The Best of Nine to Noon 2017

Whether she’s singing in French, English or Bambara, French-Malian hip-hop artist Inna Modja is speaking out against injustice. Video, Audio, Gallery

Kathryn Ryan meets Dr Josef Schovanec, French writer, academic, polyglot and advocate for people with autism. He's an advisor to the French government, and travels France and the world, speaking about… Audio

Australian primatologist Leif Cocks has spent three decades campaigning on behalf of orangutans. He says the mistreatment of them reflects the incivility of our own species. Audio, Gallery

An Auckland woman who created a shoe business after struggling to find pairs to fit size 10 and above has found plenty of other women face the same problem. Audio, Gallery

A new study has thrown cold water on the use of ice baths for muscle recovery, finding they are a complete waste of time. Audio

At 88-years-old, Bill Goodwin is New Zealand’s oldest active surf life guard. As the surf club season nears its end, he’s showing no signs of slowing down. Audio

Miriam Lancewood and her husband Peter have spent the last six years living a nomadic, primitive life in the wilderness of the South Island. She tells Kathryn Ryan about her love of the wild: hunting… Audio, Gallery

How does political and social change happen? Kathryn Ryan talks with Duncan Green, Professor of International Development at the London School of Economics and senior strategic advisor for Oxfam UK… Audio

How does knowing about Victorians' horrible bodies enhance the often two dimensional image we have of them? This is the question being asked and, after painstaking, almost forensic research, vividly… Audio

From teaching maths to British teens to being an acclaimed stand-up comedian, Romesh Ranganathan says following his comedy aspirations has not always been easy. Video, Audio

Award winning Dunedin writer Laurence Fearnley tells Kathryn Ryan about scent-mapping, and her other current quest to find the best writing by New Zealand mountaineers. Laurence is developing a series… Audio

Pink is her favourite colour, she watches the Bachelor, and likes thuggish rap even though the lyrics offend her to her core. Writer, educator and cultural critic Roxane Gay made a name for herself as… Audio

Ron Finley and other gangsta gardeners like him are planting to transform their neighbourhoods, in some of America's most notoriously dangerous places. For Ron the story begins in front of his house… Video, Audio, Gallery

Adele Robertson and Leonie Howie have lived and worked on Great Barrier Island for over 30 years. As nurses and midwives, they've been there for births, deaths and some remarkable dramas at the heart… Audio

At the Edinburgh Remakery, people learn how to mend their own furniture, textiles, phones and computers. Sophie Unwin is the founder and the 2016 UK Entrepreneur of the Year. Audio, Gallery

She burst onto the international literary scene in 2015, becoming a social media sensation and soaring to the top of the New York Times bestsellers list - and now Rupi Kaur is in New Zealand for this… Audio

John McIntyre, Nine to Noon's much loved children's book reviewer died at home on Saturday 10 June 2017, after a long battle with ill health .

We spoke with John, just a couple of weeks ago in a full… Audio

GP and poet Glenn Colquhoun's new book Late Love tells of how he came to love medicine as an act of creativity and looks at the challenges of the NZ health system. Audio

Seth Goldman's Beyond Burger patties are the first plant-based product to be sold in the meat aisles of the supermarket chains Whole Foods and Safeway. Audio

Now that genetic testing is readily available expect more medicines, and even diet and exercise to be tailored to your gene types. In his latest book, evolutionary biologist, family doctor, surgeon… Audio

Doug and Wendy Avery came close to losing everything a few years ago. The farmers from Grassmere, in Marlborough, were hammered by drought for eight long years. Eventually Doug struggled to function… Video, Audio

Lloyd Scott has been a much loved voice through the night on RNZ for the last 13 years, and on Radio New Zealand in one form or another for 53 years. Last Saturday he said goodbye to listeners on his… Audio, Gallery

When wild animals turn up dead it's Kathy Burek's job to cut them up to discover what killed them. But when you are one of the few veterinary pathologists working in the remote Alaskan wilderness the… Audio, Gallery

Norwegian author Lars Mytting is passionate about wood. Chopping it, stacking it, burning it and writing about it. Lars Mytting came to world-wide attention 2 years ago with his best-selling practical… Audio, Gallery

The new film Victoria & Abdul tells the story of Queen Victoria's close 13-year friendship with a young Muslim clerk she called ‘the Munshi’. Journalist Shrabani Basu first brought the 100 year old… Video, Audio, Gallery

Acclaimed food writer Jonathan Gold talks to Kathryn Ryan about discovering, eating, and writing about food of all types in Los Angeles. Audio

Are emotions more than just automatic reactions? The current theory suggests our reactions to what happens around us are hardwired and universal. But Lisa Feldman Barrett rejects this, and says… Audio

Sebastian Thrun is an innovator, entrepreneur and computer scientist who led the development of the Google self driving car. He's now on a mission to "democratise education", though Udacity, an… Audio

A first national day of commemoration on October 28th is designed to put an end to what has been described as an "uncomfortable silence" about the New Zealand Wars. Witi Ihimaera's new novella Sleeps… Audio

Who will stop the planet from committing ecological suicide? That's the question James Thornton and Martin Goodman attempt to answer in their new book, Client Earth - an investigation into how… Audio