CATEGORIES

Characters with a back story

A new local comedy drama set in a spinal unit is based on the lives of two of its writers, one of whom stars in the show.

On the slopes of whakapapa

Kids go bush in Taranaki in a family flick with some familiar touches.

Southern belles

Kaylee Bell embraces Nashville, while Amiria Grenell heads to Americana.

Flying colours

Look Blue Go Purple, a group which stood out among the many in 1980s Dunedin, is being honoured at the Taite Music Prize. RUSSELL BROWN tracked down the op shop-raiding politest band in rock'n'roll”.

Critters for life's jitters

A talking fox offers solace to a struggling man in this moving story about the redemptive power of nature.

Intimations of war

Two women, Maori and Pakeha, are at the centre of a novel in which the Taranaki land wars are the backdrop.

Hungering for more

In fat-averse Japan, a female convicted killer with a French food fetish gives a journalist a sensory awakening.

Using his noodle

A journey from mastery of a carrot salad to finding new love in Wellington ends the dislocation felt after a bereavement.

Palestinian horror story

The tragedy of Israel and Palestine’s intractactable conflict is writ small in this fine investigative work.

All in the family

A generational journey that spans from Colombo and London to Invercargill introduces a new Kiwi writer.

Stories of unease

Setting down family histories of Aotearoa's colonisation is a small but significant step in changing the conversation, argues Richard Shaw.

Crosses to bear

An early commission by one of the country's most highly regarded artists lies hidden in obscurity amid a row over traditional and modern art in a religious context.

Battleground bylines

Forget images of tough-guy male war correspondents two of New Zealand’s most distinguished reporters from the front lines were women.

In the firing line

MBIE also known as the Ministry for Everything - has grown exponentially since it was conceived in 2012. What will the government's belt-tightening mean for its services?

Horror on the highways

When speeding kills more New Zealanders each year than homicide, there's dismay over the new government trading speed reductions for perceived economic benefits.

The medium needs a massage

My doctoral thesis was about the impact of the printing press a new information. technology on law and legal culture in the England of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Little (photo)shop of horrors

There was a teeny bit of acid in the atmosphere when New Zealand won so many noughties Academy Awards for Lord of the Rings. Oscars host Billy Crystal joked \"everybody in New Zealand\" had been thanked.

Just what the doctor ordered

'Kia ora,\" said the text message from the AI, \"your ACC claim has been No human had needed to read my explanation that I had injured my back bending badly to stack the dishwasher on a Sunday morning.

Sleeping with strangers

To wear pyjamas or not to wear pyjamas? That is an increasingly common question for Europeans as they contemplate catching a night train around the continent and sleeping with strangers, rather than dealing with angry airport security staff.

Nowhere to run

Pre-election claims are coming back to bite the embattled PM as his deputy goes off on a tangent of his own.

Let's get ethical

People power led to investments being pulled from financing Putin's war in Ukraine. It can do the same to protect the environment, says Barry Coates.

Track and trace

New Zealand is a perfect natural laboratory to test the capability of a satellite designed to track methane emissions.

Attack the snacks

Health advocate Paul Rangiwahia and his sister, Jane, a cook, have produced a book that matches kai with kindness.

The eve of the beholder

As he opens his first solo exhibition at home in more than a decade, painter Sandro Kopp talks about the emotions driving his latest work and what it’s like to whip up a faux oeuvre for a Wes Anderson film.

Living in the past

Going to town in an annual celebration of art deco style doesn’t require embracing the era’s suspect values.

Friend or foe

Some call him a panda-hugger, others say he’s gone native’, but a Kiwi Sinophile is unapologetic. He believes it is time for us to embrace China.

Going but not forgotten

The Kiwi television institution that is Fair Go faces the axe after 47 years on screen. Here’s how the Listener captured the history of the once-pioneering series and its effect on New Zealand.

I just had to do better'

A desire to prove himself is just part of the reason Alastair Carruthers has so many jobs. Just don’t ask him to talk about the main one that’s in the news at present.

Doctor DNA

Using genetic information to prevent and treat illness is touted as medicine’s holy grail but NZ has largely been a bystander until now.

Behind the pain

Self-harm is on the rise, and it is not just something that young people do.