Great Read In Your Weekend

Media Release
11 September 2008

Great Read In Your Weekend

What defines a great read at the weekend? The editor of Fairfax Media newest weekly magazine – Your Weekend - believes it is a gutsy mix of in-depth features on national issues, people and trends served up with just the right combination of lifestyle columns an information.

Editor Mark Wilson, a journalist with 30 years’ experience in newspapers and magazine, says the first issue of Your Weekend delivers an informative weekend read packed with some of this country’s best feature writing.

“Your Weekend will be writing about things that matter to New Zealanders from national issues to people in the news to topics that reveal what makes our country tick,” says Wilson.

“We’ve lined up some of Fairfax’s best feature writers and contributors to combine news features with lifestyle columns. Flick through the first issue this weekend and you’ll enjoy a great read on the Kiwi identity, life behind the scenes for Karen Walker and a couple that survived insurmountable odds to find love. You’ll also find the latest trends in food, wine, fashion, beauty, home and gardening - we’ll be covering the lot.”

When readers discover Your Weekend with the Saturday edition of their Dominion Post, the Press and the Waikato Times newspapers, they will also be introduced to a top team of specialist contributors.

Award-winning journalist Tracey Strange joins Wilson as Your Weekend’s fashion and beauty editor, Strange has been beauty editor of some of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including Sunday Star-Times, Fashion Quarterly and Next, and is currently fashion and beauty editor for Fairfax’s successful bi-monthly NZ life & leisure.

Comedian Michele A’Court will share her wit and insights in a weekly column starting next week. Named best Female Comedian from 2002-2007 in the New Zealand Comedy Guild Awards, A’Court is a regular on the comedy circuit as well as book reviewer on National Radio’s Nine To Noon programme.

Your Weekend will prove an irresistible read for foodies, with the Guest Chef column featuring some of New Zealand’s best-known food writers, and In Season focusing on mouth-watering recipes using seasonal produce.

Each month a new Guest Chef will be invited to share their recipes, starting with Christchurch-based food legend, Jo Seagar for the first four issues. The Press’ Zest editor and author Kate Fraser and Waikato Times contributors Rowan Bishop and Fiona Sneyd will contribute to In Season.

Senior wine judge and writer Sam Kim will pen the wine column for Your Weekend, beer enthusiast, Waikato Times reporter and Qantas Media Award-winner Bruce Holloway will share his views and reviews on the amber liquid, and Kerry R Tyack will focus on spirits, liqueurs and cocktails.

DIY guru and Ellerslie Flower Show multi-medal winner Ben Hoyle will guide readers through simple and fun weekend diy projects in his Home column for Your Weekend. Hoyle has appeared in Maggie’s Garden Show and is currently Good Morning’s landscape design expert.

As well, Your Weekend readers will have their gardening questions answered by Jane Wrigglesworth. She is a writer and associate editor of the top-selling NZ Gardener magazine and garden columnist for Real magazine.

And the ever-popular Crean’s Country column from The Press will now go further afield under the new title of Heartland. Mike Crean will branch out into the North Island to find tales from out-of-the-way places, travelling the length and breadth of New Zealand to find the unsung heroes in heartland communities.

ENDS

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