Smart Talk

Kristen Ghodsee and Marilyn Waring talk to Kathryn Ryan about the fight for valuing women's economic contribution to society - at the 2020 New Zealand Festival writers' programme. American ethnographer Kristen Ghodsee and activist-writer Marilyn Waring talk to Kathryn Ryan about the fight for valuing women's economic contribution to society. Recorded at the 2020 New Zealand Festival writers&#...

Serhii Plokhy argues that the catastrophe at Chernobyl was a nuclear disaster waiting to happen. He talks to Toby Manhire. Listen to Serhii Plokhy talk with Toby Manhire in this highlight from the 2020 New Zealand Arts Festival writers' programme Serhii Plokhy's award-winning account of the nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl is, according to the New York Review of Books, "a masterful...

Bart van Es discusses The Cut Out Girl, his remarkable true story of how a Jewish girl in the Netherlands was hidden by his family from the Nazis during World War II. Listen to Bart van Es talk with Miri Young-Moir in this highlight from the 2020 New Zealand Festival writers' programme The Cut Out Girl is a harrowing true story about a young girl's struggle to survive Nazi persecution, a...

Jokha Alharthi, the Omani author of Celestial Bodies, talks about her literary world and what winning the Man Booker International prize has meant for Arabic literature and for herself. Listen to Jokha Alharti talk with Kiran Dass in this highlight from the 2020 New Zealand Arts Festival writers' programme 2019 Booker International prize winner Jokha Alharthi is the first Omani woman ever to...

Two very different books celebrate the importance of scent and sensory experience in coming to terms with loss. The authors Laurence Fearnley and Long Litt Woon talk with Jessie Bray-Sharpin. Listen to Laurence Fearnley and Long Litt Woon talk with Jessie Bray-Sharpin in this highlight from the 2020 New Zealand Arts Festival writers' programme Sensory awareness links the work of two authors s...

Kim Hill speaks with Dr Kristen Ghodsee about her book Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism in this highlight from the 2020 New Zealand Arts Festival writers' programme. Is Capitalism bad for women? Dr Kristen Ghodsee asserted as such in a NY Times opinion piece that went viral and led to her book Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence. Drawin...

Kinley Salmon, the New Zealand economist and author of Jobs, Robots & Us, talks about the future of work in a time of rapidly-developing automation. A 2020 New Zealand Arts Festival highlight. Listen to Kinley Salmon, author of Jobs, Robots & Us, discussing the future of work in Aotearoa in a time of rapidly-developing artificial intelligence. Recorded at the 2020 NZ Arts Festival in Wellingto...

At the NZ Arts Festival 2020, Rebecca Priestley talks about Antarctica with the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor Juliet Gerrard. Listen to Rebecca Priestley discussing her book Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica with the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor Juliet Gerrard. Recorded at the 2020 NZ Arts Festival in Wellington. Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica tells a personal story...

At the NZ Arts Festival 2020, RNZ's Lynn Freeman talks to Rajorshi Chakraborti about his novel Shakti, a fantastical story which has insights into the real-life world of India today. Listen to Rajorshi Chakraborti talking about fiction and reality with Lynn Freeman What can the power of women achieve in a world run by men? Rajorshi Chakraborti's just-released novel, Shakti, is a fast-paced st...

Thomas Sainsbury talks with Louisa Wall MP, Prof. Welby Ings, Professor Emeritus Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, and award winning artist and filmmaker Tanu Gago. Comedian Tom Sainsbury chairs a discussion explores LGBTQ+ life in New Zealand at Pride Festival Aotearoa. It features four panellists with decades of involvement in the gay scene as creators, advocates and agents of change: Louisa Wall MP, Prof....

The current and future uses of robots in health care and education is discussed by Dr Craig Sutherland from the University of Auckland during the 2019 Raising the Bar night. Listen to Dr Craig Sutherland discussing the use for robots are in health and education. From stealing our jobs to overthrowing humankind, robots get a hard time in the media. But what does a future with robots really look lik...

The history and current trends in economics, and Bhutan's alternative to GNP, is discussed by Dr Ross McDonald from the University of Auckland during the 2019 Raising the Bar night. Listen to Dr Ross McDonald discussing how the 18th-century economic theorist Adam Smith is misrepresented, and why one kind of happiness is better than another Is money or happiness more important? For the fourth King...

The interrelationship between the history of propaganda and our world of digital surveillance is discussed by Dr Ethan Plaut from the University of Auckland during the 2019 Raising the Bar night. Listen to Dr Ethan Plaut discussing the intertwined history of propaganda and digital surveillance. Whether you're handling your digital business or just scrolling for the lulz, every moment you&#x27...

The pros and cons of legalising cannabis is explored by Professor Benedikt Fischer from the University of Auckland during the 2019 Raising the Bar night. Listen to Prof. Benedikt Fischer on the societal and health issues associated with the legalisation of cannabis. Nothing divides a room quite like one of the country's burning issues of the moment: cannabis legalisation and its pros and cons...

Corruption at government level and within society is discussed by Assoc. Prof. Tim Kuhner from the University of Auckland during the 2019 Raising the Bar night. Listen to Assoc. Prof. Tim Kuhner on how corruption has intensified inequality around the world Donald Trump has made corruption in the United States more famous than ever. But American democracy was downright rotten before Trump, says Tim...

The increasingly Pacific nature of New Zealand society is explored by Assoc. Prof. Damon Salesa from the University of Auckland during the 2019 Raising the Bar night. Listen to Assoc. Prof Damon Salesa on how NZ is becoming more Pacific by the hour "Pacific people and communities have become an outstanding source of innovation and leadership in New Zealand. They have charted a new future for...

Beauty treatments for women during the Renaissance are discussed by Dr Erin Griffey from the University of Auckland during the 2019 Raising the Bar night. Listen to Dr Erin Griffey on the beauty treatments and regimes undertaken by women in the Renaissance Looking flawless hundreds of years ago was no easy feat but, for royal women of Tudor and Stuart England, beauty was of extreme significance. B...

The role of gut bugs in health is explored by Dr Wayne Cutfield from the University of Auckland during the 2019 Raising the Bar night. The role of gut bugs in health is explored by Dr Wayne Cutfield at the 2019 Raising the Bar night. Listen to Dr Wayne Cutfield on recent discoveries about the importance of gut bugs to our health Who made the call to eat a second scone at the coffee shop? You or yo...