Podcasts 2021

Listen now!

Our good friends at Otago Access Radio have produced podcasts so you can relive your favourite Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival sessions or catch up on some you missed.

Tangata Ngāi Tahu: People of Ngāi Tahu, Volume 2

This kōrero was facilitated by Waiariki Parata-Taiapa, who led co-editors Helen Brown and Dr Michael J. Stevens, and contributing author and chair of Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou Edward Ellison, as they talked about the process of working with Ngāi Tahu communities to produce a resource that is a taonga for future generations.

  • Vanda Symon, Steff Green, HG Parry, and Angela Wanhalla

    Photo: Sharron Bennett

    Women, Past & Present

    Vanda Symon, Steff Green, HG Parry, and Angela Wanhalla spoke about women who’ve come before and those who are here now, and the footprints they’ve laid for our future. Hosted by Majella Cullinane.

    Click here to listen.

  • Becky Manawatu and Lynn Freeman

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Rocketing to Fame

    Becky Manawatu’s debut novel, Auē, announced her as a compelling new voice in New Zealand fiction. Lynn Freeman quizzed Becky about how her meteoric rise to literary fame has affected her approach to writing and life.

    Click here to listen.

  • Jacinta Ruru, in conversation with the Te Kai a te Rangatira editors,

    Photo: Sharron Bennett

    Ngā Kete Mātauranga

    In Ngā Kete Mātauranga, Māori academics share what being Māori has meant for them in their work. Co-editor Jacinta Ruru, in conversation with the Te Kai a te Rangatira editors, spoke about the process of creating the book and the influence of Mātauranga on the academic sector.

    Click here to listen.

  • Jillian Sullivan and Liz Breslin

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Walking the Heartland

    In Map for the Heart: Ida Valley Essays, Jillian Sullivan’s gentle essays about her wanderings and wonderings in the vast Ida Valley are an exploration of the physical place, and of connection to community. She and Liz Breslin discuss how place and space affect the heart.

    Click here to listen.

  • David Eggleton, Jessica Thompson Carr, and Fiona Farrell

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Politics of Poetry

    David Eggleton, Jessica Thompson Carr, and Fiona Farrell shared perspectives on the politics inherent in poetry. Chaired by Emma Neale, they examined the way poetry reflects the mood of the people, and how it can subvert and challenge societal views to effect change.

    Click here to listen.

  • Nalini Singh and Kirby-Jane Hallum

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Crossing Genres

    From paranormal romance to crime thrillers, The New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh spoke to Kirby-Jane Hallum about how and why she has crossed genres, and her three most recent releases: Alpha Night, Archangel’s Sun, and Quiet in Her Bones.

    Click here to listen. ​

  • Jared Savage and Steve Braunias and Rob Kidd

    Photo: Sharron Bennett

    NZ Crime – What's Going On?

    Jared Savage and Steve Braunias tackled some of the big questions about crime in New Zealand, and what they learned in the process of writing about it. With Rob Kidd.

    ​Click here to listen.

  • Witi Ihimaera spoke with Jacinta Ruru

    Photo: Sharron Bennett

    Navigating the Stars – Māori Creation Myths

    Witi Ihimaera spoke with Jacinta Ruru about his latest book, Navigating the Stars: Māori Creation Myths, in which he traces the history of Māori people through their creation myths, bringing them to the twenty-first century.

    ​Click here to listen.

  • Image: Supplied

    Things OK with You?

    Lynn Freeman sat down with Vincent O’Sullivan to talk about his recent work, including his new collection of poems Things OK with You? and of course the biographical portrait, Ralph Hotere: The Dark is Light Enough.

    ​Click here to listen.

  • Rose Carlyle, Nalini Singh, and Kyle Mewburn

    Photo: Sharron Bennett

    The Books that Made Me

    Rose Carlyle, Nalini Singh, and Kyle Mewburn read an excerpt from a significant childhood story and spoke about the shaping effect it has had on their adulthood. Hosted by Bridget Schaumann.

    Click here to listen.

  • HG Parry and Lynn Freeman

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Magical Rights

    HG Parry is an emerging author who writes complex and engaging fantasy novels. ​She explained to Lynn Freeman the imaginative thought processes that led her, in her most recent series, to reinvent the French Revolution.

    Click here to listen.

  • Rose Carlyle and Phillippa Duffy

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Girl in the Mirror

    Rose Carlyle, who shot to literary fame with her debut novel, The Girl in the Mirror, talked to Phillippa Duffy about what happens to a story when a book is snapped up by Hollywood.

    Click here to listen.

  • Frank Gordon, Roger Hickin, David Ciccoricco, and Nicola Cummins

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Mapping Dunedin's Stories

    Cityscapes and their surroundings have an intimate connection to the literary imagination, inscribing a sense of place and identity that persists through time. Frank Gordon, Roger Hickin, David Ciccoricco, and Nicola Cummins discussed the varied ways they have mapped our city’s stories.

    ​Click here to listen.

  • Chair Susan Sims and authors Nalini Singh, Steff Green, and Jayne Castel

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Writing Romance in the 21st Century

    ​Chair Susan Sims and authors Nalini Singh, Steff Green, and Jayne Castel unpicked why romance writing matters in 2021, and discussed the ongoing appeal of romance novels and what success looks like to writers of this billion-dollar genre.

    Click here to listen.

  • Crowd at Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival 2021

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    ​Escaping the Humdrum

    One of the joys of reading is being transported into the wilds of both your own and someone else’s imagination. HG Parry and Gareth Ward discussed crafting stories that take us into fantasy worlds far from the mundane, with Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb.

    ​Click here to listen.

  • Rebecca Kiddle, Amanda Thomas, Mihiata Pirini

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Decolonisation: Activating Allies

    Rebecca Kiddle and Amanda Thomas, contributing writers for Imagining Decolonisation, discussed with Mihiata Pirini why decolonisation is beneficial to everyone, and who is, and who should be, doing the mahi.

    ​Click here to listen.

  • Elizabeth Knox and HG Parry

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    Placing Fantasy Inside the Real World

    Elizabeth Knox, unpicked the meanings and implications, the whys and wherefores, of placing a ‘fantasy’ world inside the ‘real’ world, with HG Parry. ​

    Click here to listen.

  • Dougal Rillstone, Derek Morrison and Bruce Ansley

    Photo: Sharron Bennett

    Rivers, Riptides and Roads

    Aotearoa is both an angler's paradise and a surfer's dream. Dougal Rillstone and Derek Morrison sat down with fellow explorer Bruce Ansley to talk about their sense of self in remote and wild places.

    Click here to listen.

  • David Eggleton and Victor Billot

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    The Wilder Years - Selected Poems

    The current Poet Laureate, David Eggleton, dived into his new book, The Wilder Years: Selected Poems, with fellow poet Victor Billot.

    Click here to listen.

  • Catherine Chidgey and Lynn Freeman

    Photo: Sinead Jenkins

    The Historical Novel: Germany

    Catherine Chidgey tells an engrossing and unsettling tale of a Nazi Germany labour camp from the perspectives of three wilfully oblivious characters. In conversation with Lynn Freeman. ​

    Click here to listen.