The Marlborough Book Festival

Lloyd Jones & Kate De Goldi - Landscape & Literature

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,

Sue Orr, Kirsten McDougall & Rebecca K Reilly - Oh So Novel

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.

Patricia Grace - From the Centre: A Writer’s Life

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.

Julie Biuso - Shared Kitchen: Real Food From Scratch

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 - Greta & Valdin

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 - Missing Persons

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 - You Probably Think This Song is About You

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.” 

Kate De Goldi - Eddy, Eddy

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 - The Bookseller at the End of the World

"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.

Kirsten McDougall - She’s a Killer

- 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.