The murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in their Pukekawa farmhouse in 1970 remains Aotearoa New Zealand’s most famous cold case. It spawned two trials, two appeals, a Royal Commission finding of police corruption and a free pardon, and still the killer has not been found. Journalists Kirsty Johnston and James Hollings conducted their own investigation in their new book The Crewe Murders and talked with Missing Persons author, Steve Braunias at this year's Karukatea Festival.

https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Liv Sisson (Fungi of Aotearoa) and Zach Cotogni (Blue Honey) are on a mission to show Aotearoa New Zealand how important fungi are for the mental and physical health of human beings and the health of the planet. From lichen to psilocybin, they explored the world of mushrooms with renowned forager Helen Lehndorf (A Forager’s Life).

This episode was recorded at the 2024 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.

https://www.booktown.org.nz/

If anyone in Aotearoa New Zealand deserves the description polymath (a person of wide knowledge and learning), it is Gregory O’Brien.  Not only did Gregory win at this years Ockham awards, for best illustrated non-fiction with Don Binney: Flight Path, this poet, artist, art curator, and writer of fiction and non-fiction, also flew to Manchester, UK to set up an exhibition of his artwork.

He has received numerous literary awards and an ONZM. During our Festival this year, Gregory was joined by author and art writer Catharina van Bohemen as she investigated the wildly intellectual and creative life of a polymath who shows no signs of slowing down! 

This episode was recorded at the 2024 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.

https://www.booktown.org.nz/

The left is at a crossroads in New Zealand – the Labour Party struggles to be relevant while the radical left gathers strength in other parties. Do lefties want the traditional face of the Labour Party anymore? How do the Greens and Te Pāti Māori present themselves as credible options to govern? John Campbell asked the hard questions of trade unionist Craig Renney, activist and CEO of Childfund Josie Pagani, former Green MP Sue Bradford and journalist and communications consultant Chris Wikaira (Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāpuhi). 

This session was recorded live at the 2024 Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.

https://www.booktown.org.nz/

This week, Shane Te Pou and Phil Quin sat down with musician/teacher/local legend - Featherston’s own Warren Maxwell.  

Warren has made a significant contribution to music both in New Zealand and internationally as a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and a driving force behind many musical projects including Trinity Roots, Fat Freddy's Drop and Little Bushman. Warren is also a longtime friend of Featherston Booktown and a presenter at this year’s Young Reader’s Programme.

https://www.booktown.org.nz/

The murder of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in their Pukekawa farmhouse in 1970 remains Aotearoa New Zealand’s most famous cold case. It spawned two trials, two appeals, a Royal commission finding of police corruption and a free pardon, and still the killer has not been found. Journalists Kirsty Johnston and James Hollings conducted their own investigation in their new book The Crewe Murders.

Kirsty talks to Shane Te Pou and Phil Quin about the infamous murder case and the state of journalism today.

Content warning: this episode contains mentions of murder and a brief mention of sexual assault. 

https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Dame Susan Elizabeth Anne Devoy is a New Zealand former squash player and senior public servant. As a squash player, she was dominant in the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning the World Open on four occasions. She served as New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner from 2013 to 2018. Her new book ‘Dame Susy D’ is out now from Allen & Unwin.

Dame Susan is the Guest Speaker for the Fish’n’Chip Supper at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival. On this episode, she joins Shane Te Pou and Phil Quin to talk about the new book and her varied career.

https://www.booktown.org.nz/

As a word, “activism” is only about 100 years old – yet activists and movements for change have become a regular feature of social, civic, and political life in the 21st century. However, activism is about human beings motivating and confronting other human beings to change, thereby being a fundamental human activity. Four prominent Aotearoa New Zealand activists, Denis O’Reilly, Dame Catherine Healy, Liz Mellish and Shaneel Lal share their absorbing personal and political journeys of words and actions with Guyon Espiner.

This episode was recorded live at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May 2023.

The audio was recorded by Toby Mills of Noise Productions.

This episode is also available as a video on our YouTube channel.

https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Catherine Chidgey has been one of this country's leading fiction writers for a quarter of a century, producing novels that are both provocative and sublime, starting with In a Fishbone Church and including two novels set in Nazi Germany. Her Ockham Book Awards shortlisted book The Axeman's Carnival, has astonished readers with its magpie narrator and been called a 'Kiwi Gothic classic'. She has been awarded the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, the Glenn Schaeffer Prize in Modern Letters and the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize. Catherine Chidgey was in conversation with Linda Clark at the 2023 Karukatea Festival.

This audio and video of this event was recorded by Toby Mills from Noise Productions.

Video of this event can be found on our YouTube channel HERE.

https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Pasifika voices are among the most powerful in Aotearoa's New Zealand literary scene – original, provocative, funny, uplifting and heart-breaking. Four leading Pasifika writers – Victor Rodger, Nafanua Purcell Kersel, Tusiata Avia and Gina Cole – came together to at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in May 2023 read their own work and riff with host Makerita Urale.

This audio and video of this event was recorded by Toby Mills from Noise Productions.

https://www.booktown.org.nz/