Author Interview

What three things would you want for a prison escape? Would a ouija board, a strong imagination and a credulous captor be on your list? They were key tools in 1916 for two prisoners of war in the… Audio

After years of research, food writer and tech inventor Nathan Myhrvold has produced a gigantic three-volume guide to the world's most beloved food - Modernist Pizza.   Video, Audio

The damaging domination of Australia's right-wing media has weaponised climate change, says Malcolm Turnbull, who was Australian prime minister between 2015 and 2018. Audio

Claire Nelson has had long road to recovery after a near fatal hiking accident in the Joshua Tree National Park. The New Zealander set off on a day long expedition and ended up surviving four days… Audio, Gallery

After 31 years in politics - 16 of them as Germany's leader - Angela Merkel's successor finally took over the country last week. It ended quite a swan song for Merkel, who announced back in 2018 that… Audio, Gallery

Following your passion is a popular mantra for career decision-making throughout the world. But does passion have a dark side? Erin Cech is author of The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for… Audio

Five years ago the world's media was abuzz with allegations about incoming president Donald Trump and some - pretty salacious - details of what he'd got up to while in Russia. The so-called Trump… Audio

Author of Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide Dylan Thuras talks to Jesse about finding weird and wonderful gastronomic phenomena around the world. Audio

It sounds like every teen or tween's worst nightmare: mum and dad drag you off to an uninhabited island for the summer with no wifi or Netflix. And it's the premise of Elizabeth Pulford's new book, a… Audio

Harvard professor of human evolutionary biology and author of the new book, Exercised, Daniel Lieberman explains how we evolved to be physically active, but we never evolved to do physical activity… Audio

In 2018, N.K. Jemisin became the first author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in three consecutive years, each award going to a book in her widely-heralded Broken Earth series. As a child the New… Audio

Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy says humankind's laziness might just be its saving grace. Despite being frowned upon, du Sautoy says our inherent reluctance for hard work can often lead us to… Audio

Taranaki-based clinical animal behaviourist Mat Ward specialises in positive reinforcement training, for new pups and throughout their life. It's never too late to teach an old dog a new trick, says… Audio

Yorta Yorta woman Dianne O'Brien was raised in the era of the White Australia policy, a child of the stolen generation. Her memoir Daughter of the River Country - is a story of survival and triumph… Audio

Author Renée Hollis admits she was a bit overwhelmed by the response she received when she put out a call on RNZ National for listeners to send her untold stories, letters, diaries and photographs… Audio, Gallery

12 short stories accompanied by 12 original paintings... Katy Soljak combines two of her passions - she's also a musician by the way - in her new book My First Real Pash and Other Stories. Katy's… Audio

Master storyteller Ken Follett is one of the best-selling authors of the past 50 years, with over 178 million sales of his 32 books in print. The Welsh writer's latest book, Never, marks a return to… Audio

She's a bestselling, prizewinning author with her own bookshop in native Nashville, Tennessee, but in her new collection of essays This Precious Life Ann Patchett reveals that below the surface of any… Audio

Chemicals are in our food, our water, the air we breathe and everything we touch. Last year an international team estimated there were 350,000 chemicals registered for production and use, but it's… Audio