Saturday Morning for Saturday 18 February 2017

 

8:05 Melanie Nezer: Welcome The Stranger

Melanie Nezer is vice president,policy and advocacy for HAIS, formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and now one of the US' largest non-profit groups devoted to protecting and assisting refugees of all faiths and ethnicities. Melanie directs HIAS' Washington, DC office and leads HIAS' education and advocacy on immigration, asylum, and refugee protection issues. The organisation is currently suing the Trump Administration over its executive order banning refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries. She is in New Zealand to take part in tripartite consultations on resettlement involving UNHCR, government and NGOs (New Zealand is chairing the consultations this year).   

 

8:38 Tanu Gago: Decolonisation and Queer Activism

Tanu Gago is a visual artist and award winning photographer of Samoan heritage. Born in Samoa and raised in Mangere, Gago works as a new media artist with a portfolio of work that includes, staged portraiture, moving image and film. Ahead of major events planned as part of Auckland's Pride festival, including the FEMSLICK Vogue Ball and Make Space: The Visibility Project, Tanu talks to Kim about the Pacific LGBT Arts Collective entitled FAFSWAG, of which he is the co-founder and creative director. The work achieved by this collective of artist spans over 5 years of producing art, activation, activism and visibility. Tanu also works as the Pacific Community Engagement Coordinator for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and is a founding board member of the Love Life Fono Trust established in 2016 to generate community spaces, partnerships and support for Pasifika LGBTQ communities.

 

9:05 Pip Rea: Collecting the stories of Kolkata sex workers

Pip Rea is a trained nurse who decided to act on her passion for social justice and women's rights, moving to India seven years ago and partnering with Freeset - a fair trade business offering employment to women trapped in Kolkata's sex trade. After setting up a health programme for women who had exited the trade, she realised a more holistic approach to the problem was needed, and to understand more about development Pip enrolled in the Post Grad Diploma, and then on to the Masters program at Massey University, where she has worked to fight the categorisation of women in the sex trade as powerless victims. Pip talks to Kim about her work in Kolkata, and how she aims to provide a platform for women who have been trafficked, and have exited the sex trade, to tell their stories. 

 

9:25 Peter Hambleton and David Carnegie: staging the bard in the capital

The 2017 season of Wellington Summer Shakespeare has kicked off with a performance of All's Well That Ends Well (it'll run between 18th February and the 3rd of March) and a book has been published to commemorate 34 years of this event in the capital. Kim Hill talks to Peter Hambleton, who is directing this year's season. Peter's an alumnus following his Artistic Fellowship to Shakespeare's Globe 2002, and a Winston Churchill Fellow 2007 investigating Shakespeare productions in the UK; he's directed local stage productions of a range of works, and starred as the Dwarf Gloin (Father of Gimli) in Sir Peter Jackson's The Hobbit movie trilogy.

Kim also talks with David Carnegie, Emeritus Professor of Theatre at Victoria University, who has published widely on early modern drama and stagecraft. A founding member of the Summer Shakespeare Trust, David has been closely involved in the publication with Victoria University Press of David Lawrence's history, Wellington Summer Shakespeare, 1983-2017.

 

 

10:05 Bettany Hughes: Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities

Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author, and broadcaster. She has just released a comprehensive book on Turkey's capital, entitled Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities. Her previous books, Helen of Troy and The Hemlock Cup, were published to great critical acclaim. Hughes has made a number of factual films and documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, PBS, National Geographic, Discovery, The History Channel, and ABC. She is a Research Fellow of King's College London and has been honored with numerous awards including the Norton Medlicott Medal for History.

 

10:30 Devoney Looser: Jane Austen and roller derby

Devoney Looser is a professor of English at Arizona State University and author or editor of six books on literature by women. Her new book, The Making of Jane Austen, will be out in June 2017, exploring the people and events that shaped both Austen's early fame and the way we imagine this beloved writer. She's been in New Zealand as the keynote speaker at Dunedin's "Family Ties" symposium on 19C literary families, talking about "Prejudices on the side of ancestry, revisiting Jane Austen's fame through family ties".  Her visit is supported by the University of Otago and the Marsden Fund. Professor Looser is also known as her roller derby alter ego, Stone Cold Jane Austen.

11:05 Danny Boyle: Trainspotting Mark II

Danny Boyle is a director, producer, screenwriter and theatre director, known for his work on films including Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, The Beach, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire, and Steve Jobs. His debut film Shallow Grave won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. Boyle's 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won eight, including the Academy Award for Best Director. He also won the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Director, and directed the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Boyle was presented with the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at the 2008 Austin Film Festival. Danny talks to Kim ahead of the NZ premiere of his new movie, T2 Trainspotting, which will be in NZ cinemas on February 23rd. He will also present an award at the NZ Film Awards.

11:45 Kate Camp:  Atlas Shrugged

Kate Camp has published five collections of poetry, and a sixth collection, The internet of things will be published by VUP in March. She is the recipient of the 2016 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, and heads off to Menton in late April. Kate discusses Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (1957).

 

Books discussed in this episode:

 

Wellington Summer Shakespeare, 1983-2017   by David Lawrence

ISBN: 9781776560981

Victoria University Press

 

Instanbul: A Tale of Three Cities by Bettany Hughes

ISBN: 9780297868484

Hachette

 

The Making of Jane Austen  by Devoney Looser

ISBN 9781421422824

John Hopkins University Press (publication date June 2017)

 

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

ISBN 045201187

Plume

 

Music played in this show

Artist: Jesca Hoop
Song: The Lost Sky
Composer: Jesca Hoop
Album: Memories Are Now
Label: Sub Pop
Played at: 09:32

Artist: Underworld
Song: Born Slippy .NUXX
Composer: Rick Smith, Karl Hyde
Album: Trainspotting (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Label: Premier 837190
Played at: 11:06

Artist: Young Fathers
Song: Only God Knows
Composer: Young Fathers
Album: T2: Trainspotting (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Label: Polydor Records
Played at: 11:35

Artist: Al Jarreau
Song: Let's Stay Together
Composer: Al Green, Willie Mitchell, Al Jackson, Jr.
Album: Let's Sat Together and Other Favourites
Label: Essential Media Group 942314105
Played at: 11:42