Guest details for Saturday Morning 14 November 2009

8:15 Simon Schama

Simon Schama is an historian, author and broadcaster, and currently art and cultural critic at the New Yorker and Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University, New York. His many books include the History of Britain trilogy, and most recently The American Future (Vintage, ISBN: 978-0-09-952039-9). His BBC documentaries include A History of Britain, and the Power of Art. Professor Schama will headline New Zealand Post Writers and Readers Week (8-14 March) during the New Zealand International Arts Festival 2010 (25 February - 21 March).

During the interview, the following books were also mentioned:
Letters from an American Farmer, by J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur
The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon

9:05 Nomi Prins

Nomi Prins is a journalist and author whose work focuses on corporate governance, economic policy, Wall Street and the political/regulatory environment. Before becoming a journalist, she served as a managing director for Goldman Sachs in New York and ran the analytics group at Bear Stearns in London. Her new book is It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street (John Wiley & Sons, ISBN: 978-0-470-52959-1).

9:40 Paul Trotman

Dr Paul Trotman is a Dunedin doctor and health columnist, and has also produced television for channels such as Discovery Primetime and Discovery Health. The latest documentary from his PRN Films company is Donated to Science, which features interviews with people who planned to donate their bodies to the Otago Medical School, one of the last schools in the world where students do significant human dissection. Donated to Science will screen on TV3 at 9.30pm on Wednesday 18 November.

10:10 Matthew Weiner

Matthew Weiner is the creator and executive producer of the award-winning television series Mad Men, a multi-layered 1960s period drama set in the world of advertising in New York (screening here Sunday nights on Prime TV). He was the keynote speaker for this year's conference of the Screen Production and Development Association of New Zealand (SPADA) in Wellington (12-13 November).

During the interview, the following books were mentioned:
Catch 22, by Joseph Heller
The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972, by William Manchester

11:10 Hugh Fletcher

Hugh Fletcher played a major role in developing New Zealand industry as chief executive of Fletcher Challenge following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He was first appointed to the board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in 2002, and reappointed in 2007. He is also chairs the board of directors of IAG New Zealand and is a director of Fletcher Building and Vector Limited, and a board member of Insurance Australia Group. The story of his family and their company is told in Fletchers: a Centennial History of Fletcher Building by Paul Goldsmith (David Ling, ISBN: 978-1-877378-35-5).

11:45 Children's Books with Kate De Goldi

Kate De Goldi will discuss the work of prolific British writer Alison Uttley (1884-1976), creator of Little Grey Rabbit, Tim Rabbit, Sam Pig and many other much-loved characters. Uttley also wrote the fantasy romance A Traveller in Time, and the fictionalised autobiography The Country Child, and her private diaries were published recently, edited by Professor Denis Judd.

Music played on the programme

Bob Dylan: Must be Santa
From the 2009 album: Christmas in the Heart
(Columbia)
Played at around 8:45

Rickie Lee Jones: Bonfires
From the 2009 album: Balm in Gilead
(Fantasy)
Played at around 8:55

Bob Dylan: Christmas Island
From the 2009 album: Christmas in the Heart
(Columbia)
Played at around 10.10

Tennessee Ernie Ford: Sixteen Tons
The 1955 single
(Capitol)
Played at around 10:55

Norah Jones: You Ruined Me
From the 2009 album: The Fall
(Blue Note)
Played at around 11:40

Studio operators

Wellington engineer: Carol Jones
Auckland engineer: Ian Gordon
Dunedin engineer: Rod Morgan