Books & Authors

When rugby legend Sir John Kirwan first released his memoir in 2010 detailing his struggle with mental illness, it was groundbreaking. Now 13 years later, he's updated the book. It's called All Blacks… Audio

 'Cain's Jaw Bone' is a complex literary puzzle that was originally published in 1934. Now UK-based Kiwi publisher John Mitchinson has brought it back, and it's been a surprise hit. Audio

Sebastian Faulks, worldwide bestselling author of Birdsong, is back with a new thriller, inspired, he tells us by a tweet from Richard Dawkins.  Audio

In The Best Country to Give Birth? medical historian Linda Bryder explores how New Zealand came to develop its unique approach to the role of midwives in childbirth. The 1990 Nurses Amendment Act… Audio

Dr Carrie Hayward is a Melbourne based clinical psychologist who specialises in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. She speaks to Jesse. Audio

Sonja de Friez reviews Secret Gardens of Aotearoa by Jane Mahoney and Sophie Bannan published by Allen and Unwin Audio

Dean Bedford reviews Rugby League in New Zealand: A People's History by Ryan Bodman published by Bridget Williams Books Audio

Sociologist David Brooks used to think wisdom was the ability to utter life-changing maxims like Dumbledore or Yoda. Now he believes it's about deeply seeing someone else's experience. "I think wisdom… Video, Audio

Hannah August reviews Went to London, Took the Dog by Nina Stibbe published by Pan Macmillan Audio

Kiran Dass reviews The Stirrings by Catherine Taylor published by Weindfeld and Nicholson Audio

60 years on from the assassination of US President John F Kennedy, and there are still so many questions about that shocking day. Mary Haverstick never set out to look at the killing, but came across… Audio

Bel Moneypenny from Scorpio Books in Christchurch reviews The Conversion by Amanda Lohrey published by Text Publishing Audio

The winner of the 2023 Booker Prize will be announced this morning - with the ceremony in London starting at 10am.

From a civil war in Ireland, to the son of Jamaican immigrants in Miami and a remote… Audio

Booker Prize-winning Tasmanian writer Richard Flanagan's new novel looks at the choices we make and the chain reaction that follows. By way of a literary love affair through nuclear physics to… Audio

British comedian, actor and writer Adrian Edmondson found fame in the 1980s, playing anarchic medical student Vyvyan alongside Rik Mayall in The Young Ones. They also starred together in Bottom and in… Audio

"Passionate linguist, gifted humanist, national treasure and ambassador of gibberish" is a judge's description of this year's PEN Pinter prize winner, Michael Rosen. The British poet, author and… Audio