Saturday Morning for Saturday 17 November 2018
This Saturday Morning: Kim starts the morning with prominent art writer Damian Skinner, who has just completed a work on the life and complicated legacy of émigré artist Theo Schoon; Kerry-Anne Walsh describes the career of another colourful character, Australian politician Pauline Hanson; Professor Tim Bale updates us on the latest in a significant week in Brexit negotiations; cultural commentator and author Peter FitzSimons on why he has retold the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty in a rollicking fashion; Auckland Art Gallery's Mary Kisler on the latest big exhibitions in Europe this year; Ben Branson explains how centuries-old recipes have helped him develop a whole new category of non-alcoholic drinks, and finally, Steve Braunias gives us the Saturday low-down on the best of The Friday Poem.
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Damian Skinner - Profile of artist Theo Schoon
8:10 AM.Damian Skinner is an art historian, writer and former museum curator. He is interested in the history of cultural contact between Maori and Pakeha and the relationship between art and politics in… Read more Audio, Gallery
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Kerry-Anne Walsh on the Pauline Hanson phenomenon
9:07 AM.Kerry-Anne Walsh was in the Canberra press gallery for 25 years, occupying senior posts in print, radio, and TV. She has now left reporting to write books and consult. Her latest book, Hoodwinked: How… Read more Audio
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Professor Tim Bale - Breaking on Brexit
9:42 AM.Tim Bale is a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. He will talk to Kim about a week of major developments in the long-running Brexit saga, including an ostensible backing of… Read more Audio
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Peter FitzSimons - Mutiny on the Bounty
10:02 AM.Peter FitzSimons is Australia's best-selling non-fiction writer, and for the past 30 years has also been a journalist and columnist with the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun Herald. He is the author… Read more Audio
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Mary Kisler - Exhibitions in Europe
10:42 AM.Mary Kisler is the senior curator, Mackelvie Collection, International Art, at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. She has spent much of 2018 researching not one but two books on Frances Hodgkins… Read more Audio, Gallery
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Ben Branson: creator of the world's first distilled non-alcoholic spirit
11:06 AM.Back in 2013, Englishman Ben Branson came across a 17th-century book called The Art of Distillation and started playing around with a copper still in his kitchen. Two years later, he launched Seedlip… Read more Audio
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Steve Braunias - The best of The Friday Poem
11:40 AM.Steve Braunias is an author, journalist, critic and publisher. He has served as the poetry editor for The Spinoff for four years, and is about to step aside from that role. Before doing so, he has… Read more Audio
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Listener feedback for 17 November 2018
11:55 AM.Kim Hill reads emails and texts from listeners to the Saturday Morning programme. Audio
8:09 Damian Skinner - Profile of dyspeptic, influential émigré artist Theo Schoon
Damian Skinner Photo: Victoria University
Damian Skinner is an art historian, writer and former museum curator. He is interested in the history of cultural contact between Māori and Pākehā and the relationship between art and politics in Aotearoa New Zealand. His latest book is a profile of irascible émigré artist Theo Schoon, called Theo Schoon: A Biography. The book, says Skinner, shines a light on Schoon's significant contribution to art and culture in New Zealand, not least his championing of Māori art.
Theo Schoon: art and life
9.06 Kerry-Anne Walsh - The phenomenon of Pauline Hanson
Pauline Hanson Photo: AFP
Kerry-Anne Walsh Photo: supplied
Kerry-Anne Walsh was in the Canberra press gallery for 25 years, occupying senior posts in print, radio, and TV. She has now left reporting to write books and consult. Her latest book, Hoodwinked: How Pauline Hanson fooled a nation, looks at Hanson's colourful career - her time as an accidental local councilor, her emergence as a surprising national figure in 1996 and her resurrection in 2016, her careful profile-building through the media during the intervening years, the friends she has used and discarded, the money trail of her party and her personal finances.
9.35 Professor Tim Bale - Breaking on Brexit
tim Bale Photo: Supplied
Tim Bale is a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. He will talk to Kim about a week of major developments in the long-running Brexit saga, including an ostensible backing of Theresa May's Brexit agreement with the European Union, divisions that remain within the Conservative Party, and how likely the agreement is to be passed through Parliament.
10.04 Peter FitzSimons - A rollicking retelling of Mutiny on the Bounty
Peter FitzSimons Photo: supplied
Marlon Brandon as Fletcher Christian (1962) Photo: Wikicommons
Peter FitzSimons is Australia's best-selling non-fiction writer, and for the past 30 years has also been a journalist and columnist with the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun Herald. He is the author of a number of highly successful books, including Kokoda, Ned Kelly and Gallipoli, as well as biographies of such notable Australians as Sir Douglas Mawson, Nancy Wake and Nick Farr-Jones. He lives in Sydney and is married to journalist and television presenter Lisa Wilkinson. His most recent book chronicles the story of Captain William Bligh, Fletcher Christian, and history's most famous mutiny - Mutiny on the Bounty.
10.35 Mary Kisler - Exhibitions in Europe
Mary Kisler Photo: supplied
Mary Kisler is the senior curator, Mackelvie Collection, International Art, at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. She has spent much of 2018 researching not one but two books on Frances Hodgkins, necessitating travel to Europe which included catching a Modigliani show at MUDEC in Milan and a show by environmental artist Mike Perry at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre. She talks to Kim about her travels, as well as a big year planned to celebrate Frances Hodgkins in 2019.
11.04 Ben Branson - Spirit of Seedlip
Ben Branson Photo: Supplied
The random discovery of a book written in 1651 called The Art of Distillation put Ben Branson on the path to creating the world's first distilled non-alcoholic spirit. Hailing from Lincolnshire in England, Branson comes from a family which has been farming for 320 years, using baskets called seedlips to sow seeds. He calls his business Seedlip, and he describes it as a nature company first and a drinks company second. Seedlip is concerned with sustainable agriculture and has won two gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show. Branson is in Aotearoa to promote the range of spirits made from ingredients such as peas, hay, herbs and oranges and sold in 20 countries.
11.40 Steve Braunias - The best of The Friday Poem
Steve Braunias Photo: Steve Braunias
Steve Braunias is an author, journalist, critic and publisher. He has served as the poetry editor for The Spinoff for four years, and is about to step aside from that role. Before doing so, he has published The Friday Poem, a collection of 100 poems by 61 poets - "some dead, some nearly dead, a number of complete nobodies, a number of well-known authors, and Colin Craig". Braunias says the collection reflects a revolution in new local poetry, led mainly by young women - including the likes of Hera Lindsay Bird and Tayi Tibble.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Theo Schoon: A Biography
by Damian Skinner
ISBN: 9780995100176
Massey University Press
Hoodwinked: How Pauline Hanson fooled a nation
by Kerry-Anne Walsh
ISBN:9781760112288
Allen & Unwin
Mutiny on the Bounty
by Peter FitzSimons
ISBN: 9780733634116
Hachette
The Friday Poem
edited by Steve Braunias
ISBN: 9780473450281
Luncheon Sausage Books
Music played in this show
Artist: Alynda Segarra and the Special Men
Song: Don't Tell Me That It's Over
Composer: King James (Jimmy Horn)
Label: Special Man industries
Played at: 8:55
Artist: Six60
Song: Don't give it up
Composer: Six60
Album: Six60 EP
Label: Massive
Played at: 11:35