Books & Authors

Doireann Ní Ghríofa's prose debut A Ghost in the Throat eludes easy definition: at once a memoir, a piece of scholarship and autobiographical-fiction. The book combines Ní Ghríofa's own story with her… Audio

The Fijian community in Wellington gathered to launch a unique book celebrating their language and culture. Audio

Briar Lawry from Unity Books Auckland reviews The Shut Ins by Katherine Brabon, published by Allan and Unwin. Audio

Chris Tse reviews AUP New Poets 8 by Lily Holloway, Tru Paraha and Modi Deng, published by Auckland University Press. Audio

Mark van Leewarden tells Kathryn his fascinating and sometimes unsettling true life story about the realities of a secret life in New Zealand's criminal underworld of the late 1970s, and of going on… Audio

Anxiety happens. It's our body's early warning system. So start listening to it says Dr Wendy Suzuki. She says anxiety can actually be a good thing, telling us something needs to change in our lives… Audio

Stella Chrysostomou of Volume Books in Nelson reviews The Employees: A workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn, published by Lolli Editions Audio

Bears looking for brunch in the rubbish bins, monkeys mugging tourists in India; wildlife and human encounters do not always go well. Science journalist Mary Roach looks at the inevitable clashes… Audio

Quentin Johnson reviews The Altar Boys by Suzanne Smith published by Harper Collins Audio

Matthew Morris from Wellington second-hand book store Arty Bees reviews Mort by Terry Pratchett published by Penguin Random House Audio

A widow, a rock star, a would be novellist and her anxious teenage daughter - these are among the strangers that Isa Pearl Ritchie beings together in new novel, The Seekers' Garden. Different paths… Audio

Tim Grgec's grandparents escaped communist Yugoslavia in the 1950s, and came to Aotearoa as refugees. Tim's debut poetry collection weaves some of their memories into the story of two siblings who… Audio

Opening a bookstore in late 2019 looks like the worst possible timing, given what happened over the next 18 months. But Schrödinger's Books in Petone has not only survived Covid, it's taken out the… Audio, Gallery

There's a reading revolution happening in Aotearoa; a community initiative where people are coming together (albeit by Zoom right now) to read literature aloud and chat about whatever a story or poem… Audio

When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Evan Osnos was living away from the United States for a decade, he often found himself making a case for his home country, despite the grave mistakes it had made… Audio

Whitcoulls' book manager Joan Mackenzie talks to Jesse about the Whitcoulls' Top 50 kids books, as chosen by kids. Audio

Kim Pittar from Muir's Independent Bookshop Gisborne reviews Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, published by Harper Collins. Audio

Mary Fawcett of Schrödinger's Books Petone reviews Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser, published by Allen and Unwin Audio