Festival 2020 Day 9

On today's episode we're teaming up with our sister book town, Featherston, to celebrate all things New Zealand. Featherston became a full member of the International Organisation of Booktowns two years ago in 2018 and so we’re taking the opportunity to present an episode with a distinctive New Zealand flavour. We talk to the former poet laureate of New Zealand, Selina Tusitala Marsh, about what life was like as a poet laureate and how poetry found her. We discuss what it's like to teach a course on Scottish crime fiction in New Zealand and find out more about a Dunedin-James Hogg connection with the award winning crime writer Liam McIlvanney. And we were delighted to talk to two of the people behind the Featherston Book Town project, Mary and Peter Biggs. Do check out Featherston's webpage to find out more about what they are up to: www.booktown.org.nz