Still evolving

Judy Bailey reflects on purposeful ageing, what brings her joy, and her feelings of imposter syndrome ahead of her Tauranga literary festival debut.

WORDS Monique Balvert-Connor

A serendipitous call from Harper Collins publishers sparked a new chapter in Judy Bailey’s illustrious career.
New Zealand’s beloved former broadcaster, once affectionately dubbed “Mother of the Nation”, has penned a book that’s now whizzing off bookshop shelves.

This exciting opportunity came after Judy had been contemplating the ageing journey and its challenges. “When the chance to write about it arose, I embraced it wholeheartedly – just as I’ve approached life’s adventures throughout my years.” Her book, Evolving, is set to be a focal point at Tauranga’s literary festival, Escape, where Judy will be speaking later this month. Between engagements, she might even squeeze in a visit with her former TV news anchor colleague, Richard Long, now based in Tauranga.

As for the title, Judy laughingly confesses she “stole” it when tennis great Serena Williams served it up in a quote. “People were constantly asking her how retirement was. She said, ‘I am not retired; I am evolving.’ That’s how I feel about it.”

Retirement is such a hideous word. Look in the dictionary. It means things like ‘to go to bed’. “Evolving is what we are doing – from one stage to another – and that can be equally rewarding and fulfilling, as we still have a contribution to make,” says Judy, who will turn 72 the day she presents at Escape’s morning tea event on October 18. 

In a sense, the book has enabled her to champion the cause of the elderly, whom she feels often get “a really bad rap”. “Older people are sometimes dismissed; considered past their use-by date. They shouldn’t be lumped into a universal aged category. The over-60s age group is enormously diverse, and this age group has an enormous amount to offer still. Many remain vibrant and intelligent, contributing members of society with a lot to offer. We need to think proactively about our ageing and not just let it happen to us. It’s not all downhill to the zimmer frame.”

Judy says writing Evolving has been an exploration of her journey and a discovery of how she can live her best life after 65. There’s much that many people will relate to, with learnings aplenty. Personal experiences and science are melded with the subjects tackled including taking care of your body and mind, navigating health scares, dealing with dementia, grieving loved ones, Botox, organising finances, wills, power of attorney, end-of-life care and enjoying the finer things. 

Readers are enjoying simple messages and a few surprises in this ‘dip in, dip out’ book, she says. “There are things we instinctively know to do to take care of ourselves – common sense things involving sleep, fresh air and good diet. But there are some helpful tricks along the way. For example, foregoing the sunnies on the morning walk so we can get some UV rays on our eyes. Things like the importance of going to bed and getting up at the same time, even on weekends, to maintain our circadian rhythm. “What I have discovered along the way, really, is the people who should be reading this book are those in their 40s and 50s, as what you are doing then has a huge bearing on how you age.” 

One ‘big, big thing’ of concern is alcohol consumption in New Zealand and the fact that it’s increasing among the older population. Many drink as a stress release, but alcohol actually increases stress and is really bad for the heart and brain, Judy informs. Far from sanctimonious, Judy says she’s the first person to enjoy a glass of something. While she keeps herself fit and healthy and eats reasonable food, she does have “a big hankering” for blue cheese and chocolate. Life’s too short to not enjoy those things, she smiles.

In writing Evolving, Judy has referenced Harvard University longitudinal studies and spoken to geriatricians and gerontologists and other academics. It’s reassuring, she says, that they are saying similar things, so the research is robust. She’s heartened by the fact there’s “amazing” research being conducted in New Zealand around ageing and that we have a professor of ageing.

Judy’s own evolving continues to involve some paid work. Since reading her final TV news bulletin in 2005 she’s enjoyed other broadcasting stints, some promotional work and she continues to write about inspirational women and travel. She loves Africa, “with a passion.” Botswana (the Okavango Delta) is one of her favourite places. Paris and Italy also get a mention. A wonderful amount of time is also spent with family – she and her husband Chris have three children and eight grandchildren who all live near their Auckland home. Judy and Chris also
enjoy being at their Flaxmill Bay property. 

Anywhere with a good book is also a very happy place, Judy says, citing Where the Crawdads Sing, Lessons in Chemistry, and The Axeman’s Carnival as much-enjoyed reads. Escape will be Judy’s first time presenting at a literary festival. With that comes a massive sense of impostor syndrome, she confesses. She’s not sure she’s sufficiently “literary”. Neither, she says, is she totally comfortable with being called Mother of the Nation. “So many other people would wear that title so
much better than me. I’ve been called it for decades and always feel embarrassed by it.” As for Judy’s own longitudinal, constantly evolving journey, she says she hopes to have “a couple of decades of useful life” left in her.  

Judy’s visit to Escape has been sponsored by Craigs Investment Partners.

taurangafestival.co.nz

Great escape

Running from October 12 to 16, Tauranga’s Escape Festival brings some of the best writers and thinkers to the Bay for a little celebration of big ideas.

Impressive writing, journalism and thinking is what makes up this series of invigorating talks and panel discussions. Here are some of the authors featured and highlights to look forward to at Escape 2022.

Gangland

In Gangland, Tauranga’s own award-winning investigative reporter Jared Savage shines a light into New Zealand's rising underworld of organised crime. His stories go behind the headlines and reveal an invisible world that’s frighteningly close to home - in which millions of dollars are made, life is cheap and allegiances can change with the pull of a trigger. Gangland also reveals the wider social issues facing Aotearoa, including gangs and our illicit drug market. Over the past 20 years, dealers have graduated from motorcycle gangs to Asian crime syndicates and now the Mexican cartels - the most dangerous drug lords in the world. 

One in Four 

One in Four is an intimate kōrero between recently retired fertility counsellor and author of Maybe Baby Sue Saunders; actor and author Michelle Langstone, who writes about her IVF journey in her outstanding novel Times Like These; and journalist, actor (Shortland Street) and writer Elisabeth Easther. 

Barrister Kathryn Lellman, who has sponsored this special event, says, “One area of speciality for me in my family law practice is surrogacy and adoption, and I am endlessly fascinated by  the ways through which we can now make babies and constitute families and how that is reflected legally. I am acutely aware of the challenges fertility issues bring to families. It is going to be a fascinating, heartfelt session.”

The Mirror Book

Shortlisted for the 2022 Ockham Book Awards, Charlotte Grimshaw’s explosive and thought-provoking memoir The Mirror Book is a vivid account of growing up in one of New Zealand’s most well-known literary families: That of poet, novelist and memoirist CK Stead. Grimshaw says, “When I became a writer I took a different surname from my father’s to distinguish myself from him. But later on in life I discovered I was still very enmeshed in our family fictions, and my memoir The Mirror Book is an account of challenging those fictions, forming my own opinions and finally achieving my own sense of a truly independent self. I received ferocious reactions before the book was published, and when I showed the manuscript to some members of my family. I wanted to publish the book even though I knew it would be difficult.” In conversation with Michelle Langstone, Grimshaw deep-dives into this truth, the fallout, and the messy reality of family life.

Too Much Money

Today, someone in the wealthiest one percent of adults in Aotearoa – a club of 40,000 people – has a net worth 68 times that of the average New Zealander. Max Rashbrooke’s Too Much Money is the story of how wealth inequality is changing Aotearoa. This talk addresses a conversation most New Zealanders prefer to avoid: class. Chief Philanthropic Officer at the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation, Tupe Solomon-Tanoa’i speaks with Rashbrooke and final Chair of Auckland District Health Board and company director Pat Snedden about the evidence of - and the possible solutions to - our inequality issues, and asks us to consider whether we really can reduce wealth disparities to a point where most people are doing well.

NUKU: Story Sovereignty 

In 2021 the much-celebrated book, NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women was released, platforming Indigenous wāhine and giving them ownership over their narrative in an unfiltered, uninterrupted way. Through telling their stories, the women in NUKU seek to influence the world around them. In this powerful panel session, NUKU founder, creator and publisher Qiane Matata-Sipu (Te Waiohua, Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao and Cook Islands) discusses story sovereignty with two formidable Tauranga wāhine – Pāpāmoa-based marine ecologist, Professor Kura Paul-Burke (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whakahemo), filmmaker and producer Chelsea Winstanley (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi te Rangi), alongside racial equity educator, Kat Poi (Tainui, Te Arawa, Tonga) from Courageous Conversations South Pacific. These women will generously share their stories – the good and ugly – and wrestle with how story sovereignty could be improved today in Aotearoa.

taurangafestival.co.nz