Actress, journalist author and playwright Elisabeth Easther might be a familiar face from her role as Carla Crozier on Shortland Street. She'll also be a familiar voice to audiobook lovers, narrating dozens of New Zealand books. She takes Kete behind the scenes recording The Seasonwife by Saige England.
Nat Baker reviews the audiobook of Make it Make Sense, a conversational book written and narrated by Lucy Blakiston and Bel Hawkins, famous for the podcast 'Shit You Should Care About'.
Gareth and Louise Ward, booksellers and co-authors of new crime fiction The Bookshop Detectives join Kathryn Ryan of RNZ to talk about the fun they had writing their new novel.
Kate 'not a sports fan' Coughlan tackles the audiobook of Straight Up by Ruby Tui and finds herself falling in love with the NZ rugby star's words and her narration abilities.
Wellington writer Emily Perkins is the country's latest literary darling, taking out the top prize at the recent Ockham Awards for her novel Lioness. She talks with Paddy Gower for RNZ.
A "miserable" moment on the banks of Lake Wakatipu was the initial inspiration for Matt Heath's new book A Life Less Punishing: 13 Ways To Love the Life You've Got. Matt speaks with RNZ's Suzie Ferguson.
RNZ’s Mark Amery invited award-winning author of fiction, poetry and essays, Tracey Slaughter, to play Fast Favourites. Tracey picks out some favourite poems, cultural initiatives and music.
Doctor turned young adult writer and now adult fiction writer, Eileen Merriman, has a new book out, 'The Night She Fell'. The story follows the death of a clever law student from a wealthy family who fell from three stories up in her Dunedin student flat. Whodunnit, or whodunwhat? And why? Eileen, who is a clinical director of haematology and lead thrombosis clinician at North Shore Hospital, speaks with RNZ.
Sheryl Beaumont's latest novel weaves together two pivotal points in 20th century history: efforts to crack the enigma code during World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The War Photographers introduces readers to Mae, a young woman recruited from Cambridge to work at Bletchley Park and her granddaughter Rachel, who's working as a photojournalist as the Cold War is drawing to a close. She speaks with Katyhryn Ryan of RNZ
Paul Cleave is a crime writer and three-time Ngaio Marsh Award winner whose books have been translated into 20 languages. His first novel, The Cleane has been turned into a six part TV series called Dark City: The Cleaner (from March 4 on Neon/Sky Go/SoHo) and Paul has been intricately involved in the process - as the production's screenwriter. He joins Kathryn to talk about bringing his characters to life on screen.
Desmond Bovey lived in France for thirty years, predominantly working as an art director. Upon returning home to Whanganui he was in search of a project to reconnect with Aotearoa - and worked on some environmental projects for DOC and Forest and Bird. The result is his book - Tongariro National Park - an artists field guide. He speaks to Kathryn Ryan of RNZ.
Flavio Manzoni is a high flying Italian architect and automobile designer - currently Chief Design Officer at Ferrari. He's a big deal, and has an unlikely connection to a self published book by a small New Zealand charity, Bread. Bread’s founder talks to RNZ afternoons.
Patricia Grace is one of Aotearoa's most celebrated Maori fiction authors. She won the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction for Potiki in 1987, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2001 with Dogside Story. She has a new collection of short stories, Bird Child and Other Stories, which spans mythology and contemporary Māori life and reimagines ancient tales. The cover art is courtesy of granddaughter Miriama Grace-Smith. Susie and Miriama talk to RNZ’s Susie Ferguson.
Nita Joseph and her late husband Tim opened Treasure Island Caravan Park in Patua, Northland, in 1985 and put a lifetime's worth of hard yakka into creating the perfect summer holiday destination. Nita and author Elaine Webster join Susana Lei'ataua on RNZ’s The Weekend to discuss the book.
Samoan-NZ writer Tusiata Avia became the target of harassment and death threats earlier this year after her poem 250th anniversary of James Cook's arrival in New Zealand was labelled 'racist' by the ACT party. Avia's new poetry collection Big Fat Brown Bitch was partly written in response to that shocking backlash, she tells RNZ’s Susie Ferguson.
When rugby legend Sir John Kirwan first released his memoir in 2010 detailing his struggle with mental illness, it was groundbreaking. Now 13 years later, he's updated the book with more stories about his personal experience as well as practical advice. Sir John Kirwan talks to RNZ’s Jesse Mulligan.
A new book tells stories of the voyages of the Spirit of Adventure, a ship which runs programmes for young New Zealanders. Author Roger McDonald and the Spirit of Adventure Trust Chief Executive Bruce Pilbrow discuss the stories that have made the Spirit journey what it is today with Susie Ferguson of RNZ.
Since winning Masterchef in 2022, Sam Low has been figuring out what's important to him as a chef in the New Zealand media. In his new recipe book Modern Chinese, he honours both his cultural heritage and the "love language" of his parents' cooking, Sam tells RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan.
Smith is the only rugby coach to win three Rugby World Cups – two as an assistant coach for the All Blacks and one as head coach with the Black Ferns. He talks to Kathryn Ryan of RNZ about how his coaching style has developed over five decades.
For more than 40 years, twin sisters Lynda and Jools Topp have performed as the joyfully anarchic and comedic country music duo The Topp Twins. They talk with Kim Hill of RNZ about their new book Untouchable Girls.