Standing Room Only for Sunday 1 April 2018

12.16 High Stakes for Children's Publishing

New Zealand's children's publishing industry and writers have been working this week to secure overseas deals at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy. Fledgeling New Zealand publisher OneTree House has been named Best Children's Publisher of the Year for the Oceania region there. Lynn Freeman speaks to co-founder of OneTree House and head of the NZ Society of Authors Jenny Nagle who has spent the week at the Fair.

Held annually since 1963 The Bologna Children's Book Fair has been called the leading professional fair for children's books in the world. It brings together authors, artists, illustrators, publishers, printers and bookstore representatives for a trade show and a celebration of children's literature.

 

Shayne P Carter and An Iliad

Musician Shayne P Carter has taken a break from writing his memoir to write and perform live the score for a new theatre production in his hometown of Dunedin. An Iliad adapted from the Homer story by American's Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare is described as part play and part gig, giving audience members the feeling they're having a damn good night at the pub. The former member of Straitjacket Fits and Dimmer is currently in Dunedin collaborating with actor Michael Hurst for the Fortune Theatre production, directed by Jonathon Hendry

 

 

12.40 New Zealand Botanical Art

A new exhibition at Auckland's Botanic Gardens opens our eyes to what we stand to lose with much of our unique plant life at risk of extinction. More than 40 New Zealand botanical artists are among illustrators from 25 countries taking part worldwide in the first international Botanical Art exhibition organised by the American Society of Botanical Artists. The New Zealand component is Ngāi Tipu Taketake - Indigenous Flora opening 30 March in Auckland, before touring to Wellington and Blenheim later this year. We speak to two of the botanical artists Sandra Morris and Lesley Alexander.

 

1.10 At the Movies with Simon Morris

 

1.35 The Laugh Track - Scott Blanks

Scott Blanks from Auckland's comedy venue The Classic, knows many of the local and international comedians in this year's packed New Zealand International Comedy Festival programme, so we've asked him to introduce us to some of them.

A man who has been described as the granddad of stand up, Blanks founded The Classic over 20 years ago and has been promoting comedy in New Zealand since the 1980s. The comedy festival opens in Auckland and Wellington 26 April with over 120 shows from 14 countries.

 

 

 

 

 

2.04 How can We Change the World: Max Harris and Shen Narayanasamy

Recorded as part of the Aspiring Conversations programme at the 2017 Festival of Colour in Wanaka, Max Harris and Shen Narayanasamy discuss citizens making a difference in a world when Brexit and Trump have altered our perception that we're living in an open globalised environment, where there's a widespread lack of confidence in our political systems and some clear divisions in opinion between the young and the old.

Rhodes Scholar and fellow of All Souls College Oxford Max Harris is the author of The New Zealand Project. Published in 2017, Harris's book provides a vision for Aotearoa New Zealand's future in the face of the challenges ahead. Harris introduces Shen Narayanasamy, an Australian lawyer who is the Human Rights Campaign Director at Getup! - a powerful Australian advocacy group. Narayanasamy has led a campaign against the detention of asylum-seekers on Nauru and worked widely on issues in Australia of economic justice and land rights.

 

3.06 Drama at 3 - 25th April - A True Fiction

Written by playwright Dean Parker this is a ‘mockumentary’ piece making use of commentary, reportage, re-enactment and poetry. The central character is Rufus Dewar, a young New Zealander who is sent to Gallipoli, is wounded, deserts the army, returns to New Zealand and becomes, for a brief period, a figurehead and rallying point for the growing protest movement advocating New Zealand’s withdrawal from World War One. 

Cast: CK Stead, Kim Hill, Marilyn Duckworth, David Grant, Nathan Meister, Nikki McDonnell, Tim Spite, Nick Dunbar, Tanea Heke, Duncan Smith, and Adam Macaulay.