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Book review - Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
Louise Ward of Wardini Books reviews Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam - a young adult novel about a wrongful incarceration, published by HarperCollins. Audio
Nguyen Phan Que Mai
Vietnamese writer Nguyen Phan Que Mai has published eleven books of poetry and non fiction in Vietnamese, and now for the first time - a novel in English. Audio
Why We Drive: Matt Crawford on car culture's essential survival
Philosopher, mechanic, and author Matthew Crawford's latest book Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road gets under the bonnet of one of the few remaining domains of exploration, play and… Audio
Playing favourites with XL Recordings' boss Richard Russell
Music industry supremo Richard Russell joined XL Recordings as an A & R scout back in 1991, two years after it was founded. He now runs the independent record label responsible for releasing an… Audio
Sara Seager: searching for planets beyond our solar system
Sara Seager is a renowned Canadian-born astrophysicist and planetary scientist based at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on the discovery of planets outside our own… Audio
Book review - This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Melanie O'Loughlin of Unity Books reviews This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga, published by Faber & Faber. A follow-up to the highly acclaimed Nervous Condition, written as Rhodesia came to an… Audio
Book review - Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Gina Rogers reviews Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, published by Penguin Random House. This is a brilliant Scandinavian novel with a fantastic cast of quirky characters. A riveting take on a dinner… Audio
The chefs who fed tyrants
Even a dictator has to eat. And Polish journalist and trained chef Witold Szablowski has tracked down the cooks for notorious leaders from Saddam Hussein to Pol Pot to get their views from the… Audio
Afternoons Quiz Robert Kelly 19 August 2020
Afternoons Quiz Robert Kelly 19 August 2020. Audio
Poet Ria Masae - from fale to K'Rd
Ria Masae's poetry draws on her Pacific heritage which she says influences all her writing. She is one of three poets whose work is published in a new book AUP New Poets 7. Some of Ria Masae's poems… Audio
Book review - The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Elisabeth Easther reviews The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, published by Macmillan. Audio
Lisa Glass
Lisa has discovered three books that take you to countries you can't go to during these Covid times of travel restrictions and border closures - Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts; Marching Powder-… Audio
Book review - AUP New Poets 7 by Rhys Feeney, Ria Masae and Claudia Jardine
Harry Ricketts reviews AUP New Poets 7 by Rhys Feeney, Ria Masae and Claudia Jardine. Edited by Anna Jackson, published by Auckland University Press. Audio
Eat the Buddha: Barbara Demick
Pulitzer prize-nominated writer, former LA Times Beijing bureau chief and foreign correspondent Barbara Demick's new book is Eat the Buddha - Life and Death in a Tibetan Town. It's a narrative… Audio
Dark Empire
Katherine Mansfield created some of literature's most chilling characters, not least Harry Kember and his wife in her short story At The Bay. Author and historian John Horrocks' new novel Dark Empire… Audio
Machine-gun Murder: the story of Bassett Road (part 1)
It's 1963 and two bodies are found in a house at Bassett Road in Remuera. Detectives are shocked to discover they were killed by a submachine-gun. Newspaper headlines read "Chicago Comes to New… Audio
Carl Nixon's latest spine-chilling thriller
A family disappears without a trace after a road-trip along the West Coast highway. More than 30 years later, the body of one of the children is discovered. But he's several years older than when he… Audio
'We wanted to set the Harry and Meghan story straight'
It's not officially authorised by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but co-authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand have compiled the most major account from Harry and Meghan's perspective with their new… Audio
'Parker would beat Tua at the peak of their powers'
Legendary New Zealand boxing identity Mike Edwards is one of the sport's most beloved figures in this country. In his new book, Taking the Punches, Edwards reflects on a colourful lifetime in boxing.
…Is a Birkin bag out of your budget? You can now invest in one
The idea of being part-owner of a $61,500 handbag may seem strange, but it's a growing trend. Online trading platform Rally Rd allows users to purchase shares in luxury items. Author Paul Sullivan… Audio