The team at Wānaka’s Aspiring Conversations festival of ideas and kōrero has unveiled the first event of its 2026 programme, with the return of an audience-favourite raconteur on March 29.

Kicking off the line-up announcements is ‘Kiwi Country’ with comedian, documentarian and presenter Te Radar and writer and researcher Ruth Spencer. 

Together they will dive into the objects that have shaped the nation, from Red Band gumboots, no. 8 wire, to a can of reduced cream or real fruit ice cream, organisers said.

The session is based on the pair’s acclaimed book ‘Kiwi Country: Rural New Zealand in 100 Objects’, an entertaining history of rural life in Aotearoa, told through artefacts, gadgets and ephemera that tell a story that goes deeper than the objects themselves.

“This show celebrates not only the objects they’ve found, but some of the audience's own,” a statement from Aspiring Conversations said. 

“Te Radar and Ruth will uncover history, hilarity and plenty of heart.”

Following on from his sell-out hit show Cookbookery at the 2025 Wānaka Festival of Colour, Te Radar said he was thrilled to return to Wānaka once again.

“Although Ruth and I have collaborated for 20 years, we rarely get to share stage time,” he said.

“We're incredibly excited about returning to Wānaka to celebrate not only the many weird and wonderful items and their associated anecdotes from our book, but also to talk about things that other people may have in their possession, or that they think could have been included in a celebration of the best of rural New Zealand.”

Aspiring Conversations comes to Wānaka from March 27-29, bringing together a line-up of authors, politicians, theatremakers, musicians, journalists and curious minds for a weekend rich in ideas and kōrero.

The full programme for Aspiring Conversations will be released January 22, with tickets on sale the following Monday. 

PHOTO: Supplied