Books & Authors

Melanie O'Loughlin reviews Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, published by Faber & Faber. Audio

Ray Shipley from Scorpio Books in Christchurch reviews Girl in a Pink Dress by Kylie Needham, published by Penguin Audio

Laura Caygill reviews Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld, published by Penguin Random House. Audio

If you've ever dreamed of writing the next great novel or devastating piece of poetry but don't quite know where to start, this week's expert is for you. Today's we speak to writer and editor Ashleigh… Audio

A Waikato midwife has drawn on a 33-year career, and even deeper family ties, to publish a novel about the profession's challenging New Zealand history.  Marie-ann Quin talks to Jesse. Audio

Psychotherapist Sandra Russell shares her experience of confronting the emotional challenges of living with incurable cancer in her book The Feeling of Cancer. Beyond the physical and medical demands… Audio

Reflecting on what makes a place home, Alie Benge's collection of essays Ithaca takes us to wildly different places from her past: from Ethiopia as a child to time spent in the Australian Army and… Audio

In Australian author and broadcaster Richard Fidler's The Book of Roads and Kingdoms he delves into the life of medieval wanderers who travelled to the outer edges of the known world during Islam's… Audio

Romantic comedy or rom-com, is often used as shorthand for something shallow and lacking in substance, but Minneapolis author Curtis Sittenfeld loves them. Audio

As the final series of HBO's hit drama Succession goes to air, the Murdoch media empire that inspired the show is dealing with its own dramas. Audio

Eden Denyer from Unity Books Wellington reviews Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, published by Hachette Bestselling author Brandon Sanderson brings us deeper into the Cosmere universe… Audio

Paul Diamond reviews Aftermaths: Colonialism, Violence and Memory in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific edited by Angela Wanhalla, Lyndall Ryan and Camille Nurka, published by Otago University… Audio

Catriona Ferguson reviews Resistance by Jacinta Halloran, published by Text Publishing. Audio

 New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik says we overrate masters and underrate mastery. Away from the spotlight, people are doing the hard work to get better at something. Audio

Anne Perry the famous New Zealand crime novelist - formally Juliet Hulme the infamous Christchurch teenager convicted of murder - died last week at aged 84. The murder of Honorah Parker by her… Audio

Louisa Lim is no stranger to controversy - her first book The People's Republic of Amnesia - Tiananmen Revisited resulted in her being unable to visit mainland China for years. When the Hong Kong… Audio

There are various sacred walking journeys throughout the world and its religions. The most famous is probably the Way of St James, the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Writer and educator Sir Anthony… Audio

Rebecca Struthers was just 17 when she set out on her path to become one of Britain's leading watchmakers. An active campaigner in the preservation of endangered heritage skills, Struthers family-run… Audio

Many of Earth's creatures lie... from microorganisms to homo sapiens. In his new book The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars, biologist Dr Lixing Sun explores why. Audio