Writing
Woman Warrior to Writer
US Army veteran Mariette Kalinowski is adapting to civilian life after developing PTSD, with the assistance of a creative writing course. Audio
Handwriting's future
'The Golden Thread' by calligrapher and design professor Ewan Clayton traces the story of writing and the written word. Audio
Olivia Laing on why writers drink
Tennessee Williams, F Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Cheever, Carver, Berryman… Six giants of American literature - and all addicted to alcohol. In her new book 'The Trip to Echo Spring: Why Writers… Audio
An Hour with Chris Cleave
The UK novelist Chris Cleave talks about his fiction with Kate de Goldi. Audio
The Big Chill
In conversation with Ed Butler, Chris Turney, Rebecca Priestley and Veronika Meduna explore their different perspectives on writing about Antarctica. Audio
Alison Jones: conversations on paper
Professor in the faculty of education at the University of Auckland, and the author, with Kuni Jenkins, of He Korero - Words Between Us: First Maori-Pakeha Conversations on Paper. Audio
New Zealand Crime
Three of New Zealand's most prominent crime writers - Paul Cleave, Vanda Symon and Paul Thomas - discuss how their stories are affected by their distinctly New Zealand setting. Audio
Examining Place
Denise Mina writes about the gritty streets of Glasgow and Ron Rash the remote Appalachian Mountains. They explore how location infuses their very different work. Audio
Thomas Keneally and Anne Salmond
Two master storytellers with very different backgrounds talk with Kim Hill about the origins of their success, their shared passion for history, the joys of discovery, and the satisfaction that comes… Audio
Collecting Worlds
Kamila Shamsie and Ilija Trojanow explore from their positions on the margins of their adopted cultures what it means to write for, and about, a globalised world. John Newton is in the chair. Audio
Once Upon a Time
Margo Lanagan and Neil Gaiman discuss their approaches towards creating literature for young adult readers. In the chair is Kate De Goldi. Audio
Simon Schama and Margo Lanagan
Simon Schama and Margo Lanagan reflect on their different approaches to narrative and history, in a session chaired by Lydia Wevers. Audio
Sam Mahon and Greg McGee
"Although this is not the truth, it's actual." Beginning with readings from the self-described "odd men out" of New Zealand literature, this session traces Greg McGee's writing of a TV mini-series on… Audio
Nicky Pellegrino and Sarah-Kate Lynch
"When you've been fired and made redundant, you tend to lose faith in the people who employ you. And you think that you might like to employ yourself for a while, because you can guarantee that you… Audio
The Michael King Memorial Lecture – Judith Thurman on biography
"Some glittering, eventful lives are in fact, repetitive and depressing… It's the drama of individuation which gives a biography its suspense, and cuts through the trivia of life to its vital… Audio
Travel Writing
Travel was once seen as a rite of passage for New Zealanders, but today's decision to get on an aeroplane is not so simple. Graeme Lay, Lloyd Spencer Davis and Thomas Kohnstamm explore areas in common… Audio
I Must Go Down to the Sea Again
In this second of a series of panel discussions recorded in May, Joan Druett, Mary McCallum, and Barbara Else talk with Graham Beattie about how the ocean around New Zealand connects some very… Audio
Timelords
Part five of the Writers and Readers week discussions. Panellists Patricia Grace, David Mitchell and Alexis Wright take part in a discussion chaired by Jane Stafford. Patricia Grace, winner of the… Audio
The Cost of Iraq
According to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, the war in Iraq will become the world's first three trillion dollar war. He joins cartoonist Garry Trudeau, novelist and journalist… Audio
Writing 9/11
"After a couple of hours at their desks, on September 12, 2001, all the writers on earth were reluctantly considering a change of occupation" (Martin Amis). In this programme three very different… Audio