Simon Burt’s bestseller Route 52: A Big Lump of Country Unknown has been declared ‘book of the year’ by Steve Braunias. It tells the stories of the people and their forebears living on the back road from Masterton to Waipukurau. Shirley Bagnall Metcalfe’s memoir, My Three Rivers: The Jottings of a Rural Woman, 1884–1968, captures life beside the Waihou, Kōpuapounamu and Waikato rivers. Country Calendar’s Richard Langston will tease out the yarns from Simon Burt and Shirley’s grandson Andrew Wright.
Generously sponsored by Dennis Roberts and Richard Stone.