’s literary talent. Our gala night birthday party gathered 10 of the hundreds of writers who’ve yarned and shared with us so generously. Each one read from work – published or unpublished – that they think best expresses them and what they want to say to the world. Anything goes!The 10 out of 10 were: Noelle McCarthy • Chris Tse • Carl Shuker • Shayne P Carter (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) • Dame Fiona Kidman • Victor Rodger • Roger Steele • Lars Mytting • Marilyn Waring • Selina Tusitala Marsh. Chaired by Featherston Booktown’s Peter Biggs.Recorded at the 2025 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

The hostile culture of Parliament has broken people and careers. Is there a better way to conduct the politics of the nation? Can our adversarial political system be changed? Former MPs debated the motion: Kiri Allan (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Rarawa), Marilyn Waring, Ron Mark (Ron’s iwi include: Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa) and Rick Barker. Our speaker was Peter Biggs, the Chair of Featherston Booktown Trust.Recorded at the 2025 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.Why not make a gift of membership to a loved one to be a Friend of Booktown for one year, with the donations going directly towards putting books into the hands of our tamariki through our Children's Book Voucher Project? Visit our website www.booktown.org/friendsofbooktown for more info.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

The radical economic reforms of the Fourth Labour Government 40 years ago, known as Rogernomics, had a devastating impact on rural communities, including Wairarapa. The dollar was floated, agricultural subsidies removed, GST introduced, forests sold and state-owned enterprises corporatised. The Post editor Tracy Watkins discussed the reforms with Wairarapa leaders Liz Mellish (Te Ātiawa, Taranaki, Ngāti Ruanui) and Bob Francis, who lived through the turmoil, and three politicians – Richard Prebble, Marilyn Waring and Rick Barker – who were in Parliament at the time.Recorded at the 2025 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

No country on the planet comes close to Ireland as a literary powerhouse. It has produced an impressive list of Nobel Laureates and Booker Prize winners and has a booming publishing scene, and now Ireland’s Granard Booktown Festival has a place on the map. What’s the secret behind Ireland’s literary success? How is it nurtured and sustained? Luck or pluck? Exploring these questions with chair Claire Mabey were Irish farmer and author John Connell, award-winning writer and broadcaster Noelle McCarthy and acclaimed author Dame Fiona Kidman.Recorded at the 2025 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Why do men, especially in rural areas, struggle to talk about their problems? What’s standing in the way? Are the men of today okay, and how do they keep themselves well? This was a candid conversation about masculinity, society, health, wealth, life, death and everything in between, featuring writers and personalities Matt Heath and Paddy Gower; Federated Farmers President and YOLO Farmer Wayne Langford; and Irish farmer and writer John Connell. Phil Quin asked the questions.This episode was recorded at the 2025 Featherston Booktown Karukate Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

When singer Mel Parsons and author Becky Manawatu exploded onto the Aotearoa arts scene, there was nowhere more proud than Westport. Mel and Becky grew up in and around Westport and were in the same year at Buller High School. Both of them have recently launched exciting new work: Sabotage and Kataraina. Anika Moa (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri) asked two of Aotearoa’s best how much they inspire each other and what it is in the Westport water.Recorded at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival on 11th May 2025.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Lars Mytting is a writing phenomenon. He’s one of Norway’s most acclaimed writers, with more than two million books sold, and available in 24 languages. On publication, his fiction ignites a global reading frenzy, but Lars’ first success was Norwegian Wood, written about ‘chopping, stacking and drying wood in the Scandinavian way’. Lars spoke to New Zealand novelist Cristina Sanders, a descendant of Norwegian settlers.Recorded at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival on 10th May 2025.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Saraid de Silva’s bestselling Amma, longlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize, is one of a stream of successes for Sri Lankan New Zealand authors: romesh dissanayake launched a novel and a poetry collection in 2024, and Brannavan Gnanalingam launched The Life and Opinions of Kartik Popat, following his Ockham-shortlisted Sodden Downstream and Ngaio Marsh winner Sprigs. Dinithi Bowatte asked what success means and how the writers got there. Recorded at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival on 10th May 2025.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Waiata are more than songs; they are a way of preserving history, culture and language by passing them down through generations. Waiata Māori connect people to whenua, whakapapa and whānau. Join a waiata kōrero with our panel of experts: Ria Hall (Ngāi te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui), Anika Moa (Ngāpuhi,Te Aupōuri) and Warren Maxwell (Tūhoe, Kahungunu, Ngāi Te Rangi and Scotland).Recorded at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival on 10th May 2025.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Ruth Shaw is on a mission to help rural women sort their prolapses, a common, disruptive and often embarrassing condition that can be prevented with the right treatment. She writes about it in part two of her provocative and funny memoir Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World, which launched at Featherston Booktown. Ruth was in conversation with Kristy McGregor, editor of Shepherdess magazine.This episode was recorded live at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea festival on 10th May 2025.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

New Zealand has had a long and storied love affair with beer, the world’s oldest drink. In Continuous Ferment, Greg Ryan charts that story – why we love it, why we love so much of it and how our tastes have changed. He talked with journalist and beer lover Denise Garland about a history “of rogues and inventors, big business power and small business determination, national debate and social upheaval."This episode was recorded at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May 2024.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Book collecting is variously described as a passion, an obsession and even a disease. Bookselling the same. Bookseller Ruth Shaw (Bookshop Dogs) and book collector Tony Eyre (The Book Collector) talked about the affliction/gift of bibliophilia, where it’s taken them in their lives and the dilemma of where to put all the books. Fellow bibliophile and Masterton bookseller David Hedley was in the chair.This episode was recorded at the 2024 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

It has been said the New Zealand Wars were more significant in shaping our country than Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This session explores whether that is true and digs deeper into a troubled time in our history. With sociology academic Joanna Kidman (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa), historians and authors Chris Pugsley and Vincent O’Malley, former director of the Waitangi Tribunal Buddy Mikaere (Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Ranginui) and author of Patu, Gavin Bishop (Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Mahuta, Tainui), with Peter Biggs moderating.This discussion was recorded at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May 2024.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

What does it mean to be a modern All Black, expected to perform at a mental and physical peak when player body mass has increased by 30% since the 1960s and new research is showing the horrifying impact of head injuries on rugby player brains? All Black 1000, Carl Hayman, wrote Head On after discovering his injuries had led to early-onset dementia. He joined his co-author Dylan Cleaver to talk about the new realities of the sport we love.This episode was recorded at the 2024 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Steve Braunias is an author, columnist, journalist and literary editor of Newsroom. He is also one of the country’s leading writers of satire and his 2021 book Missing Persons won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Non-Fiction. Linda Clark drilled down into what makes the Tauranga-born writer tick, including the feeling behind the writing of his latest book that he was a missing person himself.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Tāme Iti (Ngāi Tūhoe, Waikato, Te Arawa) is known as many things – activist, artist, actor, author, terrorist and cyclist. He rose to prominence as a member of the protest group Ngā Tamatoa more than 40 years ago, becoming a key figure in the Māori protest movement and cultural renaissance. Community advocate and social change activist Denis O’Reilly was in conversation with one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most captivating and controversial figures.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Linda Clark and Moana Maniapoto are huge admirers of each other’s work. Fan girls, even. Moana is a musician, activist and journalist, and Linda is a lawyer, writer, and former broadcaster. In a delightful kōrero of the heart and mind, the two women interviewed each other about the various strands that make up their lives and how they weave them into their own kete to carry the gifts of the world and make change where they can.This episode was recorded at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May 2024.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Be thrilled and amazed by spoken word poetry created by Pasifika rangatahi at a three-day Young Readers Programme workshop and brought to the public for the first time. Poet Nafanua Kersel hosted the event, which also included more poetry readings and a panel talanoa about the life and dreams of the South Auckland Poets’ Collective with co-founders Grace Teuila Taylor, Ramon Narayan, Daren “dk” Kamali, and was moderated by Ole Maiava.This episode was recorded at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May 2024.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders are storytellers who use music as their medium, and coming together as collaborators has taken them in new and exciting directions. “These songs just started appearing out of the kitchen air,” said Davidson, “and we were grabbing them as fast as we could.” They talked with Lucy Cooper at the Karukatea Festival in May 2024 about “the strange territory” they share making music together.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Te Tiriti o Waitangi remains as important today as it did when it was first signed 184 years ago, but how can Aotearoa honour it, what are the key challenges and where do tangata whenua stand? Papawai Marae kaumātua Paora Ammunson (Ngāti Kahungunu/Rangitāne) welcomed the Featherston Booktown audience and Tāme Iti (Ngāi Tūhoe, Waikato, Te Arawa), Moana Maniapoto (Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) and Te Maire Tau (Ngāi Tahu) shared their views on the Treaty today, as moderated by Shane Te Pou (Ngāi Tūhoe).This episode was recorded at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May 2024.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

The murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in their Pukekawa farmhouse in 1970 remains Aotearoa New Zealand’s most famous cold case. It spawned two trials, two appeals, a Royal Commission finding of police corruption and a free pardon, and still the killer has not been found. Journalists Kirsty Johnston and James Hollings conducted their own investigation in their new book The Crewe Murders and talked with Missing Persons author, Steve Braunias at this year's Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Liv Sisson (Fungi of Aotearoa) and Zach Cotogni (Blue Honey) are on a mission to show Aotearoa New Zealand how important fungi are for the mental and physical health of human beings and the health of the planet. From lichen to psilocybin, they explored the world of mushrooms with renowned forager Helen Lehndorf (A Forager’s Life).This episode was recorded at the 2024 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

If anyone in Aotearoa New Zealand deserves the description polymath (a person of wide knowledge and learning), it is Gregory O’Brien.  Not only did Gregory win at this years Ockham awards, for best illustrated non-fiction with Don Binney: Flight Path, this poet, artist, art curator, and writer of fiction and non-fiction, also flew to Manchester, UK to set up an exhibition of his artwork.He has received numerous literary awards and an ONZM. During our Festival this year, Gregory was joined by author and art writer Catharina van Bohemen as she investigated the wildly intellectual and creative life of a polymath who shows no signs of slowing down! This episode was recorded at the 2024 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

The left is at a crossroads in New Zealand – the Labour Party struggles to be relevant while the radical left gathers strength in other parties. Do lefties want the traditional face of the Labour Party anymore? How do the Greens and Te Pāti Māori present themselves as credible options to govern? John Campbell asked the hard questions of trade unionist Craig Renney, activist and CEO of Childfund Josie Pagani, former Green MP Sue Bradford and journalist and communications consultant Chris Wikaira (Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāpuhi). This session was recorded live at the 2024 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

This week, Shane Te Pou and Phil Quin sat down with musician/teacher/local legend - Featherston’s own Warren Maxwell.  Warren has made a significant contribution to music both in New Zealand and internationally as a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and a driving force behind many musical projects including Trinity Roots, Fat Freddy's Drop and Little Bushman. Warren is also a longtime friend of Featherston Booktown and a presenter at this year’s Young Reader’s Programme.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

The murder of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in their Pukekawa farmhouse in 1970 remains Aotearoa New Zealand’s most famous cold case. It spawned two trials, two appeals, a Royal commission finding of police corruption and a free pardon, and still the killer has not been found. Journalists Kirsty Johnston and James Hollings conducted their own investigation in their new book The Crewe Murders.Kirsty talks to Shane Te Pou and Phil Quin about the infamous murder case and the state of journalism today.Content warning: this episode contains mentions of murder and a brief mention of sexual assault. https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Dame Susan Elizabeth Anne Devoy is a New Zealand former squash player and senior public servant. As a squash player, she was dominant in the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning the World Open on four occasions. She served as New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner from 2013 to 2018. Her new book ‘Dame Susy D’ is out now from Allen & Unwin.Dame Susan is the Guest Speaker for the Fish’n’Chip Supper at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival. On this episode, she joins Shane Te Pou and Phil Quin to talk about the new book and her varied career.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

As a word, “activism” is only about 100 years old – yet activists and movements for change have become a regular feature of social, civic, and political life in the 21st century. However, activism is about human beings motivating and confronting other human beings to change, thereby being a fundamental human activity. Four prominent Aotearoa New Zealand activists, Denis O’Reilly, Dame Catherine Healy, Liz Mellish and Shaneel Lal share their absorbing personal and political journeys of words and actions with Guyon Espiner.This episode was recorded live at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May 2023.The audio was recorded by Toby Mills of Noise Productions.This episode is also available as a video on our YouTube channel.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Catherine Chidgey has been one of this country's leading fiction writers for a quarter of a century, producing novels that are both provocative and sublime, starting with In a Fishbone Church and including two novels set in Nazi Germany. Her Ockham Book Awards shortlisted book The Axeman's Carnival, has astonished readers with its magpie narrator and been called a 'Kiwi Gothic classic'. She has been awarded the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, the Glenn Schaeffer Prize in Modern Letters and the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize. Catherine Chidgey was in conversation with Linda Clark at the 2023 Karukatea Festival.This audio and video of this event was recorded by Toby Mills from Noise Productions. Video of this event can be found on our YouTube channel HERE.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Pasifika voices are among the most powerful in Aotearoa's New Zealand literary scene – original, provocative, funny, uplifting and heart-breaking. Four leading Pasifika writers – Victor Rodger, Nafanua Purcell Kersel, Tusiata Avia and Gina Cole – came together to at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May 2023 read their own work and riff with host Makerita Urale.This audio and video of this event was recorded by Toby Mills from Noise Productions.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

November the 5th is a day of grief for Hon. Mahara Okeroa and Ockham Book Awards shortlisted author Rachel Buchanan, whose tūpuna were on the whenua when the Crown troops descended; a day of shame for Richard Shaw, whose great-grandfather was with the armed constabulary; a day of knowledge for academic Vincent O’Malley, who seeks to find the truth behind the records; and a day of atonement for former Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson, who delivered the Crown apology. The discussion attempted to face up to Parihaka and what it means to New Zealanders and was moderated by Ockham Book Awards short-listed author Paul Diamond.This panel discussion took place on Saturday 13 May 2023 at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.The video is also available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4tvuj1jvR7vWwGqdVV1DGwThe video and audio was recorded by Toby Mills from Noise Productions. https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Late at night is when poets come to life and are at their best. Now you can re-live some of the best poets and poetry in Aotearoa NZ – Poet Laureate Chris Tse, Sam Duckor-Jones, Rachel Buchanan, Debbie Broughton and Frankie Leota captured during their performance at Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May this year. https://www.booktown.org.nz/

In this episode, Phil Quin talks to Andrea Vance, author of 'Blue Blood: The Inside Story of the National Party in Crisis.'Andrea Vance is a senior journalist at Stuff. Born in Northern Ireland, she worked in the Press Gallery at the New Zealand Parliament for nearly a decade, first with Stuff and then TVNZ. She spent seven years as an investigative journalist with the News of the World and was night news editor at the Scotsman. She is a Press Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. Musical theme by Kolya Marks.Edited by Denver Grenell.Produced by Phil Quin for Featherston Booktown.  https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Roger Steele ONZM is a nearly retired publisher on the Kāpiti Coast. Over 25-odd years his company launched hundreds of fine writers and safeguarded a great deal of Aotearoa’s national treasure. His first published book was J.C. Sturm’s poems, and his last will be her collected works, later this year. Roger talks with Shane and Phil about his publishing experiences and what the future may hold for the publishing business.Roger Steele is appearing at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival 2023 in 'Author Spotlight: The Pioneering Life and Work of Jacquie Sturm/Te Kare Papuni' on Sunday 14 May 2023.  Tickets are available HERE. The full Festival Programme can be found HERE.Musical theme by Kolya Marks.Engineered by Huck Jackson at Radio Waatea.Edited by Denver Grenell.Produced by Denver Grenell & Phil Quin for Featherston Booktown.  https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Sam Duckor-Jones is an artist & writer formerly of the Wairarapa, now of the West Coast.  He has published two poetry collections with THWUP & shows regularly with Bowen Galleries. His current project is the immersive public sculpture Gloria of Greymouth.Sam will be appearing at multiple events during the Karukatea Festival, including Late Night Lit: The Mansfield Mash-up, Late Night Lit: Poet's Corner as well as curating his 'Paint it Pink: Pop Up Gloria' installation throughout the weekend.You can find more of Sam's work HERE.The Festival Programme can be found HERE.Musical theme by Kolya Marks.Engineered by Huck Jackson at Radio Waatea.Edited by Denver Grenell.Produced by Denver Grenell & Phil Quin for Featherston Booktown.  https://www.booktown.org.nz/https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Ryan Cahill is an Epic Fantasy author from Dublin, Ireland, now residing in New Zealand. His book series 'The Bound and The Broken' have sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. Ryan talks with Shane and Phil about how he forged his path as a writer and found success by doing things his way.Ryan Cahill will be appearing at Featherston Booktown as part of the 'Other Worlds - Sci-fi and Fantasy Fiction in New Zealand' event on Saturday 13 May. Tickets available HERE.Find Ryan Cahill's website HEREThe Festival Programme can be found HERE.Musical theme by Kolya Marks.Engineered by Huck Jackson at Radio Waatea.Edited by Denver Grenell.Produced by Denver Grenell & Phil Quin for Featherston Booktown.  https://www.booktown.org.nz/

In this episode, Shane Te Pou and Phil Quin talk to Featherston Booktown Operations Manager Mary Biggs about some of the highlights of the 2023 Festival programme.The Festival Programme can be found at: https://www.booktown.org.nz/Tickets available HERE.Produced by Denver Grenell & Phil Quin for Featherston Booktown. Engineered by Huck Jackson at Radio Waatea.Edited by Denver Grenell.Musical theme by Kolya Marks.Artwork by Chris Miller.https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Hosts Shane Te Pou and Phil Quin talk to the legendary Shayne P. Carter (Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer) about his career in music and his writing process.Shayne will join broadcaster and Ockham Book Awards short-listed author Nick Bollinger and Featherston musician extraordinaire Warren Maxwell (Trinity Roots, Little Bushman) for 'Notes on the Page: Writing Music' at Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival 2023, where they will discuss their different approaches to their work and the challenges of making a life in music.Shayne P. Carter's autobiography, 'Dead People I Have Known', is out now from Victoria University Press.Tickets to 'Notes on the Page' are available HERE.The Festival Programme can be found HERE.Musical theme by Kolya Marks.Engineered by Huck Jackson at Radio Waatea.Edited by Denver Grenell.Produced by Denver Grenell & Phil Quin for Featherston Booktown. https://www.booktown.org.nz/