The Marlborough Book Festival

John McCrystal gives us insight into his new book, 'Worse Things Happen at Sea: Tales of nautical mishap, misery and mystery from New Zealand and around the world'. Covering the tragic, the heroic, and the inexplicable, John also discusses one of our greatest maritime mysteries, the sinking of the Mikhail Lermontov in the Marlborough Sounds. John was speaking to Mike White at the 2021 Marlborough...

Sharon Murdoch started cartooning in her 50s and in a few short years became the first woman to regularly draw political cartoons for a daily newspaper in New Zealand.  At the 2021 Marlborough Book Festival, Sharon discusses with Nikki MacDonald her life, her award-winning work and her drive to draw attention to social justice - and the joy of drawing cats and dogs.

John McCrystal tells the story of New Zealand through maps and the explorers who made them. From early Maori and European voyagers, to settlers, surveyors and soldiers, John’s book, 'Singing the Trail', unearths little-known and fascinating histories of this country contained in beautiful and extraordinary maps. John was speaking to Mike White at the 2021 Marlborough Book Festival.

Tickets for the Marlborough Book Festival 2022 are on sale now. Should we be paralysed by fear or optimistic for the world future generations will inherit? Rebecca Priestley experiences both emotions in her eco-memoir, 'Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica', reflecting on her three visits to Antarctica. The book was praised by reviewers and longlisted for the general non-fiction award at the 2020 O...

Tickets for the Marlborough Book Festival 2022 are on sale now. The Guardian praised 'The Absolute Book' as "everything a fantasy should be: original, politically engaged and teeming with literary allusion”. Elizabeth Knox discusses her inspiration for the story, the references within to other fantasy traditions, and important messages the novel conveys about reality and the challenges of current...

Tickets for the 2022 Marlborough Book Festival are now on sale . Elizabeth Knox has been imagining fantastic worlds and characters since she was a child. Some of those plots are still unfolding. The writer shares stories from publishing rejections to publishing sensations starting with 'The Vintner’s Luck', and how she emerged from family loss to write her latest book, 'The Absolute Book', which s...

Dame Fiona marked her 80th birthday last year with the publication of 'All the Way to Summer', a beautiful volume of stories; all moving, insightful and written with love. The final stories trace her own history of love, a memoir of significant people from childhood and beyond. The collection is the perfect starting point for a conversation about her extraordinary life. Dame Fiona was speaking to...

What’s it like when your first published novel wins big awards and receives rave reviews? 'Auē', Becky Manawatu’s story of good kids and grim circumstances set just down the road in Kaikōura, has won a place in the hearts of her many readers. Becky was speaking to Jane Forrest Waghorn at the 2021 Marlborough Book Festival.

Mike White discusses his delightful, funny and moving book 'How To Walk A Dog' with Tessa Nicholson at the 2021 Marlborough Book Festival. Mike talks about his dog Cooper, the remarkable people and dogs he’s met while walking him, and life at a Wellington dog park.

The Ockham judges praised 'Sprigs' as “an unflinching novel which forces us to reckon with uncomfortable truths about power and privilege in Aotearoa”. The book comes with trigger warnings, but also nuanced storytelling and some comic relief. Speaking at the 2021 Marlborough Book Festival, Brannavan discusses the book and the issues around masculinity it puts in the spotlight with Tessa Nicholson.

Dame Fiona Kidman has never shied away from the big topics both on and off the page. She has a deep interest in social justice and telling the story of “outsiders”. Speaking to Jane Forrest Waghorn, Fiona reflects on the causes she has taken up over her career, from her feminist writings in the 70s and 80s, to telling the tragic tale of Albert Black, one of the last people to be executed in this c...

In 'The Secret of Strangers' (2020), a gunshot rings out in a London cafe and the lives of five strangers are forever changed. Speaking to Tessa Nicholson at the 2021 Marlborough Book Festival, Charity discusses her involvement in the real-life event that inspired the book, as well as her recent novels, her inspiration, influence and writing process.

Charity Norman’s own life story is as fascinating as the lives she writes about in her gripping novels - minus meth addiction and cult membership. Born in Uganda and raised in UK vicarages, Charity pursued travel and a successful legal career as a barrister before moving to New Zealand.   Speaking to Barbara De Leo at the 2021 Marlborough Book Festival, Charity reflects on her road to rave reviews...

The Ice Shelf: Anne Kennedy in conversation with Naomi Arnold at Spy Valley Winery at the 2019 Marlborough Book Festival.

On the Marlborough Book Festival's signature Marlborough Sounds Cruise, guests enjoyed beautiful scenery and brunch including fresh New Zealand King Salmon and stunning Dog Point Vineyard wines. Listen as eminent New Zealand historian Dr Vincent O'Malley discusses some of the lesser-known aspects of Aotearoa history, including the Wairau Affray, with Marlborough-based historian Ron Crosby.

The Art of Simple: Eleanor Ozich in conversation with Charlotte Patterson at The Treehouse at Cloudy Bay at the 2019 Marlborough Book Festival.

Emily Writes in conversation with Naomi Arnold at The Treehouse at Cloudy Bay at the 2019 Marlborough Book Festival. 

In a Marlborough Book Festival first, some of our guest authors took their stories off the page and brought them to us live on stage, in a fun filled, exciting and moving evening of Kiwi oratory talent.  

Tina Makereti writes novels, essays and short stories. When Tina came to investigate her Moriori heritage it led to her first novel, Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings.  In this session with journalist Nikki Macdonald, Tina discusses her novel that confronts the complexity of being Moriori, Māori and Pākehā and finding a place of belonging. 

One of New Zealand's finest writers, Vincent O'Sullivan came to the 2018 Marlborough Book Festival in the wake of releasing his first  novel in 20 years, All This By Chance.  In this session, Vincent chats with journalist Mike White about his novel - a moving, multi-generational saga, of a family spread across Italy, Greece, Africa and New Zealand.

Diana Wichtel is an award-winning journalist, well known for her media commentary for the New Zealand Listener. Diana's family memoir Driving to Treblinka has been described as a "beautiful, profoundly moving search for her father and also for memory, in a story that clings to humour and love".  In this session from the 2018 Marlborough Book Festival, interviewer Tessa Nicholson adeptly draws out...

Jenny Pattrick is one of New Zealand's best selling novelists.  In this conversation with Tessa Nicholson at the 2018 Marlborough Book Festival, Jenny reflects on the art of historical fiction while sharing her personal story.  The pair discuss why Jenny chooses to write historical fiction, how she picks her subject and the importance of developing a unique voice for each novel.

New Zealand Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh and doctor, award-winning poet and captivating orator Glenn Colquhoun shared the stage at the 2018 Marlborough Book Festival to discuss their shared love of poetry.

Tom Scott and Diana Wichtel, who both published books about their families in 2017, chat to journalist Nikki Macdonald about the possible perils of writing family memoirs, the insistence of memories, and the importance of family in determining who we become.

An eminent archaeologist and historian of Ngai Tahu descent, Atholl Anderson was one of three authors behind the multi award-winning Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History.  Atholl joined us at the 2018 Marlborough Book Festival with Marlborough based historian, Ron Crosby to delve into what's known and what's yet to learn about our country's fascinating past.