Can't decide what to read over the over the long Matariki weekend? Not to worry, we asked our Writers Programme Co-Curators, Anne-Marie Te Whiu and Claire Mabey for their recommendations. Scroll down to check them out and add to your bedside book pile.

Anne and Claire also recommended this Maramataka wall planner for 2023-2024 which will help design your life using ancient Māori lunar knowledge to enhance your life in balance with nature.

Next week we celebrate Matariki and to find out more about what Matariki means, and how we should best observe it, I asked Tāwhiri's Pou Māori, Tama Ale Samoa.

Tama Ale Samoa (Taranaki, Ngā Ruahine) is Tāwhiri’s Pouārahi Māori. Tama’s role is focused on implementing Tāwhiri's Intercultural Policy across the organisation and its events and activities, supported by the Executive Director, Director Ngā Toi Māori and wider team.

Tama has over 10 years’ experience as a cultural adviser, teacher and translator including with Te Kāhui Tūroa, Lower Hutt City Council, Te Whare Maire o Tūhaereao and Paparākau Tuarua Kohanga Reo. Tama graduated from Te Panekiretanga o te reo Māori in 2017. He is the kaiako and kaikōrero for Te Kapa Haka o Te Ahi a Tahurangi, which won the Te Whanganui-a-Tara regional kapa haka competition in 2020 and competed at Te Matatini in 2022.

Nathan James Thomas is originally from New Zealand but left to travel 20,000 kilometres on the Greyhound Bus network in Australia when he was 17 years old. Over the next decade he lived in China, Spain, Poland, and Hungary, visiting and experiencing dozens of other countries along the way.

In 2014, Nathan founded the digital travel magazine Intrepid Times as a vehicle for sharing stories from the road and as an excuse to meet and interview his favorite writers. It has since grown into a thriving global community of thousands of writers and travellers. Nathan’s own travel writing has been published in places like Roads and Kingdoms and Outpost Magazine.

His latest book, Untethered, which delves into his life as a digital nomad, has just been released and I tracked him down in Poland to answer five questions about his life on the road.

Megan Brown is the Artistic Director of the Right Royal Cabaret Festival. With an impressive programme celebrating cabaret in all its forms, New Plymouth's Theatre Royal will be home to the festival which will bring warmth to your winter nights this June. Plus there are two regional performances in Inglewood and Stratford.

Megan selected four shows from the four-day programme that she's looking forward to and told me why these are her picks of the Fest.

The Festival runs 22-25 June and you can purchase tickets here.

Kate Larkindale has been editing ARTicle since late last year, so we thought it was about time we introduced her. And what better way to do it than with the Proust Questionnaire?

Josie Shapiro's debut novel, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, is the winner of the inaugural Allen & Unwin Commercial Fiction Prize. Published on 16 May, it tells the story of Mickey Bloom: five foot tall, dyslexic and bullied at school, Mickey knows she's nothing special. Until one day, she discovers running.

I sat down with Josie to talk about the book, what winning such a prestigious award means to her and pre-debut nerves.

Yuzhang Wu is a Year 12 student at Auckland's Pinehurst School and first prize winner of the 2023 New Zealand National Concerto Competition. Widely recognised as one of the most outstanding young pianists of her generation, she will be performing at St. Andrew's on the Terrace on Saturday 27 May and I asked her if she could tell us all about her musical life.

Comedian, actor and television personality Josh Thomson is probably best known for winning Taskmaster and Celebrity Bake Off, and his regular appearances on 7 Days, Have You Been Paying Attention and The Project . This month he's bringing his unique brand of stand-up to the New Zealand International Comedy Festival with his first hour-long show, Horrible Man.

Josh sat down with me - ARTicle's editor, Kate - ahead of launching the season to tell us about the show, some career highlights and just how horrible he really is.

Produced by Red Scare Theatre Company, The Coven on Grey Street is a new play offering a comedic riff on Macbeth's witches starring Helen Moulder, Irene Wood, Hilary Norris and Peter Hambleton.

Ahead of their opening night at Circa Theatre on 29 April, ARTicle dropped in on a rehearsal for a quick chat with playwright James Cain and director Harriet Prebble.