Literature

Upbeat Australian correspondent interviews the Christchurch-born, Melbourne-based author about her latest book: 'Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab'. Audio

In this week's episode: Eva speaks to British architecture writer Owen Hatherley, before catching up with the star Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko ahead of his New Zealand Symphony Orchestra… Audio

In this week's episode, Eva meets the Belgian cornet virtuoso Harmen Vanhoorne, Roger Horrocks introduces his new collection of Len Lye's writings, and David Morriss talks to Edo de Waart: the brand… Audio

Competitive team cycling and warfare are inextricably linked in David Coventry's debut novel, The Invisible Mile, set during the 1928 Tour de France. This was the first time an English-speaking team… Audio

National Flash Fiction Day is a celebration of extremely short fiction (works consisting of 1000 words or less), and this year micro fiction - works consisting of a word count of 100 words or less… Audio

Recently we've discussed lost opportunities for our young writers with the end of several literary competitions. But there is now a new outlet for writers under 25 to have their work published. Poet… Audio

In this week's episode: violin virtuoso Anthony Marwood talks about the Britten concerto, before we hear from science writer Philip Ball and ex-pat New Zealand bass-baritone Martin Snell. Audio

Philip Ball writes on all sorts of science-related topics, including theories of colour, invisibility, and music. Eva catches up with him ahead of his talks at the Auckland Writers Festival and for… Audio

Emily St John Mandel's latest novel 'Station Eleven' recently won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction. She visits the Auckland Writers Festival this week, and tells Eva about… Audio

In May, the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival will host some of the finest poets, authors and journalists from New Zealand and abroad. Chairperson Alexandra Bligh tells Eva what's on offer. Audio

Jindra Tichá moved to New Zealand from the Czech Republic, and she's incorporated both countries in her novel, Death and Forgiveness. In it, Anna and her husband flee the turmoil in Czechoslovakia in… Audio

A hundred years after the war on drugs started - it's timely to ask just how did it start? Who started it? And why after all these years, does the war on drugs continue? And what would happen if you… Audio

Dr Geoff Kemp looks back at censorship through the ages, and how these days it's mainly regarded as the enemy of free speech. Censorship Moments: Reading Texts in the History of Censorship and Freedom… Audio

New Zealand is the country of honour at another of the world's big literary events - two years ago it was Frankfurt, this year Taiwan's chosen this country to introduce to its readers and others from… Audio

Introducing new New Zealand literary journal, Headland made for the online generation. Laura McNeur and Liesl Nunns are the founding editors of this journal, which concentrates on short stories and… Audio

Sandra Gilbert is currently holds the title of Distinguished Professor of English emirita at the University of California, Davis. Her latest book, The Culinary Imagination is a look at how we… Audio

Eleven researchers have been awarded prestigious medals by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Audio