Books & Authors

A new novel invites us to fast forward four years. State surveillance is everywhere in Aotearoa, and if you dare to search for evidence of government corruption you could end up on the Kill List… Audio

What if Dr Frankenstein's monster had been cast away in a fjord in Aotearoa's deep south? This is the proposition explored by Vincent O'Sullivan in Mary's Boy, Jean Jacques, and other stories out next… Audio

On the islands off the coast of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz there's an ancient belief the winds can possess you, causing illness or disease.Hoda Afshar has been visiting the islands since 2015 and… Audio, Gallery

John Duke from Unity Books reviews Mothers, Fathers, and Others by Siri Hustvedt, published by Sceptre. Audio

We imitate other people's behaviour but we also subconsciously imitate what they desire, says entrepreneur Luke Burgis. In the new book Wanting, he argues that by "desiring differently" we can become… Audio

Elisabeth Easther reviews Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes, published by Penguin Random House NZ. Audio

"Davos Man: a member of the global billionaire class that controls the majority of the world's wealth". In his new book, New York Times global economics correspondent Peter S. Goodman contends that… Audio

As a teenager, Anna Qu worked in a sweatshop snipping loose threads from garments until her hands blistered and bled. Anna writes about her quest to understand her mother and generations of Chinese… Audio

Paul Diamond reviews 30 Queer Lives by Matt McEvoy, published by Massey University Press. Audio

The last time Christine Leunens joined Nine to Noon it was from LA, just hours ahead of the Oscars, where Taika Waititi would win Best Adapted Screenplay for JoJo Rabbit. It was adapted, of course… Audio

Reviewer Anna Rankin talks to Jesse about Joan Didion's non-fiction collection, Political Fictions. Audio

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins is a well-known design writer and his landmark book At Home: A Century of New Zealand Design was the Montana Book Awards Non-Fiction Winner in 2004. He was a co-author of The… Audio

Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb of University Book Shop Dunedin reviews This Mortal Coil: A History of Death by Andrew Doig, published by Bloomsbury. Bronwyn says: It's a fascinating history of how and why we've… Audio

Sometimes we do need to look back and examine the pain of the past, says best-selling author Daniel Pink. Audio

Sally Wenley reviews Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz, published by Penguin Random House. Audio

Christchurch barber Mataio (Matt) Brown wrote She is Not Your Rehab with his wife Sarah. They discuss the book and the global anti-violence movement it has spawned at 2021 WORD Christchurch. Audio

The past, present and even speculation about the future all find a place in the latest poetry collection Next by Otepoti Dunedin based writer Alan Roddick. It's the octogenarian's third collection… Audio

Aotearoa's latest literary sleuth, D.I. Nyree Bradshaw is faced by a mystifying and culturally challenging case in Catherine Lea's thriller The Water's Dead. The DI and her team are in a race against… Audio

Almost half the world will go through menopause. Yet it remains criminally underdiscussed. Niki Bezzant joins us to discuss her new book, This Changes Everything, which has been billed as a… Audio

Between panic buying and violent protests, the global pandemic has highlighted some of humankind's worst behaviours. But Dutch writer and historian Rutger Bregman insists that despite being painted as… Audio