Standing Room Only Podcast Options

12:16 PM.The prestigious Ngaio Marsh Awards for crime writing were announced on Saturday night at the Word Festival in Christchurch. And two novels where children are put at risk - in Havelock North and in… Read more Audio

3:50 PM.The story of a drag queen ghost is the first micro-budget feature film by Rose Goldthorp and she's about to unleash it on New Zealand audiences. Audio

2:48 PM.Thirty centuries of Samoan tattooing have been chronicled in a new book Tatau, released earlier this month. Te Papa curator Sean Mallon and  French anthropologist Sebastien Galliot collaborated on the… Read more Audio

2:24 PM.For 60 years, Otago University's Robert Burns Fellowship has helped dozens of writers take chances and produce significant, unforgettable work. Audio

1:49 PM.We think of great comics and graphic novels as the perfect combination of illustrations and text. But Silent or Wordless comics are becoming increasingly popular. Audio

1:32 PM.A nunnery near where a mass children's grave is discovered is the setting for the latest play by Albert Belz, written after he heard about a similar real life discovery in Ireland. Audio

12:40 PM.We're counting down to the prestigious music composition event, the APRA Silver Scroll, and this week saw the finalists announced for three of the awards - the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, the award for… Read more Audio

12:29 PM.In 2001, African-American playwright Tom Minter dashed off a script that described a world in chaos. However, when Dione Joseph agreed to bring the production home to New Zealand at the end of 2016… Read more Audio

12:17 PM.Surveyor Thomas Brunner's pioneering and punishing 18 month long trek from Nelson to the South Island's West Coast and back again, is in turn being explored by Wellington artists Caroline McQuarrie… Read more Audio

2:47 PM.Fashion is about as about as visual a subject as there is - who can forget the gigantic yellow dress worn by Rihanna at the Met Ball a few years ago? That dress, and its designer, inspired New Zealand… Read more Audio

2:36 PM.Happiness means such different things to different people - that's what writer Mary McCallum riffs on in her first poetry collection XYZ of Happiness. Mary's tells Lynn Freeman she's happiest when… Read more Audio

2:25 PM.Visiting Chinese art-jeweller Bifei Cao started using baby formula in his unconventional pieces after hearing the news about the contaminated milk powder scandals. What he didn't realise until coming… Read more Audio

1:47 PM.If you had terminal cancer how would you feel about being replaced by your clone? A new play by Christchurch writer James Van Dyk poses this and a whole host of other difficult questions. In The… Read more Audio

1:32 PM.Real life partners and award winning opera singers Madison Nonoa and Filipe Manu are taking to the stage to play star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, before they leave New Zealand for London… Read more Audio

12:48 PM.Tony Fomison remains one of the most distinctive New Zealand artists of his generations, almost 30 years after his death. The painter's sister Anna is collecting interviews with people who knew Tony… Read more Audio

12:35 PM.Choreographer Neil Iremia and writer Victor Rodger are both reflecting on the male violence they witnessed as children, as they collaborate on a dance work called Crying Men. It tells a… Read more Audio

12:16 PM.Next month sees the launch of New Zealand Theatre Month, a project which plans to not only celebrate but elevate live, homegrown theatre. It's the brainchild of our most successful playwright Roger… Read more Audio

2:50 PM.Zahra Killeen-Chance wanted the perfect backdrop for her new dance work, Elliptical Fictions, that's part of the next Footnote Dance company national tour. So she approached her father Richard… Read more Audio

2:39 PM.Writer Virginia Wolf was shocked by Katherine Mansfield's 'commonness,' while the New Zealander said she felt like a cat among tigers, on their first meeting. Wellington playwright Lorae Parry is… Read more Audio

2:26 PM.One year down and another year and a bit to go. A year ago this month strengthening work began on the grand old Hawke's Bay Opera House, after 80 percent of submissions to the Hastings District… Read more Audio

1:48 PM.It's a big call, replacing a member of a long-established New Zealand String Quartet - big for both the ensemble and for the newbie. Monique Lapins took over as second violin for the New Zealand… Read more Audio

1:33 PM.Five years ago Pitsch Leiser abandoned Auckland for Hawke's Bay. He found it had everything - everything except a functioning Opera House and an arts festival. So he rolled up his sleeves and started… Read more Audio

12:43 PM.For three years, Clare Caldwell has taught painting at the Auckland City Mission, long enough to know what a difference it makes to offer a means of expression to people who are homeless and… Read more Audio

12:30 PM.His graphic novel of folktales has won Craig Phillips the 2018 Russell Clark Illustration Award. The Taupo-based illustrator's take on traditional scary stories, which he both illustrated and wrote… Read more Audio

12:16 PM.The human body is the canvas of choice for artists here and overseas who are feverishly practising their designs for the upcoming 10th New Zealand Body Art Showcase. Special effects makeup and body… Read more Audio