The Marlborough Book Festival

Anna Smaill - Bird Life, A Novel

Anna Smaill in conversation with Jane Forrest Waghorn

Anna’s latest novel moves between reality and magical realism, as two women navigate intense personal loss in a wonderfully hyperrealist, slightly eerie, Tokyo. Dinah is a New Zealander, teaching English in Japan, grieving her twin brother who was a gifted, but troubled, musician. Yasuko, who has talked to the natural world since her teens, is grieving her adult son’s move to independence.

In this exquisitely written novel, Anna explores the feelings that come with losing a loved one and teases out the tension between our internal and external lives. Don’t miss hearing Anna in conversation with Jane Forrest Waghorn at the 2024 Marlborough Book Festival.

Ron Crosby - Te Kooti’s Last Foray

Marlborough-based historian Ron Crosby has tramped the Urewera forests to retrace the steps of Te Kooti and his pursuers. That legwork deeply informs his latest book Te Kooti’s Last Foray. He discusses his findings and the adventures he had along the way.

Ron was in conversation with Pete Anderson at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

Tessa Nicholson - Writing Marlborough's Wine Stories

Marlborough-based Wine journalist Tessa Nicholson has interviewed industry players and been witness to challenges overcome and enterprise rewarded.

Speaking to journalist Mike White at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival, Tessa discusses her book Fifty Years, Fifty Stories, Marlborough the Region That Turned The Wine World Upside Down.

Joanne Drayton - The Lives of Others

Joanne Drayton is an art historian, biographer and nonfiction writer. Her personal memoir The Queen’s Wife was published in January this year. Her book Hudson & Halls: The Food of Love won the non-fiction award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in 2019. The Search for Anne Perry was a top-10 non-fiction on the New York Times bestseller list.

Joanne discusses the art of biography writing and shares stories about researching her acclaimed biographies of Ngaio Marsh, Frances Hodgkins, Anne Perry, Hudson and Halls, Rhona Hazard and Edith Collier. How does one unlock the secrets of other people’s lives and turn them into such great reads?

Joanne was in conversation with Nikki Macdonald at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

W J Moloney - Invincible

W J Moloney discusses Invincible, a novel based on the incredible story of one man’s journey through a world war and onto worldwide sporting glory.

The novel follows Son White, a Southland man who went to WWI with his horse Ben and returned a mentally scarred man who found redemption on the rugby field. After joining a local club in 1919 he managed to be selected for the All Blacks by 1921 and captained the team that was famously undefeated on their 1924 tour of the British Isles and France. W J discusses his five years of research on the book and reflects on his family’s experience of the intergenerational effects that the Great War had on families.

He was in conversation with Tessa Nicholson at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

Luke Elworthy - The Last Letter of Godfrey Cheathem

Luke Elworthy discusses The Last Letter of Godfrey Cheathem, a satire that explores being the average sibling in a family of creative geniuses and pokes fun at Kiwi life. Luke reflects on his teen years at a conservative boarding school and a commune, his publishing work, and life in Marlborough.

Luke Elworthy was in conversation with Jason Henry at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

Please note that Luke's readings from the book contain some strong language. If you're around kids or would rather avoid swearing, you might want to listen later or grab some headphones.

Dr Peter Meihana - Exploding a Pākehā Myth (Wairau launch)

Growing up, Dr Peter Meihana often heard that Māori received special treatment and had advantages that other New Zealanders did not. However, this idea didn’t match with his life experience as Māori nor did it match with what he learned when he became hooked on studying history.

He blew the myth apart in his doctorate thesis and has kindly encapsulated his argument for the lay reader in his important new book, Privilege in Perpetuity, Exploding a Pākehā Myth.

Peter was in conversation with Emma Tucker at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

Soraya Lane - Following the Heart

Soraya Lane has followed her heart creating historical fiction and romance novels. Her series, The Lost Daughters, has been an international success, and her WWII novels are enormously popular with lovers of the historical genre.

At the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival she explains to Courtney Clark Michaels about her writing life and how she weaves empowerment of women in the #MeToo era into her fiction. 

Robbie Burton - Bushline

Robbie Burton discusses his memoir, Bushline, which tells of life, love and adventures in the outdoors, as well as his long career in publishing.

The natural world played a central part in developing his youthful obsession with tramping, skiing and mountaineering, first in Nelson Lakes National Park, then throughout the Southern Alps.

Robbie was in conversation with Nikki Macdonald at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.

Joanne Drayton - The Queen’s Wife

Joanne Drayton discusses her memoir, The Queen’s Wife, a modern love story featuring whakapapa, archaeology, art and heartbreak, with Jane Forrest Waghorn at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival. 

Joanne’s story is one of two married women who met in 1989 in Christchurch. Their love threatens to cost them their children, families and friends and forces them to reassess their sexuality, identity and heritage. Against the odds, the couple’s new life together is rich in laughter, travel, unusual encounters, investigations into Viking raids, the Kingitanga movement and much more.