About
Featherston Booktown
What is a Booktown?
A Booktown is a small rural town or village, close to major cities, in which second-hand and antiquarian bookshops are concentrated. Most Booktowns have developed in villages of historic interest or of scenic beauty. Their residents set up events around books - selling them, writing, reading, illustrating, printing, making and publishing them.
The first was set up in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, back in 1961. Now they're around the World, from Europe to Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Australia. The International Organisation of Booktowns binds the towns together.
Featherston became a full member of the International Organisation of Booktowns in 2018.
Featherston Booktown
Featherston Booktown is a year-round literature development organisation whose largest individual project is the annual Karukatea Festival, held in May.
The Karukatea Festival is a significant regional/national cultural event involving collaborations with Mana Whenua – and regional and national literary festivals and organisations, as well as strong community involvement through the Young Readers Programme in schools and Festival volunteers.
Other initiatives include the Young Reader’s Programme, the popular Book Voucher scheme which provides South Wairarapa children with book vouchers, the Booklover’s Trail Te Ara Kai Pukapuka Audio App, the Featherston Booktown Podcast and YouTube channel and the Rural Readers Outreach Programme.
Featherston Booktown aims to grow great communities by inspiring the diverse populations of Featherston/Paetūmōkai, the wider Wairarapa and Aotearoa New Zealand to read more, write more, engage in dialogue, and share ideas.
Featherston Booktown: Streetscape
Founding Kaumātua: Lincoln Gould
The Team
The Featherston Board of Trustees are: Peter Biggs CNZM (Chair), Liz Mellish (Deputy Chair), Darrin Goulding (Treasurer), Craig Linkhorn (Secretary), Christine Ammunson, Penny Griffin, Dave Adams, and Mary McCallum.
Featherston Booktown's Operations Team include Mary Biggs (Operations Manager), Yvonne Way (Events Manager/Administration Assistant), Pete Monk (Finance Manager/IT Administrator), Monique Wijnen (Marketing Manager), Hannah Sellars (Volunteer Captain), Melissa Stockley (Young Readers Programme Assistant), Scilla Askew (Administrator), Jo Constable (Designer) and Jessie Alsop (Booklover's Trail App Creator). Jean McDowall is the Mrs Blackwell's Mother's Day Afternoon Tea Director and Angie Smith is the Country Tea & Cakes and Food Trucks Director.
The prolific, widely-published and much-celebrated writer, Joy Cowley, is the Patron of Featherston Booktown. Featherston Booktown's Founding Kaumātua, Lincoln Gould, was the Board's original Chair from 2014-2017.
Featherston Booktown Karukatea
Two cultures share our wonderful country – and region – and, at Featherston Booktown, we seek to recognise and bring that to life. After consulting Mana Whenua, we are proud to reveal the Te Reo expression of Featherston Booktown.
Karukatea means “the clear and observant eye” – with karu the word for “eye” and katea meaning “clarity”. The word takes in the narrative of our region (Wairarapa Moana being one eye of the fish and Wellington Harbour being the other eye of Māui’s fish). On a deeper level, the word also captures the concept of people seeking knowledge and clarity.
Our sincere thanks to Liz Mellish and Robin Potangaroa (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa) for their help and guidance through the process of finding an appropriate Te Reo expression of Featherston Booktown.
