Aspiring Conversations festival is returning to Wānaka this April after a six-year hiatus.

From April 4-7 the festival will host 14 events with a lineup of 40 speakers and artists exploring themes ranging from culture and history to adventure, politics, personal challenges, climate change, and more.

“We are delighted to be back with a programme that gives people the opportunity to come together, listen, talk, laugh and be challenged while reconnecting within our growing community,” festival director Sophie Kelly said. 

Watch Dirty Passports, an event by award-winning Chinese-Kiwi playwright Nathan Joe; or witness him in conversation with MasterChef NZ champion Sam Low, who has drawn from his diasporic Chinese upbringing to redefine modern Chinese cooking.

Chancing It will bring together mountaineer Lydia Bradey, songstress Julia Deans, sports journalist Alice Soper, and novelist/bookshop owner Ruth Shaw, as they recount the moments when they embraced uncertainty and took life-changing chances.

At Breakfast with Papers, receive a personalised briefing on current affairs with political journalists Paddy Gower, Guyon Espiner, and Susie Ferguson; or hear Paddy and Guyon discuss their stories giving up alcohol, alongside writer Lotta Dann, at The Drinking Game.

Former Rhodes Scholar and progressive political thinker Max Harris, who launched his book The New Zealand Project at the festival in 2017, will return this year 2024 to discuss his new book and share his unique perspective on our healthcare system. 

Broadcaster Susie Ferguson, author Byron C Clarke, microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles, and the Disinformation Project director Kate Hannah will explore the dangers of misinformation in the digital age and in public life in Truth and Lies. 

Aspiring Conversations will take place at the Lake Wānaka Centre - aside from Dirty Passports at Rhyme x Reason and Modern Chinese which will take place at Federal Diner.

Find more information and the full festival lineup at the Aspiring Conversations website.

Ticket sales will open 8:30am on Friday (February 2).

PHOTO: Supplied