THE GROOVE BOOK REPORT

The World of Words  programme now includes: Bariz Shah (Author - Beyond Hope – From an Auckland Prison to Changing Lives in Afghanistan), Craig Hoyle (Author - Excommunicated), Courtney Dawson (Comedian), Emily King (Author 0 Re-food - Exploring the troubled food system of Aotearoa New Zealand), Jared Savage (Author - Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise), Joana Joy (Comedian), Lauren Keenan (BOOK CLUB - Author - The Space Between), Leah Dodd (Poetry Slam), Morgana O'Reilly (Showy Ovaries Podcast Guest), Penny Ashton (Poetry Slam/Showy Ovaries Podcast), Tusiata Avia (Poetry Slam).   Let's meet one of the feature writers. Jared Savage Jared Savage's senior reporter at the New Zealand Herald.  He's clocked up over 30 journalism awards or nominations.  And he's been named Senior Reporter of the Year twice (2010, 2015).  He started at a suburban Auckland newspaper back in 2004, before joining the Herald on Sunday in 2006, then moving to the Herald three year's late...

The World of Words  programme now includes: Bariz Shah (Author - Beyond Hope – From an Auckland Prison to Changing Lives in Afghanistan), Craig Hoyle (Author - Excommunicated), Courtney Dawson (Comedian), Emily King (Author 0 Re-food - Exploring the troubled food system of Aotearoa New Zealand), Jared Savage (Author - Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise), Joana Joy (Comedian), Lauren Keenan (BOOK CLUB - Author - The Space Between), Leah Dodd (Poetry Slam), Morgana O'Reilly (Showy Ovaries Podcast Guest), Penny Ashton (Poetry Slam/Showy Ovaries Podcast), Tusiata Avia (Poetry Slam) Let's meet the festival's feature Comedian  Courtney Dawson Courtney Dawson (Ngāti Kurī, Ngāti Amaru) is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based comedian, actor, writer, and all-around entertainment force.  Launching her comedy career in 2019, she’s since taken the stage by storm, selling out shows across Aotearoa and Australia. CShe was awarded the Outstanding Comedy Performance in 2022 by the Auckland Fringe Festi...

  The World of Words  programme now includes: Bariz Shah (Author - Beyond Hope – From an Auckland Prison to Changing Lives in Afghanistan), Craig Hoyle (Author - Excommunicated), Courtney Dawson (Comedian), Emily King (Author 0 Re-food - Exploring the troubled food system of Aotearoa New Zealand), Jared Savage (Author - Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise), Joana Joy (Comedian), Lauren Keenan (BOOK CLUB - Author - The Space Between), Leah Dodd (Poetry Slam), Morgana O'Reilly (Showy Ovaries Podcast Guest), Penny Ashton (Poetry Slam/Showy Ovaries Podcast), Tusiata Avia (Poetry Slam) Let's meet another festival Comedian  Joana Joy Wellington-based comedian Joana Joy is a rising star in both New Zealand and Australian comedy. The Whanganui born, Melbourne-trained comedy dynamo was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2024 NZ International Comedy Festival and won Australia’s Funniest State/Territory at the 2023 Adelaide Fringe. From aerobics instructor to cabaret performer and stan...

WOMAD Aotearoa 2025  :  The World of Words  programme now includes: Bariz Shah (Author - Beyond Hope – From an Auckland Prison to Changing Lives in Afghanistan), Craig Hoyle (Author - Excommunicated), Courtney Dawson (Comedian), Emily King (Author 0 Re-food - Exploring the troubled food system of Aotearoa New Zealand), Jared Savage (Author - Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise), Joana Joy (Comedian), Lauren Keenan (BOOK CLUB - Author - The Space Between), Leah Dodd (Poetry Slam), Morgana O'Reilly (Showy Ovaries Podcast Guest), Penny Ashton (Poetry Slam/Showy Ovaries Podcast), Tusiata Avia (Poetry Slam) Let's meet one of the speakers Craig Hoyle Craig Hoyle grew up in Invercargill within the New Zealand Exclusive Brethren. Separated from public society, he attended Brethren-only schooling and worked in his family's tyre shop. After facing interrogations and conversion therapy for his sexuality, he was excommunicated from the Brethren and lost his family in 2009.  Given w...

The WOMAD Aotearoa 2025 family continues to grow, as even more international acts have joined the Ngāmotu / New Plymouth festival's already stellar bill, plus special guests for the World Of Words and STEAM Lab programmes have been officially announced.  New musical additions include West African organic-electronic feminist collective Nana Benz Du Togo, genre-melting Jamaican hip hop / soul / jazz / dancehall star Protoje with his group The Indiggnation, UK baritone sax / drums powerhouses O. aka Joe Henwood and Tash Keary, Papua New Guinea songwriting figurehead Telek (of Painim Wok), and Naarm / Melbourne art-rockers Not Drowning, Waving. That's all on top of the announcement of Irish electronic pop artist Róisín Murphy (Ninja Tune) of Moloko earlier this month. The World Of Words and STEAM Lab programmes expand the WOMAD Aotearoa 2025 beyond sound — engaging attendees with a multi-sensory array of poetry slams, author talks, podcasts, comedy and first-hand insights from in...

In 2016, eight-year-old Daisy Mason vanished from her Oxford home.  Her disappearance made the national press and the final culprit shocked everyone. DCI Adam Fawley remembers the case well, he arrested Daisy’s mother for murder himself.  But her body was never found. Now, forensic evidence at a current murder scene calls the whole case into question. Fawley and the team are brought back in to investigate. And they all have one question on their minds. What really happened to Daisy Mason?  This book returns to Daisy Mason‘s in the first of the Adam Fawley series, ‘ Close To Home’. Who killed eight-year-old Daisy Mason in 2016 is now blown wide open?  The story starts with Henscombe, the Cotswolds, when a dog walker discovers a body ceremoniously buried into a tree at a significant ancient site where witches were once tortured and slain under medieval punishment.   The local force, of which we get to meet, and more significantly, hear from as they go about t...