Featherston to host annual booktown festival

The three-day event kicks on May 9 and will transform the historic Wairarapa town into a vibrant literary hub. Over 9,000 people – half from rural areas and the other half from Wellington – are expected.

One of the main events include a session with Federated Farmers president and Golden Bay dairy farmer Wayne Langford.

The ‘Yeah, it’s all good: men keeping themselves well’ event takes place on Sunday May 11 from 1.30pm to 2.30pm.

Monique Wijnen, marketing manager for Featherston Booktown Trust says the one-hour event will look at issues faced by rural men.

“Why do men, especially in rural areas, struggle to talk about their problems? What’s standing in the way? Are the men of today okay and how do they keep themselves well?

“Join us for a candid conversation about masculinity, society, health, wealth, life, death and everything in between, featuring writers and personalities Matt Heath and Paddy Gower; Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford; and Irish farmer and writer John Connell. Phil Quin will be asking the questions.”

Wijnen says Farmstrong’s book Getting Through will be available free for audience members. The event is sponsored by Farm Focus.

On Saturday 10 May, an event between 9am and 10am will feature Norwegian author Lars Mytting, whose book Norwegian Wood – the definitive woodcutter’s bible to preparing firewood – spread like wildfire around the world.

“No wonder, when our relationship with fire is ancient and universal and the age-old rituals around chopping and stacking wood continue to be a part of 21st-century life. Don’t miss Lars Mytting on his first visit to New Zealand, in conversation with John Campbell,” says Wijnen.

On Saturday 10 May between 11.30am and 12.30pm, Ruth Shaw will be on hand to help rural women sort their prolapses, a common, disruptive and often embarrassing condition that can be prevented with the right treatment.

“She writes about it in part two of her provocative and funny memoir Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World, which is launching at Featherston Booktown,” says Wijnen.

Politics will make an appearance on Sunday 11 May between 9.30am and10.30am.

Wijnen says the radical economic reforms of the Fourth Labour Government 40 years ago, known as Rogernomics, had a devastating impact on rural communities, including Wairarapa.

“The dollar was floated, agricultural subsidies removed, GST introduced, forests sold and state-owned enterprises corporatised.

“The Post editor Tracy Watkins will discuss the reforms with Wairarapa leaders Liz Mellish and Bob Francis, who lived through the turmoil, and three politicians – Richard Prebble, Marilyn Waring and Rick Barker – who were in Parliament at the time.”

People wanting to purchase two tickets or more on Eventfinda to this event, can use the code ‘matesrates’ and receive a 10% discount at checkout.