Nelson Arts Festival Pukapuka Talks

Commune: Chasing a Utopian Dream in Aotearoa captures the spirit of the counter-culture movement in the Motueka Valley from the perspective of Olive Jones, one of its founding members.

Olive Jones was a teenager when she joined a group of hippies, idealists and subsistence farmers, determined to reject their parents’ way of life. Influenced by the counter-culture movement sweeping New Zealand in the 1970s, they purchased an idylli...

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Witi Ihimaera’s Tangi, the first novel written by a Māori author to be published in New Zealand. Six fellow Māori writers - Emma Espiner (MC), Vaughan Rapatahana, Ruby Solly, Donna McLeod, Arihia Latham and Airana Ngarewa - join Witi at this special gala event to celebrate Aotearoa storytelling. The kōrero begins, after the mihi whakatau and a short clip from Whale Rider (the stage play) at 0...

Award-winning doctor and writer, Dr Emma Espiner, discusses her stunning debut memoir, There’s a cure for this, with Arihia Latham. Together they kōrero about hurt and healing, love and loss, life and death, motherhood and medicine.

From the quietly perceived inequities of her early life to hard-won revelations as a Māori medical student and junior doctor during the Covid-19 pandemic, Emma‘s story is a candid and moving examination...

Emma Ling Sidnam, Airana Ngarewa and Colleen Maria Lenihan discuss their stunning debut books, and reveal what gave them the courage to write, with Paula Morris.

Join acclaimed author and creative writing teacher Paula Morris in a discussion with the three debut authors she hand-picked as new authors she predicts will change the literary landscape in Aotearoa forever. They are writers you can’t afford not to read.

Emma Ling Sidnam’...

Rebecca Priestley discusses her new book, End Times, which is part memoir/part road trip exploring climate science, climate denial and belief systems, with Jude Watson.

What do the Christian right, natural health practitioners and farmers have in common? Rebecca Priestley examines this question and more in End Times, a work of creative nonfiction that interweaves two stories. In one, Priestley explores two of her teenage years, whe...

Monty Soutar ONZM shares the story behind his bestselling and critically acclaimed debut novel, Kāwai: For Such a Time as This. The kōrero is facilitated by Airana Ngarewa.

Kāwai: For Such a Time As This has been in the NZ bestseller list since its launch in Sept 2022 and was shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. 

In this epic historical adventure by Monty Soutar, ONZ...

Caroline Barron's Golden Days and Anne Tiernan's The Last Days of Joy are both gripping novels that explore how the past can haunt us in the present. Paula Morris facilitates this gripping conversation.

We meet Barron‘s protagonist Becky when she is mourning the end of her picture-perfect marriage. As she unravels, Becky also remembers one terrifying night in 1995 that changed her life forever. When Zoe, her best friend at ...

Join psychologist Alia Bojilova and keen tramper and writer Victoria Bruce as they explore resilience and their respective understanding of the mind-body connection. Chaired by Liz Price.

When she was kidnapped in Syria during a stint with the NZ Army, Alia Bojilova managed to talk her way out of captivity and has gone on to become a top performance coach. She has turned what she has learnt into a new book, The Resilience Toolkit. ...

Lotta Dann (Mrs D), the author of three bestselling books about alcohol, joins RNZ broadcaster Guyon Espiner to discuss - with Matty Anderson - why the odds are stacked against those who want to get off booze. Buckle up for a sobering look into how the way you drink is shaped not only by your individual choice, but also by government, media and big business.

In The Drinking Game, investigative journalist Guyon Espiner provides an i...

This is an audio recording of the Whakatū Nelson launch of Robbie Burton’s new memoir, Bushline, a deeply personal memoir in which he pays homage to a life shaped by the power of the landscape of Aotearoa. Hosted by Annette Lees.

Robbie Burton is a tramper and book publisher, who has had a life-long love of the Aotearoa mountains.

In this memoir he recalls a childhood in which the natural world played a central part, and led to a y...

Esteemed Aotearoa playwright and author Renée (Ngāti Kahungunu) wrote and published her first crime novel when she was 90. Blood Matters is the riveting sequel to the 2020 Ngaio Marsh finalist The Wild Card, and is another tale of Porohiwi, a small town that doesn't yield its secrets without a fight. This kōrero is facilitated by Renée's publisher, Mary McCallum.

The Wild Card was published by Cuba Press in 2019 and, after bei...

In this intimate kōrero, Hinemoa Elder discusses her new pukapuka, Wawata – Moon Dreaming, which explores how living in sync with the moon can help us find a growing sense of place and harmony. Facilitated by Olivia Hall.

Dr Hinemoa Elder (Ngāti Kuri, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi), author of Aroha, top-selling Aotearoa non-fiction title of 2021, shows us in this new book how to reclaim intimacy with others, with ourselves and wit...

Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) and Christine Leunens have written novels that have not only been snapped up by numerous international publisher but are also currently making their way from the page to the screen. Doug Brooks facilitates this ‘behind the scenes’ discussion about the adaptation of Better the Blood and In Amber's Wake.

Michael Bennett is an award-winning screenwriter, director and author. His short...

Whiti Hereaka and Nic Low have written two remarkable books that tell ancient Māori stories in fresh and compelling ways, with Hereaka flipping perspectives on a well-known tale, and Low using tramping and climbing adventures to bring the past to life.

Winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, Kurangaituku is the story of Hatupatu told from the perspective of the traditional ‘m...

Prize-winning writer and broadcaster Noelle McCarthy's memoir, Grand: Becoming my mother’s daughter, is an astonishing debut about mothers and daughters, drinking, birth and loss, running away and homecoming. Fellow journalist/broadcaster Wendyl Nissen, who had her own mother difficulties and challenges with alcohol, facilitates the conversation.

At the heart of Noelle McCarthy’s memoir is a revelation about lines of women in famil...

Elizabeth Knox CNZM speaks with Catherine Chidgey about her two latest books: The Axeman’s Carnival (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2022) and her critically acclaimed 2020 novel Remote Sympathy. In both books, Chidgey chips away the façade of domesticity to expose darker places.

The Axeman’s Carnival is Chidgey at her finest – comic, profound, poetic, and true. In this story, Marnie is married to a farmer and their marriage is a...

Bestselling authors Wendyl Nissen and Charity Norman have both ‘been through the fire’ of supporting a parent with dementia, which led to them writing two astonishing books. In this session, they explore what works when it comes to dementia treatment and care and what desperately needs to change to ensure our loved ones can die with dignity.

Wendy Nissen’s mother Elsie died with Alzheimer’s in 2019 and Charity Norman’s mother Beryl...

Anke Richter’s Cult Trip is a gripping, visceral, thriller-like investigation into Centrepoint, Gloriavale and Agama Yoga. In this session, Noelle McCarthy quizzes Richter about the dynamics that turn a group into a cult, and why we are all susceptible to undue influence. 

Cult Trip: Inside the world of coercion & control is an investigative personal deep dive into Aotearoa New Zealand’s most notorious present and former “...

In 'The Crucial Decade', Kim Hill invites Paul Tapsell (Te Arawa, Tainui), Mike Joy and Dave Lowe to explain how we can respond to the climate crisis and transform our lands, waterways and communities. Recorded on Sunday October 22 at the 2022 Nelson Arts Festival, as part of our Pukapuka Talks literary programme.

In Kāinga: People, Land, Belonging (BWB Texts) Paul Tapsell looks at the legacy of colonisation and how alienation...