June 11 2008

Penelope Todd has had a busy time of late. She has recently released Digging for Spain. This book is part travel memoir, part autobiography and about journeys, both physical – relating her experiences on a fellowship to Can Serrat in Spain, and personal – in life and writing. We’ll talk about her experiences, and also about her writing of young adult fiction. The third book in her Watermark trilogy, Zillah was a finalist in this year’s New Zealand Post Book Awards.


Emma Neale has also had a productive year, with the release of her collection of poetry Spark, and also of an anthology of New Zealand Poetry she has edited titled Swings + Roundabouts. We’ll chat about her work, and also the challenges faced by an editor in selecting works for an anthology representing so many people’s writing.


To listen to this show click here.

May 14 2008

First I’ll be chatting to Helen Leach about her latest book The Pavlova Story: A slice of New Zealand’s culinary history. Helen is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Otago who has enjoyed studying the cultural history of food and recipes and how they evolve. Pavlova is dear to all our hearts, and stomachs, and we’ll chat about the fascinating history of this dish.



Lloyd Davis is a zoologist, writer and film maker, and science communicator, dedicated to making science popular and assessable. He has written numerous books on penguins, for adults and children. Looking for Darwin was released last year and he co-wrote the recently released The business of Documentary Filmmaking. We will chat about his books and his new role as the Stuart Chair in Science Communication at the University of Otago.


To listen to this show click here.

April 9 2008

This month I’ll be chatting with first time novelist Louise Moulin about her recently released book Saltskin. Set in late eighteenth century and modern day Riverton, this is a novel tying the present and the past in the pursuit of love. It is a colourful story full of lively characters and mariners fables.





I’ll also talk with our 2008 Robert Burns Fellow, Sue Wootton about what the fellowship means to her, and her recently released second collection of poetry, Magnetic South.


To listen to this show click here

March 12 2008

Bill O’Brien is a very busy writer of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children and is the 2008 Dunedin College of Education Writer in Residence. We’ll chat about his works, including his recently released book Invisible Evidence : Forensics in New Zealand.





Claire Beynon is an Artist and Poet and has recently combined her love of words and images in Open Book: Poetry and Images. Claire has had many fascinating adventures, including a two month stint with a scientific group in Antarctica, and more recently on The Breaksea, in remote Western Fiordland. We’ll talk about the effects of her environment on her images and poems and how the two are intertwined.

February 13 2008

My holiday continues, well, truth be told, I'm doing a Forensic Biology course at the Otago University Summer School, so I'll be replaying a requested show from late last year.


This month I have the pleasure of chatting with first time novelist Maxine Alterio about Ribbons of Grace. We’ll be chatting about the excitement of seeing that first novel in print and what goes on behind the scenes to get it there, and of course about the book itself, what inspired it and it’s fascinating characters.




Tania Roxborogh is a writer, teacher, family gal and all round very busy person. She has a new book, No it’s not OK: How to stop the cycle of bullying released in September. This is a very topical subject and we chat about bullying, and the difficulties facing children and their parents in this modern age of technology.

January 9 2008

Everyone needs a holiday break, including me, so I will be replaying two interesting interviews from earlier in the year.


Sandy McKay has written many books for children of all ages, including titles in the very popular Kiwi Bites books. Her book Recycled won the Junior Fiction category in the 2002 NZ Post Book Awards. Her most recent work Losing It is directed at teens and tackles friendship, family and anorexia. This year Sandy has also had published the biography One Stroppy Jockey: The Christine Lawn Story.





Jill Caldwell is a market researcher and social trends analyst, who, with co-author Christopher Brown wrote the recently released 8 Tribes – The Hidden Classes of New Zealand, which takes a contemporary look at New Zealanders, grouping them into social tribes based on what motivates and is important to them.

December 12 2007

I chat with Judith Cullen about her latest cook book Dinner in a Basket, Judith Cullen cooks from the market. We'll chat about her buy locally, cook seasonally mantra and, of course, about food for the Christmas table.





I caught up with international bestselling crime writer Ian Rankin on his recent trip to New Zealand and got to talk about writing crime fiction, his latest book Exit Music, and life with and without his creation Detective Inspector John Rebus.

November 14th 2007

This month I talk to local writer Philippa Jamieson about her recently released book The Wild Green Yonder. Philippa tore herself away from the joys of Dunedin to experience New Zealand travelling on the WWOOF scheme (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms.) Over two and a half years she volunteered at 40 locations. We talk about her exploits and the wonderful people she met along the way.



Carl Nixon hails from Christchurch and is an award winning writer of plays, short fiction and novels. His novel Rocking Horse Road was released this year. He most recently won the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Short Story Competition with his story My Beautiful Balloon. I caught up with Carl when he was in Dunedin recently as part of the writers in schools programme.

October 10 2007

This month I have the pleasure of chatting with first time novelist Maxine Alterio about Ribbons of Grace. We’ll be chatting about the excitement of seeing that first novel in print and what goes on behind the scenes to get it there, and of course about the book itself, what inspired it and it’s fascinating characters.




Tania Roxborogh is a writer, teacher, family gal and all round very busy person. She has a new book, No it’s not OK: How to stop the cycle of bullying released in September. This is a very topical subject and we chat about bullying, and the difficulties facing children and their parents in this modern age of technology.

September 12 2007

Laurence Fearnley is this year’s Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago and her latest novel, edwin + matilda has recently been released. Sub-titled an unlikely love story it is the second of a trilogy of books set in the Otago and Southland areas.

Walking backwards into your future: coping with grief through continuing bonds is a book by Kath Beattie, on dealing with grief. Kath uses the experiences of real people about how they coped or didn’t cope with the loss of a loved one. We’ll talk about grief and the continued journey of life for the bereaved.

August 8 2007

I’ll be talking with College of Education Writer in Residence Vince Ford about his books and writing for children and teens. We’ll also talk about how to capture the reading imagination of that elusive group – boys.





Barbara Else was in Dunedin recently to talk about her new novel Wild Latitudes. I caught up with her while she was here and we chat about the book, set in Dunedin in 1864, and the joys of writing rollicking historic fiction.

July 11 2007

To kick off the show I’ll be talking to Emma Neale. Emma has had several novels and collections of Poems published and it is in her capacity as poet that we’ll be chatting. Montana Poetry Day is on Friday the 27th of July so to get people in the mood we’ll talk about poetry and our favourite poems.


Georgina White was the 2006 Caroline Plummer Fellow on Community Dance and her recently published book Light Fantastic – Dance floor courtship in New Zealand was the culmination of that work. We’ll talk about her book and the role dances had in shaping relationships and our society over the years.

June 13 2007

Sandy McKay has written many books for children of all ages, including titles in the very popular Kiwi Bites books. Her book Recycled won the Junior Fiction category in the 2002 NZ Post Book Awards. Her most recent work Losing It is directed at teens and tackles friendship, family and anorexia. This year Sandy has also had published the biography One Stroppy Jockey: The Christine Lawn Story.





Jill Caldwell is a market researcher and social trends analyst, who, with co-author Christopher Brown wrote the recently released 8 Tribes – The Hidden Classes of New Zealand, which takes a contemporary look at New Zealanders, grouping them into social tribes based on what motivates and is important to them.

May 9th 2007

Penelope Todd was one of my guests for the very first Write On radio show, when we talked about her book Box. I am delighted to have her back to talk about Zillah, her new book released this month by Longacre Press. Zillah is the final book in the Watermark Trilogy which is written for young adults. I’ll be chatting to Penelope about her writing, the book, and how it feels to let go at the end of a trilogy.




Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! is a a favourite picture book in our household and it has been named as a finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards and as a Storylines New Zealand Noteable Book. Kyle Mewburn calls Millers Flat home and in 2005 Kyle was awarded the Joy Cowley award to develop Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck!. I will be talking to him about his experiences with the Joy Cowley Award and his love of writing children’s books.