Former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern is set to visit Dunedin next month as part of a tour for her memoir A Different Kind of Power.
Dame Jacinda will be joined by her former deputy prime minister Grant Robertson, who is also promoting his own memoir Anything Could Happen, at the upcoming Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival.
The event, titled “Old Friends. One Stage. One Night. – Jacinda Ardern & Grant Robertson,” will be hosted by radio and television broadcaster Stacey Morrison (Te Arawa, Ngāi Tahu).
This will be Dame Jacinda’s only South Island stop on her book tour and one of three events nationwide.
According to a statement from the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival, this “once-in-a-lifetime event” will be the first time the pair of former politicians will share a stage in Dunedin since leaving office.
“With the pressure of office behind them and two candid, acclaimed memoirs in bookstores worldwide, Ardern and Robertson will do what old friends do: sit down, look back, and chat.”
The announcement comes as news emerges that the former prime minister has relocated to Sydney with her family.
Dame Jacinda recently made headlines by responding to the final report on New Zealand’s handling of Covid-19, stating in a joint statement with Mr. Robertson that their government ‘‘got a lot right’’ in its response to the pandemic.
A Different Kind of Power was published by Penguin in June last year.
The book has achieved various rankings such as #1 New Zealand bestseller, #1 Amazon bestseller, #2 Audible bestseller, #3 New York Times bestseller, #3 Sunday Times bestseller, and #4 Australian bestseller.
It was also announced last week that the book has been shortlisted among four finalists for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards General Non-Fiction Award.
The event is scheduled for Thursday, April 16 at 7.30pm in Dunedin’s Regent Theatre.
– Allied Media
