Books

The National Librarian Te Pouhuaki, Rachel Esson joins Karyn to respond to protesters concerns about the National Library's controversial decision to dispose of up to 600,000 books. Audio

 A group of authors have banded together to form Book Guardians Aotearoa who are protesting about the Library's decision to dispose of up to 600,000 books. Journalist and writer Chris Bourke speaks… Audio

Georgia Pritchett's memoir is called My Mess Is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety. Audio

Curling up with a book is many people's idea of "me time", and it seems more people have been doing it during lockdown, especially in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Auckland Library has just loaned its three… Audio

It's taken a while but finally Wellington joins New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Paul Cleave's Christchurch as a cool crime novel city. As Anne Harre described it: "Dig a little deeper and the… Audio

In the near future, the climate emergency has forced the wealthy to seek refuge in Aotearoa. Water is rationed, and things like coffee and beer are now luxury items - prohibitively expensive for most… Audio

Jenna Todd of Time Out Bookstore reviews Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki, published by Penguin. Audio

Today's music feature guest is the author and musician Sam George-Allen. She'll be Zooming into Verb Readers & Writers Festival from Tasmania this week to talk about her book Witches: What Women Do… Audio

Mary Wadsworth of Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop Auckland reviews Pony by R J Palacio, published by Penguin Random House. Audio

Red Roulette is a gripping personal account of power and greed among China's "red aristocracy".

Melanie O'Loughlin from Lamplight Books in Auckland reviews A Luminous Republic by Andrés Barba, published by Granta. Audio

For almost a decade writer Whiti Hereaka has been fleshing out the mythical story of a monster bird woman. The novel is called Kurangaituku - a name and story Whiti's known since childhood. But that… Audio

What happens when there are questions that only your father can answer, and you have no idea who he is? That's Tom's predicament in The Other Side of the World, a novel by Jenni Francis, whose family… Audio

The enduring appeal of crime novels that offer their readers genuine thrills and curveballs, compelling characters, just enough clues and not too many red herrings, is celebrated in the annual Ngaio… Audio

Travel writer Colin Thubron travels down the Amur River, which separates China and Russia, and finds growing distrust despite official messages of friendship.

Catriona Ferguson reviews Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down published by Text Publishing. Audio

Announcing the winners of the first ever Nine to Noon Short Story Competition! Judges Tina Makareti and Harry Ricketts have selected five stand-outs among almost 1,500 stories entered into the… Audio