Saturday Morning for Saturday 9 December 2023

 

8:10 Ranulph Fiennes: Lawrence of Arabia

Sir Ranulph Fiennes pays tribute to a fellow legend in his new biography Lawrence of Arabia.  

A former SAS officer, Fiennes says he feels a lot of affinity for  archaeologist and adventurer Thomas Edward Lawrence, who made a gruelling 300-mile journey through blistering desert heat during the 1916 Arab Revolt.  

No shirker himself, Fiennes was first to reach both Poles, first to cross the Antarctic and Arctic Ocean and first to circumnavigate the world along its polar axis. He climbed Everest age 65.

9:05 Leo Vardiashvili on his debut novel Hard by a Great Forest

Leo Vardiashvili arrived in London as a 13 year old refugee from Georgia. 

His family was forced to flee after their country descended into civil war after breaking away from the Soviet Union.

Hard by a Great Forest, his debut novel, draws on this experience, and is winning high praise from reviewers. 

9:30 Unsupported and isolated: living and dying with ME/CFS

An inquest hearing in the UK has heard how 27 year old Maeve Boothby-O'Neill died from complications relating to ME, following years of inadequate care from the National Health Service.

At least 25-thousand people live with ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome in New Zealand.

The real number is likely higher, due to the nature of it being an 'invisible illness'.

Maeve's father Sean O'Neill is a Times correspondent.  He is joined by leading researcher in ME/CFS in New Zealand, University of Otago Emeritus Professor Warren Tate.

 

10:05 Kera Sherwood-O'Regan 

Not far down the BBC's list of 100 Women for 2023 is 31 year old Christchurch-based indigenous rights and disability advocate Kera Sherwood-O'Regan (Kāi Tahu).

Kera is the co-founder of Activate, a social impact agency intent on climate justice and creating social change.

Kera's practice is grounded in a Te Ao Māori approach to the mainstream climate conversation. She argues minorities are most affected by climate change but can make a big difference in the fight against it.

10:35 Simon Denny: Optimism and the race to space

Berlin-based New Zealand artist Simon Denny likes to explore and play with the intersections of art, power and new technology.

He represented New Zealand at the 2015 Venice Biennale with "Secret Power" inspired by the fallout from Edward Snowden's NSA leaks and Five Eyes surveillance technology.

His 2018 exhibition "The Founder's Paradox", used the language and logic of board games to highlight competing utopian political visions for New Zealand’s future.

Denny's latest work "Optimism" is currently on view at Auckland Art Gallery. It consists of two hanging megastructures which are enlarged 3D-printed models of patent diagrams of rocket engine parts by Rocket Lab.

 

11:05 Tusiata Avia: Big Fat Brown Bitch 

Poet and performer Tusiata Avia, who is of Samoan descent, isn't afraid to challenge Aotearoa's colonialist history, and racist present.

It comes at a significant personal cost.  After her poem ' 250th anniversary of James Cook's arrival in New Zealand' went viral she faced harassment including death threats. 

Her new collection Big Fat Brown Bitch was partly written in response to that experience.

Her previous poetry collections are Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (2004; also staged as a theatre show), Bloodclot (2009), Fale Aitu | Spirit House (2016), and the Ockham-award-winning The Savage Coloniser Book (2020).

In 2020 she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to poetry and the arts and an Arts Foundation Laureate

11:45 Raising a glass to Sauvignon Blanc: Bill Spence

The first Sauvignon Blanc vines were planted in New Zealand fifty years ago.  

Taking the lead from California, in the early seventies when wine was either red or white, and liqueurs and sherries were the popular tipple, brothers Bill and Ross Spence experimented with something new and different at their West Auckland vineyard.  They got about 6 litres of Sauvignon Blanc in their first batch and founded Matua wines.

Today Sauvingnon Blanc is New Zealand's top wine export.

 

Books featured on the show:

Lawrence of Arabia  
by Ranulph Fiennes
Published by Michael Joseph
ISBN: 9780241450628

Hard by a Great Forest
by Leo Vardiashvili
Published by Riverhead Books
ISBN 9780593545034

Big Fat Brown Bitch 
by Tusiata Avia
Published by Te Herenga Waka University Press
ISBN: 9781776921294
 

 

 

Music played in this show

Song: Alaska
Artist: Maggie Rogers
Time played: 8:55

Song: Satellite of Love
Artist: Lou Reed
Time played: 10:35

Song: Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)
Artist: Geller & Kaya
Time played: 10:55

Song: The Wine Song
Artist: The Cat Empire
Time played: 11:35