Save the Dates: Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival 2025
Main Festival Weekend 9-11 May 2025 • Young Readers Programme 7-9 May 2025
Aotearoa New Zealand's
Official Booktown
We are grateful to our major funders
Changed & Sold Out Events
PAPER MAKING WORKSHOP
ANIKA MOA THE WITCH OF MAKETU AND THE BLEATING LAMBS
BOOK LAUNCH MY THREE RIVERS
BOOKBINDING WORKSHOP (SUNDAY)
BETTER OFF READ
REPEAT AFTER ME PRINTING IS FUN!
DROP IN FOR LETTERPRESS AND COFFEE
ULTRAWILD DESIGN WORKSHOP
BOOKTOWN BOOKTEN GALA NIGHT
VICTORIAN GOTHIC 1
TOOT HONK VROOM
BOOKBINDING WORKSHOP (SATURDAY)
Welcome from
the Chair of the Featherston Booktown Trust
Peter Biggs, Chair
Featherston Booktown Trust, Registered Charity: CC52369
Kia ora tātou. Welcome to Featherston BookTen 2025!
This year’s 10th Karukatea Festival will be one to remember as it features our first ever international writers – Lars Mytting, John Connell and romesh dissanayake, along with what booklovers have come to expect: bold and innovative programming across 44 events; 87 of Aotearoa New Zealand’s top presenters, writers and provocateurs; multiple booksellers; absorbing panel conversations about nation-shaping topics; fascinating sessions exploring the craft of the books; and a not-to-be-missed gala evening featuring the writing and storytelling stars who have featured in the Karukatea Festival over the last decade. And, of course, our legendary warm hospitality and manaakitanga.
Many thanks to all who have made this possible: our mana whenua partners; our volunteers; our friends at the Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki, our funders, sponsors, donors and the Friends of Featherston Booktown; Featherston’s eight booksellers; our hard-working board of trustees and operations team; our patron Joy Cowley and our founding kaumātua, Lincoln Gould.
Enjoy the 10th Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival!
Ngā manaakitanga
Peter Biggs, Chair
About Featherston Booktown
Booktowns are an international phenomenon, celebrating books, from their stories through to their paper, glue and ink.
Featherston is now a fully-fledged, internationally recognised Booktown.
Special thanks to Pete Monk for putting together this video.
petemonk.com
Featherston's Bookstores
For full details about our town's eight all year round bookmongers, visit our Bookstores page.
Chicken and Frog Bookshop
For the Love of Books
The Dickensian Bookshop & Tea Rooms
Loco Cafe & Books
Featherston Crystals and Curiosities
Messines Bookshop: Military History
Featherston Ferret
Mr Feather's Den
Can we ask you a favour?
Would you consider helping us fill the funding gap by making a donation? We know that not everyone is in a position to do so, but every gift helps us deliver the Karukatea Festival and our other events throughout the year and supports our writers and readers.
We hope you enjoy our online events and that you come away inspired and uplifted. Thank you again for supporting Featherston Booktown.
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Click on the green button below and you'll be redirected to a form on a new browser tab using POLi Pay.
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Type in a donation amount and please provide your name and your email address so that we can email you receipt - as all donations are tax deductible as Featherston Booktown is a registered charity.
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You may be prompted to prove you are a human by selected images from a standard Captcha 'security' feature
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You will be asked to choose your NZ bank and then you'll need to supply your Internet Banking login details, the account you wish to pay from and a 'Payers' code.
...Thank you. We really do appreciate your support.
