The Featherston Booktown Podcast
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.
Episodes
19 episodes
Te Tiriti o Waitangi: What Tangata Whenua Say
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 Kahung...
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1:25:07
The Crewe Murders
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...
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57:19
The Magic of Mushrooms
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. ...
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49:13
On the Couch: Gregory O'Brien
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 B...
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57:30
Where's Left? What Does That Even Mean?
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 Māo...
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1:26:41
Episode 14: Warren Maxwell
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-instrumen...
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32:32
Episode 13: Kirsty Johnston
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 ...
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37:35
Episode 12: Dame Susan Devoy
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 ...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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33:55
Episode 11: Fighting for a World that Does Not Yet Exist - The Necessity of Activism.
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 confrontin...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:31:00
Episode 10: More Than a Magpie - The Novels of Catherine Chidgey
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 Oc...
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1:06:32
Episode 9: Pasifika Power
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...
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56:38
Episode 8: Invasion and Resistance: Facing up to Parihaka
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 w...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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1:31:09
Episode 7: Late Night Lit - Poet's Corner
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 c...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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59:00
Episode 6: Andrea Vance
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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44:22
Episode 5: Roger Steele
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 ...
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24:58
Episode 4: Sam Duckor-Jones
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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26:04
Episode 3: Ryan Cahill
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...
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27:03