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/
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Yeah, It’s All Good: Men Keeping Themselves Well
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/
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Westport Wāhine: Becky and Mel
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/
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On the Couch: Lars Mytting - His life and work
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/
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Swimming Upstream: The Rise Of Sri Lankan Writing In Aotearoa
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/
The Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival is where we celebrate books, storytelling and ideas, and the artefact and craft of the book.Join NZ Herald Columnist Shane Te Pou and Booktown volunteer Phil Quin for a series of enlightening and entertaining discussions with some of the featured guests from the Festival.The Festival takes place from 10 -12 May 2024 in Featherston, Aotearoa - New Zealand.
New Zealand