Southland adventurer Tara Mulvany will share her stories at this year's NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival.

Mulvany, who grew up in Invercargill and became the first woman to circumnavigate New Zealand’s three main islands by sea kayak, was announced today as a keynote speaker at the festival.

It will be held in Wanaka and Queenstown in late June and early July, but will broadcast online nationally for everyone to enjoy.

Mulvany was part of a small team who completed the first-ever kayak circumnavigation of Svalbard Archipelago in the high Arctic. She then returned to the Arctic circle, paddling solo 3600km alone along Norway’s coast, eventually reaching the Swedish border 89 days later.

She will speak at the festival about these trips and also her most recent adventure, a solo traverse of the Southern Alps this past summer.

Tara Mulvany

The festival has hosted some of the world's greatest adventurers in recent years, including climber Alex Honnold, who is the first and only person to climb El Capitan's 900-metre vertical rock face in Yosemite National Park, USA, without ropes - a feat captured in documentary Free Solo.

But, with uncertainty over when borders will reopen, the not-for-profit festival Trust is again tapping the world-class local adventurer fraternity for speakers.

Alongside Mulvany will be Mark Watson, a Christchurch-based cyclist, climber and photographer.

Along with his partner Hana Black, he spent close to four years bikepacking (nearly) the length of the Americas; a 45,500km journey from Alaska to central Patagonia via a road less travelled, generally following the American Cordillera – the ranges that form the continental divides of both North and South America.

The pair were forced home from Chile by Covid-19 and are currently enjoying life back in NZ, while plotting their return to South America to finish their ride. Mark will be speaking about this trip at the festival.

Mark Watson. Photo: Mark Watson

Festival Director Mark Sedon says: "We are grateful to be able to call on such high-calibre local adventurers and authors to present at this year’s event.

"Both Tara and Mark have incredible stories and we look forward to hearing about their latest expeditions."

The 19th festival will present a wide range of films from around the world, guest speakers, literature events, workshops, and presentations from inspirational Kiwi adventurers. The films and books showcased in the festival tell stories of adventure sports, foreign cultures, remote travel and the environment. The 9-day event is a celebration of adventurous sports and lifestyles presented for adventurers, film and book enthusiasts, armchair adventurers and people interested in the environment or foreign cultures.

The festival runs in Wanaka from June 25 to 29 and in Queenstown from July 1 to 3.

It will also be broadcast online nationally from June 25 until July 25. Find out more here.