Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival kicks off next week, hosted in Aotearoa’s one and only Book Town! But what exactly does it mean to be a ‘Book Town’? Where else in the world might you find them? What is the lore behind Featherston’s own Booktown Festival? Test your knowledge with our quiz.
QUESTIONS
1. We’ll start off easy—what district or region is Featherston located?
A. Waikato
B. Wairarapa
C. Waitaki
D. Whangārei
2. What year was the first Featherston Booktown Festival held?
A. 2000
B. 2005
C. 2015
D. 2019
3. Where in the world was the first ever Book Town?
A. Wigtown, Scotland
B. Hay-on-Wye, Wales
C. Dorset, England
D. Dingle, Ireland
4. While we’re on the subject, what decade was the first Book Town established?
A. 1940s
B. 1960s
C. 1980s
D. 1950s
5. Featherston is one of only two Book Towns to be located in the Australasia region. Where is the other one?
A. New Caledonia
B. Fiji
C. Papua New Guinea
D. Australia
6. What was the first non-European country to have a Book Town?
A. Malaysia
B. Argentina
C. Canada
D. India
7. Which of these European countries does not have a Book Town?
A. Germany
B. Denmark
C. Finland
D. Austria
8. Which of the following is not a criterion for being a Book Town?
A. The town must have a significant number of bookstores relative to its population
B. Most of the bookstores should be secondhand or antiquarian
C. The town must be more than an hour’s drive away from a city
D. Bookstores must drive a large portion of the town’s tourism
9. How many bookstores does Featherston have?
A. 7
B. 9
C. 12
D. 5
10. Which country has the most Book Towns?
A. The United Kingdom
B. Denmark
C. Belgium
D. Norway
ANSWERS
1. B – Featherston is in Wairarapa.
2. C – the first Featherston Booktown Festival was held in 2015. It’s now in its ninth year.
3. B – the first Book Town was established in Hay-on-Wye in Wales.
4. B – Hay-on-Wye was established as a Book Town in 1961.
5. D – Australasia’s only other Book Town is Clunes, in Victoria, Australia.
6. A – Malaysia was the first non-European country to have a Book Town.
7. D – Austria does not have a Book Town.
8. C – A Book Town is preferably rural, but there’s no rule for how far away from a city a Book Town needs to be.
9. A – Featherston has 7 bookstores…which is a lot of bookstores for a town of only 2,800 people!
10. B – Denmark has 4 official Book Towns.
Find out more about Featherston Booktown Festival on their website.