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Jewish holocaust survivor's Auschwitz book published
Under a pile of old clothes, in the barracks of the most notorious of all of Hitler's concentration camps, Dr Eddy de Wind hid a notebook with an account of his life as a prisoner in Auschwitz. Audio
Book review - Best of 2019
Sonja de Friez with her best magical realism reads:The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (Penguin,$38), and Margaret Mahy's The Tricksters and The Changeover (both published by Hachette). Audio
Writer Scarlett Thomas on her new book - Oligarchy
Writer Scarlett Thomas has referenced some of her own miserable memories of being at boarding school in her latest and 10th novel Oligarchy. Audio
Trent Dalton: I was put on this earth to write Boy Swallows Universe
Australian journalist Trent Dalton's best-selling 2018 novel Boy Swallows Universe is based on his own tough childhood in seedy '80s Brisbane. He talks to Kim Hill about his love of diving deep… Audio
Book review - Best of 2019
Jessie Bray Sharpin reviews her top picks of 2019: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold and Gun Love by Jennifer Clement (both published by Penguin). Audio
Call for a creative non-fiction category for book awards
The Spinoff Books Editor, Catherine Woulfe, is calling for a creative non-fiction category in book awards so that literary brilliance in the genre can be recognised. Audio
Anxious parenting: Kevin Wilson
American author and father Kevin Wilson revisits his obsession with spontaneous human combustion in his new novel Nothing to See Here. Here former college room-mate Madison asks Lillian to be a… Audio
Book review - Best of 2019
Louise Ward of Wardini Books with her top picks from 2019: Running With Sherman by Christopher McDougall (Allen & Unwin), The History Speech by Mark Sweet (Huia), and The Good Thieves by Katherine… Audio
Elizabeth Strout on Olive Kitteridge in Olive, Again
Described as one of America's finest writers, award-winning and best-selling author Elizabeth Strout speaks with Kathryn Ryan about one of the finest female characters to come out of American fiction… Audio
Overcoming our negative predisposition
As humans, we lean into the negative. It's just how our brains work. Our natural negative bias explains so much; high divorce rates, stagnating economies, and what makes the news and drives politics.
…Kiwi lighthouses inspiring new generation
A trio of richly illustrated books for young history buffs has been a labour of love for photographer and lighthouse enthusiast Grant Sheehan. 'Ivan and the lighthouse', 'Lucy goes to the lighthouse'… Audio
Book review - Best of 2019
Louise O'Brien with her favourite books from 2019: The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press), To Calais, in Ordinary Time by James Meek (Allen and Unwin) and Big Sky by Kate… Audio
American Dirt author Jeanine Cummins - border crisis
The research for author Jeanine Cummins' latest book took to her to borderland towns in Mexico, where thousands of people seeking a new life in America gather to try to enter the US. Video, Audio
Book review - Best of 2019
Ralph McAllister with his picks for the best books of 2019: Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner (Hachette NZ), Find Me by André Aciman (Faber), The Offing by Benjamin Myers (Bloomsbury). Audio
Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin's Guide to Ageing Well
Getting old doesn't have to mean feeling old. Declines in memory, health and relevance are not inevitable says neuroscientist Daniel Levitin. Audio
Book Review - Best of 2019
Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb of University Book Shop, Dunedin, with her favourite books from last year: The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes (Jonathan Cape), The Library of Ice: Readings from a Cold Climate… Audio
Finding a girl cut out of your history - Professor Bart Van Es
Oxford English Professor Bart Van Es went in search of a reason for a decades-long rift in his Dutch family between his grandparents and their Jewish foster daughter, Lien. They took Lien in during… Audio
Kate's Klassics: The Heat of The Day by Elizabeth Bowen
Poet and writer Kate Camp returns for the latest instalment of Kate's Klassics. This week she reviews Elizabeth Bowen's 1948 novel, The Heat of the Day. Audio
Author André Aciman on the sequel to "Call Me By Your Name"
American novelist André Aciman authored worldwide bestseller Call Me by Your Name in 2007. His recently released book Find Me revisits the same characters decades on from the summer romance recounted… Audio
Book review - Best of 2019
Tilly Lloyd of Unity Books with her top picks of the year: Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree (Picador); This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality by… Audio