Audio Based

What does it mean to be a young person in these uncertain times?

In collaboration with Arts, Design and Music students from NMIT, Whispers in the Streets shares rangatahi voices and reflections on uncertainty and what that means to them here and now, in Whakatū. Watch their visual arts interpretation unfold on bollards and listen to their whispers in unexpected places around town.

Novelist Rebecca K Reilly (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Wai) - winner of the Hubert Church Prize for best first book of fiction at the 2022 Ockham NZ Book Awards - and poet Rebecca Hawkes read from their stunning debut books. 

In the summer of 2019, Erny Belle relocated from Tāmaki Makaurau to the Northland township of Maungatūroto to write and record what would eventually become her debut album, Venus Is Home, released in February 2022.

Throughout the festival don’t miss our innovative digital commission, which celebrates incredible Aotearoa writers, spoken word artists and storytellers exploring the theme, ‘Belonging’. The series will be headlined by Ko Wai Koe (from whose waters do you flow?), a spoken word/waiata/music performance by Motueka-based collective, Te Ora Hā, and will be presented throughout the festival, for free, via our digital stages and online.

Anke Richter’s Cult Trip is a gripping, visceral, thriller-like investigation into Centrepoint, Gloriavale and Agama Yoga. In this session, Noelle McCarthy quizzes Richter about the dynamics that turn a group into a cult, and why we are all susceptible to undue influence. 

Bestselling authors Wendyl Nissen and Charity Norman have both ‘been through the fire’ of supporting a parent with dementia, which led to them writing two astonishing books. In this session, they will explore what works when it comes to dementia treatment and care and what desperately needs to change to ensure our loved ones can die with dignity.

In this special live Showy Ovaries performance, the irrepressible comedian Penny Ashton will talk to bestselling novelist Nicky Pellegrino and acclaimed health writer Niki Bezzant, who both written about menopause. No one is too young for this session; knowing what’s ahead may change how you live your life today!

What says poetry slam more than a boxing ring?

Time to take your gloves off, Whakatū, for a night of scintillating alliteration, logophile uppercuts and a rhythmic pummelling from some of Victory and beyond’s greatest voices.

After an impressive 11 year career in the Aotearoa comedy scene, Pax Assadi is launching his first nation-wide tour, hot off the heels of his critically acclaimed (very personal, very hilarious!) sitcom, Raised By Refugees.

Elizabeth Knox CNZM speaks with Catherine Chidgey about her two latest books: The Axeman’s Carnival (out in October) and her critically acclaimed 2020 novel Remote Sympathy. In both books, Chidgey chips away the façade of domesticity to expose darker places.

Grand: Becoming my mother’s daughter is an astonishing debut about mothers and daughters, drinking, birth and loss, running away and homecoming, from prize-winning writer and broadcaster Noelle McCarthy. Fellow journalist/broadcaster Wendyl Nissen, who had her own mother difficulties and challenges with alcohol, facilitates the conversation.

Whiti Hereaka and Nic Low have written two remarkable books that tell ancient Māori stories in fresh and compelling ways, with Hereaka flipping perspectives on a well-known tale, and Low using tramping and climbing adventures to bring the past to life.

What have Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) and Christine Leunens got in common? Well, their novels have not only been snapped up by numerous international publisher but the stories are also currently making their way from the page to the screen. Doug Brooks facilitates this ‘behind the scenes’ discussion about the adaptation of Better the Blood and In Amber's Wake.

VÏKÆ is a Ukrainian born alt-pop artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. After wowing crowds at Bay Dreams 2021, VÏKÆ brings her eclectic, freshly developed show to Whakatū for the first time.

Kim Hill invites Paul Tapsell (Te Arawa, Tainui), Mike Joy, Dave Lowe and Kera Sherwood-O’Regan (Kāi Tahu) to explain how we can respond to the climate crisis and transform our lands, waterways and communities.

In this intimate korero, Hinemoa Elder will discuss her new pukapuka, Wawata – Moon Dreaming, which explores how living in sync with the moon can help us find a growing sense of place and harmony. Kōrero facilitated by Olivia Hall.

NUKU Live is part of a creative and social impact storytelling movement that amplifies the voices of kickass Indigenous wāhine. Meet the book’s creator Qiane Matata-Sipu and two of the wāhine featured in the pukapuka: Dr Acushla Dee Sciascia and Puawai Cairns. 

WORD Christchurch and Pukapuka Talks present this very special event to celebrate the life of the enigmatic and brilliant Keri Hulme (1947-2021), author of the bone people, with Patricia Grace, Whiti Hereaka, Marian Evans, Matt Salmons, Anna Hulme and Ariana Tikao, MCed by Becky Manawatu.

Does the time of day bring out different capacities of our human spirit? Tui-winning jazz bassist Umar Zakaria presents the Sun Song Suites, four concerts exploring the human construction of time through our relationship with the sun.

Hot off the back of a nationwide tour celebrating Wiri Donna’s debut EP release Being Alone, Wiri Donna is heading back south this spring for Nelson Arts Festival. Supported by O & The Mo.

One of the best joke-writers in Aotearoa made headlines this year as part of the first-ever same-sex couple on Dancing With The Stars, leading in week one before a shock elimination in week two. Whaaaat?! Now Eli Matthewson is back behind the wheel, sharing those huge life revelations that take place in the crappiest of cars.

Wallace’s music has been described as a vibrant mosaic of soul, hip-hop and pop, her trademark jazz-influenced vocals and magnetic presence make for a uniquely recognisable sound, captivating audiences around the globe - and now: right here in Whakatū! Supported by Dow P'dowdow.

HALFQUEEN's sets are just as unapologetic and empowered as her presence in every space. Specializing in the genre-bending sounds of club music, she is driven to connect via ass shaking. And with BBYFACEKILLA, prepare to lose your mind to a DJ that collapses the multiplicity of contemporary club music into a set that is unique, disruptive, and brimming with ecstasy.