The Featherston Booktown Podcast

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 Each one read from work – published or unpublished – that they think best expresses them and what they want to say to the world.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/