Saturday Morning for Saturday 8 March 2014
8:15 Marcus Chown
British astrophysicist Marcus Chown is cosmology consultant for the New Scientist, the author of many popular science books, and recipient of the 2011 Future Book Award for his iPad app The Solar System. He is an executive committee member of the National Health Action Party, and has been named the “most influential tweeter about David Cameron” by academics at Imperial College. He speaks at a solo session for Writers Week during the NZ Festival (7 March), with novelist Eleanor Catton and poet Robert Sullivan at Writers Under the Stars (9 March, sold out), and at Royal Society events at the University of Auckland (11 March) and the Aurora Centre in Christchurch (12 March).
8:40 Jennifer O'Sullivan
Jennifer O'Sullivan is an improviser and producer. During the 2014 Fringe Festival, she ran the Gryphon Theatre, performed in four shows (Return to Sender, Pundemonium, Here's a Thing! Late Night Improv, Battle of WITs), and was awarded the Spirit of the Festival award (with James Nokise). During the upcoming Comedy Festival (24 April to 18 May), she is producing two shows with Hair of the Dog Productions (Adam Wright in Utopia, and Sam Smith and Robbie Ellis in Augmented Fourth), performing and managing two Wellington Improv Troupe shows (Return to the Planet of Forbidden Improv and All Star Micetro), and performing in Pundemonium. She is also co-creative director of the Wellington Improv Troupe, Chief People Wrangler at PledgeMe, and Festival Director of the New Zealand Improv Festival (28 October to 1 November)
9:05 Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel has been writing, drawing, and syndicating the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For for thirty years. It has run in over fifty publications in North America and the UK, and reprinted in a number of collections including The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For (Jonathan Cape, ISBN: 978-0-224-08706-3). She also authored the award-winning 2006 memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy (Jonathan Cape, ISBN: 978-0-224-08051-4), and the 2012 book, Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama (Jonathan Cape, ISBN: 978-0-224-09352-1). Bechdel is a guest at Writers Week, with a sold-out session alongside Terry Castle (8 March) and a solo appearance (9 March), and she will speak at an Auckland Women’s Centre and NZ Festival event in Freeman’s Bay (16 March).
9:35 Dylan Horrocks
Dylan Horrocks is a New Zealand cartoonist best known for his 1998 book, Hicksville. His new book, Incomplete Works (VUP, ISBN: 9780864739223), collects many of his shorter comics from 1986 to 2012 and will be launched at Writers Week, and his full-colour book-length comic The Magic Pen will be published later this year. Horrocks will join Adrian Kinnaird, Jonathan King and Robyn Kenealy for a discussion about comics, during Writers Week (10 March), and launch Incomplete Works at the Victoria University Press Festival party (8 March).
9:50 Kate Camp
Kate Camp has published five collections of poems, and contributes the Kate’s Klassic segment to Saturday Mornings. During Writers Week she will be chairing two German authors in a conversation around "culture", and taking part in the session for the launch of the Griffith Review. Today she will discuss NZ Festival show The Quiet Volume, a literary experience for two by Ant Hampton and Tim Etchells (8 and 11-15 March).
10:05 Joe Blossom and Duncan Sarkies
New Zealand musician Sean O’Brien has recorded and performed with a number of various bands since the 1990s. He currently performs as Joe Blossom, and released his solo album debut, Nocturnes (Cabbage Tree Records), in 2011. Tyger Tyger, the new single from his upcoming album, is out now, and he will accompany author, screenwriter and performer Duncan Sarkies for The Demolition of the Century at the NZ Festival (11 March).
10:25 Aidan Dooley
Aidan Dooley is an Irish writer, director and actor who brings his production of Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer to the NZ Festival (6-9 and 11-13 March), and to Auckland for one public performance (20 March), plus school events. Crean was one of the few men to serve with both Scott and Shackleton, surviving three famous expeditions.
10:50 Caoilinn Hughes
Caoilinn Hughes is an Irish-born New Zealand-based poet who combines the creativity associated with the written word with the precision connected with science. Her new collection of poems, Gathering Evidence, won the 2012 Patrick Kavanagh Award, and poems from the collection won the 2013 Cúirt New Writing Prize, the 2012 STA Travel Writing Prize and the 2013 Trócaire / Poetry Ireland Competition. Gathering Evidence will be launched at the Victoria University Press Festival party on 8 March and Hughes will be join Sebastian Hampson, Tracy Farr and Alice Miller for a free reading session on 11 March at Meow for Writers Week.
11:05 Rhys Morgan
Whanganui-born actor Rhys Morgan has successfully established a career in Britain and Australia as drag queen Spanky. He brings his comedy cabaret show, Candice McQueen: Nasty!, to the NZ Festival for two performances (8 and 9 March).
11:20 Ulf Stark and Julia Marshall
Ulf Stark is the author of around 30 books for children and young adults, including Fruitloops and Dipsticks, My Friend Percy's Magical Gym Shoes, My Friend Percy and The Sheik, Can You Whistle, Johanna?, and My Friend Percy and Buffalo Bill. He has written film, TV and theatre scripts, and won many prizes in Sweden and internationally. Julia Marshall of Gecko Press is his New Zealand translator and publisher. Their Writers Week session is on 9 March, and they will launch Dappled Annie and the Tigrish.
11:40 Liam Ó Maonlaí
Liam Ó Maonlaí is the frontman for Irish group The Hothouse Flowers, and has collaborated with choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan on the Fabulous Beast show, Rian, bringing eight dancers and five musicians together for contemporary dance to traditional music from around the world. Rian will be performed over four nights at the NZ Festival (12-15 March), and O Maonlaí will perform with the Rian band at Rhythm and Reels, a night of Irish folk music, in Paraparaumu (9 March) and Masterton (10 March).
Music played during the programme
Details of tracks and artists will be listed on the Playlist section of this page shortly following broadcast.
This Saturday’s team:
Producer: Mark Cubey
Associate producer: Zoe George
On-site engineers: Colin Pearce, Chris Keogh
Studio engineer: Damon Taylor
Accompanist: Joe Blossom
Research by Anne Buchanan, Infofind
Music played in this show
Playlist
Joe Blossom: You Are Not With Us (Anymore)
Live version of a track from the 2011 album, Nocturnes, performed at the St James, Wellington
Played at around 8:05
Joe Blossom: Lightly Falls The Rain
Unreleased song from his forthcoming album, performed live at the St James, Wellington
Played at around 9:05
Duncan Sarkies and Joe Blossom: Excerpt from Demolition of the Century
Performed live at the St James, Wellington
Played at around 10:05
Joe Blossom: Sensitive Boy
Unreleased song from his forthcoming album, performed live at the St James, Wellington
Played at around 11:05
Spanky with Robert Tripolino: Revolver
From the 2012 EP: Spanky with Robert Tripolino
(Private)
Played at around 11:25
Liam Ó Maonlaí: Eleanor Arun
Traditional song performed live at the St James, Wellington
Played at around 11:45