Books & Authors

Elizabeth Stokoe is a professor of social interaction who analysed thousands of real-life conversations for her new book Talk. She talks to Jim Mora about the most effective words to use when you want… Video, Audio

Carl Shuker is a former editor at the British Medical Journal and lives in Wellington. He's the author of four novels - The Method Actors (Shoemaker & Hoard, 2005), winner of the Prize in Modern… Audio

Kamila Shamsie is the author of six novels, including Home Fire which won the 2018 Women's Prize for Fiction, and was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker. She is a reviewer and columnist for The… Audio

An act of terror has no place in an argument for or against immigration, says investigative journalist Åsne Seierstad, author of One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway.  Audio

Whitcoulls appears to have stopped selling the book by controversal Canadian Jordan Peterson,12 rules for life. Jordan Peterson is a Professor of Psychology and is often linked to the alt-right… Audio

Melanie O'Loughlin from Unity Book has been reading Night School : A reader for grown ups by Zsófia Bán Audio

Novelist Andrew Sean Greer talks to Kathryn Ryan about his 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy novel Less. He is a guest of the Auckland Writers Festival which runs 13-19 May this year. Audio

Catriona Ferguson reviews Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken. Audio

With more than 100 species vanishing every day from the face of the planet, it's easy to let our hearts get in the way of our heads when it comes decisions about how to save precious species from… Audio

Young adult author Eileen Merriman's third book Invisibly Breathing explores attitudes to coming out as gay, and to bullying, both at school and at home. Eileen works full-time as a consultant… Audio

In Sex At Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality, co-authors Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha take what they call the "standard narrative" of human sexual evolution and re-examine it… Audio

Binary code has become more important than our genetic code argues media theorist Douglas Rushkoff. Our obsession with digital technology means we are allowing ourselves to defined by our data instead… Audio

Mary Norris is one of those rare individuals who can tell you with complete authority when to use who and when to use whom. She is a copy editor for New Yorker Magazine and is known as The Comma… Audio

Auckland Writers Festival director Anne O’Brien previews this year’s programme. Audio

Hard-working, conscientious and fastidious - the popular stereotypes about Asian New Zealanders are about to be exploded in the debut novel from Wellington writer Sharon Lam. Audio

Julie Fry is herself quite ambitious. She's a consulting economist who spends time between New York and Motueka. Together with Hayden Glass, who's equally qualified and ambitious, they have written… Audio