Almost 30 years ago, Robert Long left behind the bustle of urban life and walked off into the bush near Haast to find a new home.
He is still there - living in an old Department of Conservation hut at Gorge River, two days' walk from Haast, with wife Catherine and children Christian (17) and Robin (14).
Next month, however, Mr Long - known locally as "Beansprout" - will leave his secluded hideaway, walk back to Haast and travel to Dunedin to promote his new book, A Life on Gorge River, Random House New Zealand publicist Rebecca Simpson said in a statement.
In the years since Mr Long took to the bush, he and his family have hosted occasional visitors - including roaming trampers - and been resupplied with essentials once a month by helicopter or aircraft.
They had also ventured into the "outside world" a couple of times each year, but otherwise their life remained one largely of self-sufficient seclusion, surrounded by stunning scenery.
The family's story has featured before, on Television New Zealand current affairs shows Holmes, in the mid-1990s, and Sunday, in 2008.
However, Mr Long's talk in Dunedin would be a chance for people to "meet the man behind the story", Ms Simpson said.
"It is an inspiring tale of one man's decision to 'drop out' of capitalist society and successfully establish a lifestyle most New Zealanders can't even imagine, harking back to the days of the earliest pioneers," she said.
• Mr Long will talk at the Dunedin Public Library's Dunningham Suite on June 3, at 5.30pm.
