Author Interview
Louisa Lim: The art of telling untold stories
Louisa Lim is no stranger to controversy - her first book The People's Republic of Amnesia - Tiananmen Revisited resulted in her being unable to visit mainland China for years. When the Hong Kong… Audio
Sir Anthony Seldon: The Path of Peace
There are various sacred walking journeys throughout the world and its religions. The most famous is probably the Way of St James, the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Writer and educator Sir Anthony… Audio
The 'natural' origins of deception
Many of Earth's creatures lie... from microorganisms to homo sapiens. In his new book The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars, biologist Dr Lixing Sun explores why. Audio
High flyer - Tonga's first female airline pilot
Silva Mcleod joins Kathryn Ryan to talk about her life, her 30-year aviation career and the new memoir Island Girl to Airline Pilot: A Story of Love, Sacrifice and Taking Flight. Audio
Mapping a road forward when leaping into the unknown
Millions of people around the world re-evaluated their careers during The Great Resignation, but what happens next? Joanne Lipman offers a roadmap to anyone who wants to take a trip into the unknown/
…Listen more and talk less - STFU, a new book by Dan Lyons
Writer Dan Lyons was a compulsive overtalker who had to change his ways to save his marriage. In the new book STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World, he writes about… Audio
Dr Paul Fairie: History repeating itself
If you think men today are too feminine, kids today are spoiled, and we need to get back to teaching the basics, Paul Fairie's says we've seen it all before. Audio
Barbara Else: 'It’s been quite a ride'
Barbara Else has written award-winning fiction for decades, but didnt think her life story had enough "drama" to make an interesting memoir. But after starting to write down memories of the "little… Audio
Author Sue McCauley on her latest novel Landed
In her first novel in decades, author Sue McCauley explores the theme of starting over in your mid-60s amid a rapidly-changing New Zealand of the 1980s. Audio
Poet Michele Leggott: waiting for a miracle
Michele Leggott's latest book of poetry, Face to the Sky, explores her encounter with 19th-century New Zealand botanical artist Emily Cumming Harris. But there's more to this story - Michele was… Audio
Jenny Odell and the concept of time
It's a conundrum typical of the modern condition: we've got too much to do, but too little time. Someone who thinks a lot about our use of time, as well as the basic concept of time is Jenny Odell… Audio
Why most megaprojects go off the rails
Professor Bent Flyvbjerg from Oxford University and journalist Dan Gardner looked at successful projects and failures to find out why. Be more like the makers of Finding Nemo at Pixar, they say, think… Audio
Harlan Coben: Writing books and making TV a 'dream come true'
The number 1 bestselling author of numerous thrillers including Don't Let Go, Home, and Fool Me Once, with more than 70 million books in print around the world and books published in 45 languages… Audio
Clarkisha Kent: Fat Off, Fat On. A Big Bitch Manifesto
Clarkisha Kent is a Nigerian American writer, editor and pop culture critic who's writing has been featured in outlets like Entertainment Weekly, HuffPost, MTV News, The Root, and more. Her debut… Audio
Nguyen Phan Que Mai: Vietnamese stories behind the war
Vietnamese author Dr Nguy n Phan Qu Mai's Dust Child tackles the difficult subject of Amerasian children, left behind when the American military fled after the Vietnam War. Audio
Brian Christian: AI’s ethical alignment problem
Computer scientist and author Brian Christian writes about one of the fundamental problems of AI development in his book The Alignment Problem: how do we ensure machine learning systems represent the… Audio
Real self-care - looking after yourself from within
When it comes to self-care, we're sold the idea that the answers and solutions are outside of us, says Dr Pooja Lakshmin.She tells Jesse Mulligan why real self-care is an inside job. Audio
Chloe Gong: #BookTok and the remarkable rise of a writer
Those not familiar with TikTok might not have heard of #BookTok, but, gathering 196,000 followers and 10 million likes, its been an important part of Chloe Gong's journey to becoming a New York Times… Audio
Author Bonnie Garmus on her debut bestseller "Lessons in Chemistry"
Bonnie Garmus's debut novel Lessons in Chemistry has become a multi-million selling bestseller largely through word of mouth.The story concerns a American scientist who, sacked for being pregnant in… Audio
Emma Warren looks at the reasons we dance
Humans dance. It's what we do. So many of our important ceremonies and rituals throughout history include dancing; courtly ballrooms, weddings, school discos. Emma Warren has written a book about the… Audio