Saturday Morning for Saturday 17 September 2022

8.10 Henry Reese: the man on stage with Salman Rushdie when he was attacked

Writer Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed numerous times in mid-August as he prepared to give a lecture in New York State on the subject of the United States as a safe haven for exiled writers. 

On stage with Rushdie was co-founder of City of Asylum Pittsburgh Henry Reese, who was also injured in the attack. City of Asylum offers long-term residences for artists in exile from their home countries and under threat of persecution.

The assassination attempt came decades after Iran first called for the death of Rushdie in 1989. Iran has denied any involvement in the attack, but the Wall Street Journal reported this week that the Biden administration is considering sanctioning some Iranian organisations.

8.40 Alex Pritz: how an Indigenous tribe is defending its land in Brazil 

Alex Pritz’s prize-winning documentary The Territory drops viewers on both sides of the battle to preserve the Amazon rainforest. 

Pritz spent time with the Indigenous Uru Eu Wau Wau people (who number less than 200), and the farmers and loggers seizing their lands. Like New Zealand’s own colonial settlers, the latter look to make a life for themselves in what they perceive as undeveloped and unoccupied land.

Pritz began filming in 2018 as Jair Bolsonaro was elected Brazil’s president, championing farmers developing land in the protected region. The director worked collaboratively with the tribe as co-producers, even providing cameras and audio equipment as Covid-19 hit. 

The Territory screens in selected cinemas nationwide for a limited time. 

9.05 Netia Jones: Italian Horror-style Macbeth opera explores issues of power  

A new production of Verdi’s Macbeth from NZ Opera moves away from the “Scottishness” of the source material and leans into the psychological and emotional content of the piece as an exploration of human nature. 

Directed by Netia Jones, the production borrows from an Italian Horror show aesthetic, and will be staged in an extremely limited palette with cyan and red being the only two colours on set. 

A British director, set designer and video artist, Jones has been acclaimed for her innovative multimedia design approach to producing opera.  

Macbeth opens in Auckland 21 September then goes on to Wellington and Christchurch. More details here.

 

9.35 Emily Writes: getting adult about raising children

In Emily Writes’ latest book Needs Adult Supervision, the mother of two shares stories of growing up at the same time as your kids. 

The stories range from trying to convince your child’s teachers on Zoom that your house isn’t falling apart around you, to staging a funeral for a sea creature. The book encompasses the complex feelings of parenting when you’re not always feeling up to it, and what happens when you get “radically honest” about the challenges.

Emily Writes is the best-selling author of Rants in the Dark and Is it Bedtime Yet?. 

Needs Adult Supervision is being launched at the University Bookshop Christchurch 6pm Saturday and Emily  appears at Verb Wellington in November.

10.05 Richard Osman: from solving quizzes to solving murders 

British author Richard Osman hasn’t had the typical route to literary success. The author of the hugely popular comedy crime series Thursday Murder Club, was previously producer and creator of television quiz panel shows. He then ended up with his own tremendous fame in the UK in front of the camera, presenting BBC quiz shows including Insert Name Here and Richard Osman’s House of Games.    

The latest book in the Thursday Murder Club series, The Bullet That Missed is out now. In it, a decade-old cold case leads the amateur sleuths at the Coopers Chase Retirement Village to a local news legend and a murder with “no body and no answers”.

11.05 Solomon Enos: envisioning a futuristic para-Polynesian society

Hawaiian artist, illustrator and self-described ‘possibilist’ Solomon Enos evokes Pacific science fiction and fantasy for his art created in his series across different media Polyfantastica. 

The works manifest a timeline spanning 40,000 years, providing the parallel universe of a para-Polynesian society which overcomes death, destruction and war, and connects all human consciousness while retaining individual identity.

Graphite works by Enos are currently on display at The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt as part of Whetūrangitia/Made As Stars until 19 February. More details here.
 

11.30 Zenith Virago: the deathwalker rethinking the way we end life

‘Living well as a practice for dying well’ is the subject of deathwalker Zenith Virago’s speech on September 23 at the third Death Matters conference in Christchurch.

Based in Byron Shire, just north of Byron Bay, Virago is the founder of the Natural Death Care Centre. She has been dubbed a maverick pioneer in working towards cultural change in how we approach death.

A deathwalker is someone who accompanies a dying person and their whānau through their journey, something Virago has assisted hundreds of people to do. 

She is the co-author of The Intimacy of Death and Dying, patron of The Good Funeral Guild in the UK, and the subject of documentary Zen & the Art of Dying.  

 

Books mentioned on this show:

Needs Adult Supervision 
Emily Writes
ISBN: 9781761048494
Published by Random House

The Bullet That Missed
Richard Osman
ISBN: 9780241512432
Published by Viking

The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman
ISBN: 9780241988268
Published by Penguin

The Man Who Died Twice
Richard Osman
ISBN:  9780241988244
Published by Penguin
 

Music featured on this show:

Pietà, rispetto, amore, from Macbeth
Piero Cappuccilli with La Scala Orchestra
Played at 9.05am

My brain is a vacant space
Hans Puckett
Played at 9.37am

King
Florence and the Machine
Played at 10.46am

Ambulance
Wilco
Played at 10.57am