The Marlborough Book Festival

Gavin Lang's book Seeking the Light is about climbing the country’s highest mountains that rise above 3000m, but it's about the importance of getting outdoors to improve health and wellbeing. Inspiring and exhilarating, each story captures the tension and drama of mountaineering in Aotearoa, and is vividly brought to life with Gavin’s outstanding photography. Gavin’s work is a beautiful and original contribution to mountain lore and literature. Gavin was talking with fellow outdoorsman Mike White at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

Two consistencies throughout Eileen Merriman’s childhood were her fascination with the human body and a desire to be a doctor. She worked hard at science but excelled at English. From doctor to fiction writer, the award-winning author delves into the science of blood and bone and the intricate depths of heart and soul during a conversation with Tessa Nicholson during the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

An utterly believable mimicking magpie narrates this extraordinary story set in the beautiful yet harsh landscape of Central Otago. Catherine Chidgey discusses her inspiration for the novel, with its exploration of themes encompassing domestic violence, the challenges of farming, the weird world of internet fame, and the vagaries of human relationships with animals, which she suggests can be at once closely bonded and exploitative. Catherine was in conversation with Nikki Macdonald at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

In his latest book, the Ockham illustrated non-fiction award-winning Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa New Zealand, Nick Bollinger tells the story of beards and bombs, freaks and firebrands, self-destruction and self-realisation, during the ‘60s and ‘70s, a turbulent and definitive period in New Zealand’s history and culture. ‘Bollinger puts a personal and personable stamp on this critical decade with words, sights and sounds that surprise and delight,’ writes cultural historian Bronwyn Labrum. Nick was in conversation with Robbie Burton at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

Hear a selection of guest authors take their work off the page and onto the stage in the gala opening of the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival. In order, the audience heard from Joanne Drayton, Eileen Merriman, Cristina Sanders, Michael Bennett and Joanna Preston. Their stories - whether true, imagined or a blurring of both - certainly got to the heart of the matter. They'll certainly make you want to hear more. This was a special event to launch the festival, providing a taste of the treats ahead over the weekend to come.

Paula Morris has become a vital voice in New Zealand literature, with highly acclaimed short stories, essays and novels, including 'Rangatira', fiction winner at the 2012 NZ Post Book Awards and Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards. But her work goes well beyond her own pen, as an advocate for New Zealand literature and Māori writers. Paula is the founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature and Wharerangi, the Māori literature hub, and co-editor of 'Ko Aotearoa Tātou', an anthology of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual art created in response to the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks. Paula speaks to fellow novelist Rachael King at the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival about a literary life, as writer, teacher, mentor and advocate.

Kate Camp’s most recent collection of poetry, How To Be Happy Though Human, is strikingly apt for current times. In conversation with Cliff Fell at the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival, Kate discusses her influences and inspirations behind her highly acclaimed poetry, and reads selected poems.

Place and story go hand in hand. Landscape must first live on the page for it to blossom in the mind of the reader. But landscape in literature is both a reflection and an invention. Lloyd Jones and Kate De Goldi will discuss exploring the landscapes of their favourite books from childhood, and consider how they write 'place' into story. This session was recorded at the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival,

Three contemporary New Zealand novelists talk writing. Sue Orr, Kirsten McDougall and Rebecca K Reilly discuss their inspiration, processes and generational insights. They also discuss the place of women - as authors and protagonists - in modern literature. This session took place during the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival.

In From the Centre: A Writer's Life Patricia Grace takes us through her childhood, education, marriage and up to the present day, in this touching and self-deprecating story of her life – the life of a writer, of a Māori woman and of a teacher. It expresses the love for family and for ancestral land; shows the prejudices she's had to face and what made her stronger; and tracks her career as a writer. We were thrilled to welcome back Patricia Grace to the Marlborough Book Festival in 2022 where she was in conversation with Paula Morris.

From cooking for Prime Ministers and dignitaries in Europe, to being chosen as personal chef for Maestro Luciano Pavarotti, having her own television show and long running radio career and, of course, her award-winning cookbooks, Julie Biuso’s life has been full of the joy of food and sharing it with others. Listen to Julie in conversation with Charlotte Patterson about her illustrious and delicious career (make sure to eat first)!

Rebecca K Reilly (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Wai) is the author of the smart and funny debut novel Greta & Valdin, which has topped the bestsellers list for weeks and won the Hubert Church Prize for best first book of fiction for the 2022 Ockham NZ Book Awards. Greta & Valdin was a Newsroom novel of the year and the Ockham Award judges described it as “gloriously queer, hilarious and relatable”. Hannah Tunnicliffe writes in her review for Kete: “It's an Auckland barely seen in New Zealand fiction – young, diverse, told from the inside. Racism, sexism and homophobia are all examined here in ways that make you think, sometimes cringe but mostly laugh, due to Reilly’s dry, acerbic tone which manages to also be warm and generous.” Rebecca discusses her extraordinary modern classic with Tania Miller at the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival.

Steve Braunias captivated festival audiences at Spy Valley in 2016, talking of the 12 true stories of crime and punishment behind his book Scene of the Crime. We were delighted to have him back at the cellar door for the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival with Missing Persons, his latest collection of true crime writing, exposing 12 extraordinary tales of disappearance in New Zealand.

Kate Camp talks about her wonderful new memoir You Probably Think This Song is About You brimming with hard-won wisdom and generous humour. In conversation with Naomi Barton, Kate shares experiences as diverse as bad relationships, misheard songs, the fallibility of memory and the wrong turns we take. In the words of author and reviewer Catherine Chidgey: “Kate’s essays shine with wit, intelligence, and a humanity that is both intimate and universal.”

Eddy, Eddy - in conversation with Tania Miller Kate De Goldi's new book Eddy, Eddy follows Eddy Smallbore, an orphan, who is grappling with identity, love, loss and religion. It's two years since he blew up his school life and the earthquakes felled his city. Home life is maddening. His pet-minding job is expanding in peculiar directions. And now the past and the future have come calling – in unexpected ways.

"Ruth Shaw's life has been crammed with incredible adventure, and at times damned by terrible tragedy," writes Mike White in Stuff. "There have been pirates, and prostitutes, and protests and pig farming; gold mining, gambling and grief." Speaking to Charlotte Patterson, Ruth talks about her uplifting story of survival, her tiny Fiordland bookshops and a memoir that's helping others address wounds from their past.

- in conversation with Rachael King Climate change is no laughing matter, but Kirsten McDougall's fast-paced novel She's a Killer set in a foreseeable future Aotearoa is full of unexpected humour. Her apathetic protagonist Alice is content to observe society's disarray until a teenage genius with a fantastic backstory upends her life and emboldens her to act. At the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival, Kirsten discusses her masterful plot, fresh characters and the power of fiction to help us face up to climate forecasts.

Susan Paris and Kate De Goldi are changing the landscape for young readers in New Zealand, as they curate fresh writing and illustration from some of New Zealand's top talent. The pair have followed on from the success of Annual and Annual 2 with Skinny Dip, an anthology of 36 school-inspired poems from 24 New Zealand poets, to reflect everyday experiences of Kiwi kids, from nits and crushes to rainy-day lunchtimes, through a range of poetic forms. Learn what inspires these champions of young readers, and how they push boundaries to create bespoke books for a new generation. A session for teachers, writers, artists, parents, grandparents and poetry lovers.

Charlie, 15 and pregnant at a time abortion isn’t legally available in New Zealand, makes an impulsive choice with far reaching consequences in the opening chapters of Sue Orr’s latest novel. Loop Tracks tackles abortion, addiction, ageing, autism and euthanasia against a setting of Wellington’s first Covid-19 lockdown. They’re big topics tackled with sensitivity, elegance and humour in a work shortlisted for the 2022 NZ Ockham awards. Sue was in conversation with Tessa Nicholson at the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival.

The last time Steve Braunias attended the Marlborough Book Festival, he trawled through our op-shops seeking record covers that might reveal insights into New Zealand’s popular culture from 1957 to 1987, when the LP was king of recorded music. We like to think a few made their way to his latest book, Cover Story: 100 Beautiful, Strange and Frankly Incredible New Zealand LP Covers. Speaking to Tania Miller at the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival, Steve discusses the interviews behind the book and his own experience collecting more than 800 albums.