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ABOUT TOWN

A popular weekend escape for Auckland road trippers, the tiny town of Leigh is home to a tight-knit and big-hearted community.

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Building Bridges

The last two years have marked big changes in writer Pip Hall’s life, including the end of her 19-year marriage, a move south to her childhood town, and writing the third season of the crime drama, One Lane Bridge. By Eric Trump

About Town: Oamaru

In Aotearoa’s steampunk capital, a self-professed history geek appreciates a much more obscure connection. By Thomas McLean

About Town: Leigh

A popular weekend escape forAuckland road trippers, the tiny town of Leigh is home to a tight-knit and big-hearted community. By Tulia Thompson

The Living Museum

Local history takes pride of place at the Ōtorohanga Museum. By Taualofa Totua

About Town: Clyde

After a youth spent itching to be anywhere but Clyde, no one is more surprised than writer GeorgeDriver to find he’s now choosing to raise his own family in the Central Otago town. By George Driver
178 Cuba street

About Town: Wellington

Home towns tend to be missed, then scorned — and finally rediscovered. By Tess Nichol

Almost Famous

Though they never ventured south of the equator, four literary giants have unexpected links to Aotearoa — some more celebrated than others. By Thomas McLean

Bienvenue les Kiwi

For an increasing number of talented young rugby players, the lure of adventure and serious cash playing for top tier French clubs is winning out over the potential to be an All Black. By Gregor Thompson

Craftwork

The director of one of Auckland’s most ambitious galleries is reimagining how art and the real world should collide. By Anna Rankin

About Town: Bluff

Cage diving with sharks at the country’s southernmost tip yields unexpected results. By Sarah Webster

Rising Star

One of Aotearoa’s leading Māori astronomers lives her life by the stars, as tātai arorangi (Māori astronomy) undergoes an exciting revival. By Petrina Darrah

Historical Maritime Park and Museum

A home for all things nautical, this Paeroa institution is part Museum, part resting place for resurrected vessels. By Lindsay Wright
Photo: Cameron James McLaren.

The word “craft” is deceptive — its meaning and application ambiguous, its definitions multifarious.

CRAFTWORK

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Owaka Museum

This museum in the wild and windy Catlins will enrich a visit to the region – and is a handy place to stay dry during a storm. By Tulia Thompson

Paradise Camp

In a groundbreaking exhibition at this year’s Venice Biennale, art, history and gender lines are redrawn, bringing Pacific fabulousness to the sinking city. By Tobias Buck

The Cold Beneath the House

Do people in other countries talk as much as we do about insulation? By John Summers

About Town: Reefton

A North Island townie with time on his hands spends seven weeks in Reefton, a West Coast town still defined by its beginnings.

The Sweet Science of Making Chocolate

New Zealand's craft chocolate scene is growing enormously. How do these tiny, artisinal makers manage to make a bar worth paying double digits for? By Laurie Winkless

The Art of Giving

Where do our galleries' collections come from? The journey of an art work from a private owner to the gallery wall can be as fascinating as the work itself, as the Dunedin Public Art Gallery's collection shows. By Thomas McLean
Early etching of Akaroa

About Town: Akaroa

The French influenced harbour town alive with memories of love and romance. By Tom Augustine

On The Gravy Train

The entrepreneurs turning Europe onto the classic Kiwi pie. By Gregor Thompson
Ani Tawhiao-Lomas (right) with partner, Giuliano Porta and their baby, Calina Mareikura Porta.

Tiny Palates, Big Ambitions

The owners of this Auckland-based meal delivery company want to decolonise your baby’s tastebuds. By Nicola Harvey

About Town: Waimārama

Time passes and people change, but the sun still shines at this North Island beach town. By Sarah Catherall

About Town: Millers Flat

The sun-bleached landscapes of a Central Otago summer evoke childhood memories of stonefruit, freedom and family. By Nicholas Sheppard

About Town: Omori

10 weeks of solitude in a holiday town's off season. By Jack Remiel Cottrell

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Dog Days

New Zealanders have been acquiring pets in record numbers — companions for the plague year (years). By Linda Burgess

Is This Just Fantasy?

Despite its immense popularity, genre writing like fantasy and romance struggles to be taken seriously by the literary establishment. Why? By Tobias Buck

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?

What if we were not just wrong, but deceived? By Anna Rawhiti-Connell

Born Again

Half art project, half home, an old West Coast church is undergoing a radical transformation. By Sarah Natalie Webster

About Town: Te Hāpua

Paula Morris visits the country's northernmost settlement, looking for traces of the late great Matiu Rata.

About Town: Te Awamutu

This Waikato town was once known for dairy farming, producing the Finn brothers, and not much else. By Graeme Wilson

The Best Berry

The secret history of New Zealand's Boysenberry By Don Rowe

This Everest of a Role

Simon O’Neill, a world-renowned Wagnerian tenor, prepares to sing one of opera’s most challenging characters. By Paul Little

About Town: Point Wells

Butting up against wealthy Omaha, this sleepy beach town is determined to stay that way. By Helen Glenny

Hard Sleep

On a night train, even a disillusioned traveller can sleep like a baby. By John Summers

About Town: Whanganui

Small but perfectly formed, this river town is a creative haven that hums with a vibrant art scene. By Kiran Dass

The Alchemist

Christ Booth has spent much of his prolific art career flying just below the radar. By Garth Cartwright

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About Town: Te Anau

Sparsely populated Fiordland is even emptier thanks to Covid. That's a source of anxiety for local businesses, but just one more reason for the rest of us to visit. By Sonya Wilson

Simply Red

The trend upending everything you thought you knew about red wine. By Jo Burzynska

Fantastic Beasts

How an English backpacker with an unusual history became the most sought-after sculptor in Whanganui. By Sharon Stephenson

About Town: Waiheke Island

Seen as the playground for Auckland's wealthy, Waiheke's residents are some of the supercity's oldest and poorest. By Alex Stone

Number One in New Zealand

Could closed borders usher in a cultural renaissance?. By Anna Rawhiti-Connell

About Town: Waipu

On growing up out of place.. By Shilo Kino

Recovery Island

The site of a longstanding rehab facility in the Hauraki Gulf has become a sanctuary for native species. By Michelle Langstone

Reel Life

From half-dressed projectionists to teenage fumbles, independent cinemas have long been part of small town Kiwi life. By Tom Augustine

Bosker Days

What do we lose when a piece of iconic Kiwi slang is uttered for the last time? By John Summers

On Your Bike

How much money could a horde of cyclists riding the length of the country pump into the regions along the way? By Helen Glenny

About Town: Whakatāne

A trip to the east coast reveals a strong community in the aftermath of tragedy. By Julie Clifton

What’s Chasing Marlon?

With his new release, the singer finds comfort in the familiar structure of folk music. By Hayden Donnell

The Hunt For Big Red

Around the country, New Zealand's winemakers are quietly confident they could challenge some of the old world's best red’s. By Tobias Buck

Diving In

An acclaimed Wellington poet writes about the natural world in sensory detail. By Kiran Dass

About Town: Dunedin

Partying students aside, the Edinburgh of the south is place of quiet Presbyterian reserve. By Morgan Godfery

Make Yourself At Home

The imperfect art of elevating domestic travel. By Anna Rawhiti-Connell

The Absolute Fan

The American writer on a one-man mission to bring NZ literature to the United States. The American writer on a one-man mission to bring NZ literature to the United States. By Tess Nichol
Paul Stewart and Mary McCallum of Mākaro Press

Go Big and Print Bravely

How a tiny mother-and-son publishing house produced back-to-back bestsellers by previously unknown authors. By Maggie Tweedie

A Fashion Education

The Aucklander behind a quietly influential second-hand clothing business. By Tess Nichol

How We Live

In their new book, Francis and Kaiora Tipene of The Casketeers share their experiences and knowledge of living in te ao Māori. By Ollie Neas

About Town: Catlins

Closed borders prompt one "gullible North Islander" to head further south than she's ever been before. By Sharon Stephenson

Bounty Hunting

Harrison Christian untangles the story of his ancestor, one of history’s most famous mutineers. By Harrison Christian

Down Under

Long overlooked as a tourist destination, Tasmania offers both glorious wilderness and the wildest of art. By Tess Nichol

About Town: Featherston

Despite a recent influx of city slickers, the town at the foot of the Remutaka Hill retains its small-town sense of humour and no-nonsense attitude. By Alex Casey

A Matter of Records

How one Wellington historian is rescuing pieces of our music history from being lost forever. By Sharon Stephenson

Points of Connection

Walters Prize-winning artist Bridget Reweti of the Mata Aho Collective on the history of Māori art making. By Bridget Reweti
Rose Matafeo as Jessie in her new show Starstruck. Photo: Mark Johnson.

Prime Time

Comedian Rose Matafeo on the value and constraints of diversity on screen and her "accidentally feminist" new BBC-produced TV show, Starstruck. By Lana Lopesi

Why Are Women Still Taking Their Husbands’ Names When They Marry?

Why do so many married women still take their husband’s last name? And does that even matter? By Anna Rawhiti-Connell
Teeks performing during his intimate churches tour last December.

Old Soul

27 year old Teeks sounds like a cross between Adele and Elvis Presley. And he's poised to become New Zealand's next international superstar. By Madeleine Chapman

In Tune

The use of taonga pūoro "traditional Māori instruments" has been reclaimed in recent decades. Two practitioners discuss how their music links back to landscape. By Ruby Solly

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