RNZ: Standing Room Only

Wellington is playing host to one of the city's most important arts events this year - the contemporary indigenous arts festival Kia Mau. It's grown from its enthusiastic but smaller-scale beginnings eight years ago to an extraordinary collection of indigenous talent from all round the Pacific Rim. Aotearoa New Zealand, of course, but also Samoa, Tonga, Malaysia, Cambodia, Canada - even Africa. Simon Morris is joined by the founders of the Kia Mau Festival - two of this country's most distinguished and talented creatives - playwright Hone Kouka, and poet, producer and film-maker Miria George.

Even a three-volume autobiography doesn't come close to telling the full story of poet Lauris Edmond OBE. So her daughter and literary executor, Frances Edmond, is filling in the gaps in a biography called Always Going Home. This includes assessing in depth the death of another of Lauris's daughters, Rachel, left emotionally damaged by a childhood assault, and its impact on the whanau. Lauris didn't publish her first poetry collection until she was 51. Ten more followed, plus the autobiography, a novel, dramas written for radio and theatre and her work as an editor. She was 75 when she died in 2000. Frances published Night Burns with a White Fire: The Essential Lauris Edmond with co-editor Sue Fitchett in 2017 - but, as she tells Lynn Freeman, Always Going Home is very much the personal story of a mother and daughter, both writers with strong personalities. Frances Edmond's Always Going Home is published by Otago University Press.

Lynn Freeman writes: "This is the last Standing Room Only as I'm leaving to work with Forest & Bird. While I've hosted this programme for more than 21 years, I started at RNZ way, way back, in the era of typewriters and teletexting our copy to Wellington from the Dunedin 4ZB studios - now sadly bulldozed and long gone. "But I was a very excited 19 year old intern when I rocked up, so early that I had to sit on the steps of the building for ages waiting for reception to open. "The first person I met when I was escorted to the newsroom was delighted that she was no longer the cub reporter...a familiar name and my dear friend Catriona MacLeod..."

Visual effects art director, Dylan Coburn has drawn storyboards for some of the biggest recent New Zealand projects - Rings of Power, Cowboy Bebop - even Dame Valerie Adams More Than Gold... It's an important job - not just artistically, but also budget-wise. A good storyboard can save literally millions of dollars on a shoot. But Dylan's latest project uses his drawing skills for something entirely different - to help young readers to learn how to count. Boingo and the Golden Balloon sees a young rabbit chasing his favourite object in the world through a forest, with all kinds of critters giving him directions along the way. Lynn Freeman talks with Dylan about his career switch. Boingo and the Golden Balloon by Dylan Coburn is published by Action Junior Limited.

The often heartbreaking story of the extended family of three Jewish Second World War refugees who found a new home in Aotearoa is told in a new poetry collection, We came from Hamburg. Retired judge Vivienne Ullrich became fascinated by her husband's family tree, which suddenly expanded when they received an email from relatives living in America. There was the ongoing mystery of Erna who abandoned her three daughters and disappeared in 1920. Meanwhile Wally, her son Eric and eventually her daughter Liesl came to New Zealand from England, to join Wally's second husband Walter. Vivienne's husband Philip, is the late Liesel's son. Lynn Freeman talks to Vivienne about her exotic in-laws. We came from Hamburg by Vivienne Ullrich is published by the Cuba Press.

Writer Susy Pointon is determined to capture the many stories of Northland's rugged and mysterious Hokianga, her adopted home. Since moving there 18 years ago, she's talked to locals to record their memories on tape and in writing. The first two books in her Hokianga series were fictionalised short stories based on actual people and events. Number three however, Ferry Stories of the Hokianga: Nga korero o Hokianga mai I te waka, is more of a hybrid, with locals contributing their own stories which sit alongside Susy's fiction. Lynn Freeman asks Susy for some highlights.

This year marked a first at Cannes - both the winning films came from the same country, South Korea, Decision to leave and Broker. But South Korea has been making its presence felt across the board recently - the Oscar winning Parasite, TV sensations like Snowpiercer and The Squid Game, hugely popular romcoms and action flicks on Netflix, not to mention the K Pop phenomenon. Right now the biggest bands in the world are Korean boy bands like BTS and girl groups like Blackpink. The first time Korean films crossed Simon Morris's path, they seemed to belong firmly in the "genre" area - monster movies, brutal crime stories, martial arts. But suddenly they're bigger than that - far bigger. It's like the Golden Age of Hollywood in the Thirties and Forties. So what's Korea's secret? Simon talks with Michael Stephens, longtime chair of the Korean Cinerama Trust, and also crack screenwriter Nick Ward, a regular on the Seoul Screenplay Development Support Programme.

The fashion industry is notoriously wasteful - for instance, cheap clothing that lasts months rather than years before ending up in landfills. But an expat now based in the US is leading by example, buying up unwanted garments made from quality fabrics and materials. She then unpicks and reworks them into high fashion clothes for the catwalk. Esther Lofely and her husband Robert Catalusci work together on her label, ELC. For well over a decade she worked for the Royal New Zealand Ballet company, and was Head Draper when she left in 2019 to work overseas before settling in Virginia. Lynn Freeman asks Esther why she become interested in creating garments from clothing destined for the tip.

Since Standing Room Only started some of the biggest changes we've seen in attitudes towards art and artists has happened in Otautahi Christchurch. How much artists contributed to the city's emotional recovery from the earthquakes through projects like Gap Filler, but also how many individual people created and shared their work. Before the quakes, Neil Dawson's monumental sculpture The Challice in the Square was initially criticised, but within days of its unveiling it became an impromptu shrine for the New York victims of 9/11. Back in 1998, the SCAPE Public Art started commissioning large outdoor works by international and Kiwi sculptors and artists. Some stayed but most of them were temporary. Some attracted criticism but they certainly got people talking. As SCAPE reaches its quarter century, its founder and Executive Director Deborah McCormick is standing down in March next year. Deborah's last SCAPE will see her tick off one of her long held ambitions - to secure a permanent sculpture for Christchurch by Auckland-based artist Dr Brett Graham. Lynn Freeman talks with Deborah and Brett, first asking Deborah to take us back to the lightbulb moment that led to SCAPE public art event.

Seven years after escaping a family tragedy in her home town, Jac Morgan reluctantly returns to search for her missing sister, Charlie. But twenty years earlier, another teenage girl went missing in Everly. Paige Gilmore disappeared during the town's annual Gilmore Hotel Open Day, and the anniversary is not far away. As Jac looks for clues to lead her to Charlie, the two cases start to blur. This is the premise for In Her Blood, the latest crime novel by Ngaio Marsh Award shortlisted author, Nikki Crutchley. Lynn Freeman asks Nikki whether the characters - and the town of Everly - are based on real life. In Her Blood by Nikki Crutchley is published by HarperCollins.

At 11 she released an album, at 18 she set up a charitable foundation, and now at 21 Tayla Alexander is a lyric soprano. Before that, she's about to perform in a short comique opera in Brisbane. It's part of the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Programme for emerging professional singers from New Zealand and Australia. On top of all that, this year she's been studying for an honours degree at the University of Auckland before going overseas for her Masters in music. She was also a semi-finalist in the 2022 Lexus Song Quest. Like her mentor Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Tayla tells Lynn Freeman, she's a "crossover artist", singing a wide range of genres - opera, classical, pop and music theatre.

An embalmer goes rogue in horrific ways in the first crime novel written by K. M. Tarrant - someone who is very much at home in a mortuary. She's a qualified embalmer, she's fascinated by human psychology and reading crime fiction is her thing. Now based in Auckland's North Shore, the Temuka-born writer says she hopes her book Life and Death in Birkenhead will not only entertain people, but demystify the world of embalming. In it, Gerald the sociopathic embalmer is on a collision course with Maisie, a caring and bereaved young woman who also takes up the embalmer's tools. Life and Death in Birkenhead by K. M. Tarrant is a Mary Egan Publishing publication.

Very much against the odds, Rosaline Frank was able to forge a career as Nelson's first woman professional photographer, starting at the end of the 19th century. A local photographer Rosalina McCarthy became so captivated with her near namesake's work and achievements that she's written her story in a book called Belated Accolades. It's actually a joint biography, also telling the story of William Tyree for whom Rosaline Frank worked before effectively taking over his studio. And as well as examining Rosaline Frank's all-consuming photographic career, Belated Accolades looks at the dilemma she faced as custodian of well over a million negatives and photographic glass plates accumulated over decades at the Tyree studio. The famous Tyree Photographic Studio collection has UNESCO Heritage status because of its social history value. First things first though - Rosalina tells Lynn Freeman how she came to be fascinated with Rosaline Frank's story.

This year on Standing Room Only we've run interviews with all kinds of repairers. Our last is with a colleague of ours, John Roberts - better known around here as JR - who mends old broken radios that still have plenty of life in them. One of his specialties is repairing the plastic Bell radios that were in so many Kiwi homes from the 1950s to the early 1980s. Lynn Freeman asks JR if he grew up with a radio in the family home. John Roberts is a member of the New Zealand Vintage Radio Society

A pilot scheme helped Canterbury secondary school art students build their confidence by getting their work into a gallery - and sold. Now it's being rolled out to the next generation of Te Whanganui-A-Tara Wellington and Tamaki Makaurau Auckland artists. Charlotte Sherratt and Sophie Paterson set up Artstart - formerly known as The Creators' Room - in 2017. Now students are invited to send in their work, and a panel of judges chooses a hundred to be framed and exhibited. Money from any sales goes back to the young artist and so far that's come to around of $375,000 in Canterbury alone. To find out more Lynn Freeman talks to Ella Ward who's one of Artstart's many success stories, and to its co-founder Sophie Paterson.

Dr H. B. Turbott was The Radio Doctor for more than 40 years - pre and post the Second World War - dispensing advice on a range of health and social issues until his retirement in 1984. His broadcasts spanned child rearing, vaccination and communicable diseases, through to healthy ageing and nutrition. Dr Turbott's often very enlightened opinions for the time fascinated Dr Claire Macindoe, an Otepoti/Dunedin-based researcher and historian. She based her PhD thesis on him - The Radio Doctor - Broadcasting Health into the Home. Now she's won the Judith Binney Writing Award, she plans to turn that thesis into a book. Lynn Freeman asks Claire how she heard about Harold Turbott's broadcasts.

James Cameron is about to launch one of the Greatest Shows on Earth - Avatar The Way of Water has just had its first sneak previews in the Northern Hemisphere. We have a vested interest in New Zealand of course - much of the film was shot and produced here. When director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau brought the sequel to Avatar here in 2018, they decided to train and mentor a group of would-be film-makers across all aspects of production. Over 36 interns and apprentices were selected for a wide range of disciplines - from lighting, costumes and cameras to set design and production accounts. So what was it like to be dropped into the biggest film in the world? Simon Morris talks to Dylan Patel, who joined the Camera Department, Shona Ward, a Costume intern and Robyn Bryant from the Music Department. Avatar The Way of Water opens around New Zealand on 15 December.

Right now the country's public libraries want to have an even bigger role in their communities - in particular, actively helping schools to support the education of our tamariki. LIANZA - the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa - is planning a submission to the Future of Local Government Review. Librarians see this as the best chance they have to ring in some much-needed changes. Lynn Freeman spoke to retired librarian, Allison Dobbie who's leading LIANZA's submission, first asking her about local bodies' current financial support for libraries around the motu.

In the 47 years since Elizabeth Smither published her first poetry collection, Here Come the Clouds, she's won numerous awards and was our Poet Laureate in the early 2000s. Her latest collection My American Chair invites us to roam the world with her, through a series of memorable moments and encounters. But, as she tells Lynn Freeman, there are also many poems about home, aging, mortality, friendship and family. Auckland University Press has published Elizabeth Smither's new poetry collection, My American Chair.

Simon Devitt describes the houses he likes to photograph as "self-assured, poetic and sustainable". And he's brought together 30 of his favourites in a book called Cape to Bluff. Some are intriguing because of the building technique, or the tricky terrain. Others picked themselves because of how they're future-proofed against sea level rise, or were inspired by an old goldminer's hut. The photographs are accompanied by interviews with the homes' architects, talking about the initial plans, and the head-scratching problems they needed to solve while they built.. Simon Devitt's been a professional photographer for more than 25 years, and he tells Lynn Freeman the landscape is just as much a part of the story as the buildings.

For most people walking Te Araroa - the 3000-kilometre trail from Cape Reinga in the North to Bluff in the South - just putting one foot in front of the other is enough to think about. But Sarah Adam set herself the extra challenge of doing a small oil painting 'en plein air' every day of the trek. All up, she made 140 paintings and they've just gone on show in an exhibition she calls Late to the Hut. Sarah tells Lynn Freeman she's currently working for the Department of Conservation on the Hen and Chicks Islands in Northland and she's painting what she sees there too. Sarah Adam's new exhibition Late to the Hut has just opened at DEPOT Artspace in Tamaki Makaurau.

Launching one book is a big occasion, but much-loved author Joy Cowley is about to unleash two - Greedy Cat's Christmas, and an adult novella called Blind Date. She's launching them both in Featherston in the Wairarapa, where she now lives. The large ginger feline Joy's been writing stories about for some 40 years meets his match in his latest outing: "The plates were full. Oh, how delicious! "A Christmas feast on fancy dishes! "But Aunty said, "He's just a cat. "He'll eat cat biscuits and that is that." Blind Date meanwhile, sees 85-year-old Rose living in a rest home. She's lost most of her sight and desperately misses reading books. Then unexpectedly, she makes a connection with one of the male residents and comes to realise that it's never too late to live life to the full. Lynn Freeman talks with Joy Cowley, and first asked her why she wrote Blind Date as a novella. Joy Cowley's Blind Date and Greedy Cat's Christmas are both published by CopyPress. Joy will launch them on Saturday 10 December at Waimarie Eatery & Bar in Featherston.

Launching one book is a big occasion, but much-loved author Joy Cowley is about to unleash two - Greedy Cat's Christmas, and an adult novella called Blind Date. She's launching them both in Featherston in the Wairarapa, where she now lives. The large ginger feline Joy's been writing stories about for some 40 years meets his match in his latest outing: "The plates were full. Oh, how delicious! "A Christmas feast on fancy dishes! "But Aunty said, "He's just a cat. "He'll eat cat biscuits and that is that." Blind Date meanwhile, sees 85-year-old Rose living in a rest home. She's lost most of her sight and desperately misses reading books. Then unexpectedly, she makes a connection with one of the male residents and comes to realise that it's never too late to live life to the full. Lynn Freeman talks with Joy Cowley, and first asked her why she wrote Blind Date as a novella. Joy Cowley's Blind Date and Greedy Cat's Christmas are both published by CopyPress. Joy will launch them on Saturday 10 December at Waimarie Eatery & Bar in Featherston.

Launching one book is a big occasion, but much-loved author Joy Cowley is about to unleash two - Greedy Cat's Christmas, and an adult novella called Blind Date. She's launching them both in Featherston in the Wairarapa, where she now lives. The large ginger feline Joy's been writing stories about for some 40 years meets his match in his latest outing: "The plates were full. Oh, how delicious! "A Christmas feast on fancy dishes! "But Aunty said, "He's just a cat. "He'll eat cat biscuits and that is that." Blind Date meanwhile, sees 85-year-old Rose living in a rest home. She's lost most of her sight and desperately misses reading books. Then unexpectedly, she makes a connection with one of the male residents and comes to realise that it's never too late to live life to the full. Lynn Freeman talks with Joy Cowley, and first asked her why she wrote Blind Date as a novella. Joy Cowley's Blind Date and Greedy Cat's Christmas are both published by CopyPress. Joy will launch them on Saturday 10 December at Waimarie Eatery & Bar in Featherston.

When Hannah Marshall was picked for the role of Head of Scripted Development at South Pacific Pictures, the only surprise, frankly, was that it took them so long to give her the job. Her track record in drama - sorry, "Scripted TV Shows" - is phenomenal, on both side of the Tasman. You've seen her in everything from Raised by Refugees - for which she was also the Story Producer - to Packed to the Rafters, for which she was nominated for a Logie. As well as an actor, she's an award-winning writer, director and creator of the acclaimed drama Alibi. So does her new job mean she's backing away from hands-on production and performance? Simon Morris talks with Hannah Marshall about her new job.

Radio drama is making a real comeback. Aside from the popularity of podcasts, there are new initiatives like the audio series from wahine Maori and va'ine Pasifika writers' collective Maranga Mai. The five radio plays were written as part of the Breaking Ground playwright's festival during the 2020 Lockdown. They'll all be broadcast here on RNZ National, as well as streaming on Kia Mau's digital platform Moana Nui. Lynn Freeman invited Miria George, who worked with the five writers on their scripts, and one of those writers, Stevie Greeks, to come and talk about the series. And then we play the first of the series...

History has just been made with the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award.   For the first time in its 40-year history, the $10,000 prize goes to a team - two writers who together have written several award-winning productions. Eleanor Bishop and Karin McCracken are a dynamic duo whose company is called EBKM.   Eleanor is also a stage director who works across theatre and opera..... Karin meanwhile is a theatremaker and performer who's just back from Canada where EBKM's production of Yes Yes Yes - a show for young people dealing with desire and consent - was performed in Montreal. Lynn Freeman asks Karin how they came to work together. The 2022 Bruce Mason Playwriting Award has just been announced at a ceremony at the Hannah Playhouse in Wellington.

Bit Part Actor is the name of Frank Edward's memoir, but he's selling himself short. Over a career of more than 60 years on stage and screen, he's also had some lead and really memorable roles. But those memories are shared with the disappointments, failed auditions and scenes ending on the cutting room floor that are all actor's lot. As a jobbing actor, Frank's worked on Wellywood's biggest hits - certainly many of Sir Peter Jackson's blockbusters - though you won't always see his name in the credits. Decades earlier he was there as demand for New Zealand stories took off in the 70s - on stage, TV and film. He also made several hundred programmes for the Correspondence School. Lynn Freeman talks with Frank Edwards about a lifetime of acting. Bit Part Actor by Frank Edward is published by Wayfarer, an imprint of The Cuba Press.

An imagined series of puzzling artefacts from a time travelling civilisation has taken out this year's top Portage Ceramic Award for their creator, Richard Penn. His collection's called Artefacts. Richard and his family moved to Aotearoa from South Africa just a couple of years ago. He's taught ceramics at Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland and Otago Polytechnic and held residencies at Auckland Studio Potters and at Driving Creek Pottery in the Coromandel. Lynn Freeman asks Richard about his winning entry, which he says is part of a much larger body of work:

There is a right way of washing dishes and a wrong way - and Kiwis do it the wrong way according to Joanna Cho's debut poetry collection, People Person. The South Korean-born, now Wellington-based, writer has a keen sense of irony and a refreshing honesty in her autobiographical poems. Joanna completed her MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2020 and received the Biggs Family Prize in Poetry. She talks with Lynn Freeman about her inspirations, and whether she actually is a People Person!

It's had more than 20 years championing the work of this country's print makers. Now Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand has published a book featuring a dazzling array of prints by its members. PCANZ has around 250 printmakers, and many of them are seriously pushing the boundaries with their techniques. In Proof : Two decades of printmaking each artist provides a short note describing their work - some breaking new ground, but many using traditional techniques, like screen printing, lino and wood cuts. Lynn Freeman spoke to two of the print makers who've worked on the book - Kathy Boyle and Heather Partel. Proof : Two decades of printmaking is published by Massey University Press.

This is undeniably a new Golden Age of television drama - both in quantity and quality. So much drama, so much variety of drama and - most important - so many outlets to play your drama. But how much has really changed? One person who would know is one of our finest screenwriters Fiona Samuel. And not just on the screen - we've just played her radio trilogy Hat Trick in our Classic Drama slot - and Fiona's recently conducted workshops on the secrets of creating brilliant TV. Mind you, Fiona's been doing that ever since she first stepped up with a mini-masterpiece called Marching Girls. Since then she's written too many series to mention - Outrageous fortune, Agent Anna, Brokenwood, Nothing Trivial and the brilliant one-off Consent The Louise Nicholas Story. Simon Morris talks to Fiona Samuel about the new landscape of TV series.

A "dysfunctional family epic" is how Ben Wilson's award-winning script Homemade Takeaways is described. The comedy-drama won the 2020 Playmarket Playwrights B4 25 competition and it's finally heading onto the stage. It's set in small-town New Zealand during Christmas with the 'chosen family' of four. These include a primary school teacher wants to write violent children's fiction, and a recently dumped self-help expert who is self-destructing. Ben Wilson talks with Lynn Freeman about Homemade Takeaways and the cachet the phrase "award-winning" gives a young writer. Homemade Takeaways premieres at Bats Theatre in Te Whanganui A Tara Wellington on Tuesday 22 November.

17 artworks spanning 25 years of paintings make up artist Glen Wolfgramm's first survey show of his intricate abstract works, all strongly reflecting his Tongan heritage. A'eva tokotaha he Pasifiki: Solo across the Pacific is also the Tamakai Makaurau-based artist's first solo exhibition in a public gallery. The "Solo" in the show's title also refers to how solitary the experience of painting is - though less so these days with children and a studio in the family home! Glen, who's a self-taught artist, is a past finalist in the Wallace Art Awards. His large-scale paintings have been described as dynamic, fractured and reverberating with Polynesian motifs. Lynn Freeman began by asking Glen about the survey show, which has allowed him to be reunited with work he hasn't seen for more than two decades. Glen Wolfgramm's A'eva tokotaha he Pasifik Solo across the Pacific is showing at Pataka: Art + Museum in Porirua in Wellington.

Christchurch writer Paul Cleave has released his latest thriller, The Pain Tourist just as filming is about to start on a TV show based on his first crime novel. Paul worked on the script for the Lionsgate-backed show, called Dark City -The Cleaner, that's set in his home town. Just as Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse did with Oxford, and Ian Rankin's Rebus did with Edinburgh, Paul's made Otautahi/Christchurch a literary crime hub! Unlike many crime novelists, Paul Cleave isn't wedded to the same detective in each novel. Though, as he tells Lynn Freeman, in The Pain Tourist we do see some familiar crime fighters. So what is a "pain tourist"? No word yet when Dark City - The Cleaner will screen, but Paul Cleave's novel The Pain Tourist is out now. It's an Upstart Press publication.

For 75 years the Matamata Dramatic Society has entertained its community while also training generations of performers and crew. Memories will flow at the upcoming celebration event and fundraiser for the Waikato-based society's significant anniversary. Two of the members heavily involved in the big night are Greg Dunn and his daughter Helen Drysdale-Dunn, who grew up on the stage and went on to win Waikato Younger Singer of Year Award 2020. Lynn Freeman talks with Greg and Helen, and first asks what the Dramatic Society means to Matamata after all these years. The Matamata Dramatic Society's 75th Anniversary Celebration & Fundraiser is on at the Pepper Street Café on 26 November.

Sound artist and composer Jesse Austin-Stewart has created an album of music vibration compositions, designed to be felt rather than heard. By holding a PlayStation Dualsense controller, the music can be experienced through the way changing patterns feel against your palms. Jesse is one of the 2022 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Springboard award winners, and has produced music with more than 1 million streams. For Music for PlayStation he's worked with the hearing-impaired community to create these works which will be available on streaming sites from 25 November. As someone with a disability, he tells Lynn Freeman that he wanted to create music that offers a shared experience for everyone.

Learning to speak Farsi as well as collaborating with around 50 musicians on several original tracks has taken up much of the last three years for Christine White. She's called it The Raven Project - six songs in digital and vinyl format, accompanied by three music videos. The first was called "Raven" and the second, "Taken" and the final one, "Starless Skies", will be released later this week. Christine's main collaborator in the music has been legendary composer John Psathas. And along with the music videos, she's publishing a book of her haiku-style poetry in English and Farsi. Lynn Freeman first asks her about her childhood musical influences... Christine White's complete Raven Project will be available online from Thursday, while the vinyl versions and the poetry will come out in mid December.

Art fairs have become a popular way to get artists' work in front of potential buyers who may not frequent dealer galleries. After a disrupted couple of years, the country's biggest contemporary art event, the Aotearoa Art Fair in Tamaki Makaurau is about to showcase the work of more than 180 artists. Some - like our next guest - have made a name for themselves internationally. Painter Judy Millar has twice represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale. She has many awards, fellowships and residencies to her name. Judy has recently returned from the European arts hub of Berlin, and talks with Lynn Freeman about her feelings returning home. The Aotearoa Art Fair starts on 16 November at The Cloud in Auckland.

Writer Roderick Finlayson was right in the thick of it during a formative time in New Zealand's literary history. He was a friend and contemporary of other significant writers, including James K Baxter, Frank Sargeson and D'Arcy Cresswell. Roderick's not as well known now, despite being in some ways, ahead of his time. He wrote about race relations and environmental issues in his essays, articles, stories and letters, as early as the late 1930s. His first short story collection, Brown Man's Burden, was published in 1938. In recent years, publisher and writer Roger Hickin has championed Roderick's work. He first released a selection of his published and unpublished writing in 2020, and now a biography called Roderick Finlayson - A Man from Another World. He talks with Lynn Freeman about Roderick's reputation in 2022. Roderick Finlayson, A Man from Another World by Roger Hickin is published by Cold Hub Press.

The Manawatu Sinfonia epitomises the value of a community orchestra - helping to launch professional music careers, promoting the work of local composers and of course, entertaining people living in Palmerston North and the wider region. Its members are currently rehearsing for a concert featuring the work only of New Zealand composers - three of them from Palmerston North - and including two world premiere works. Just this year the Sinfonia and associated Manawatu Youth Orchestra between them saw seven string players snapped up for the National Youth Orchestra. Lynn Freeman talks with bassoonist Jeff McNeill on a break from the afternoon's rehearsals. 20 November is when the Manawatu Sinfonia will perform A Celebration of Local Composers at Palmerston North Boys High.

A nostalgic series of stylised paintings of state houses is about to go on show, the work of Pirongia-based artist Carmel Van Der Hoeven. Though, what with the thousands that have been sold off, knocked down and gentrified, those "little boxes" are getting harder to find! The "State House Series" makes up part of Carmel's Mortal Dreams show, that will also include the large, brightly-coloured, floral paintings she's best known for. Carmel's painted 60 works so far in the "State House Series", and she still goes searching for more on her travels. Lynn Freeman asked what got her started down this track... Carmel Van Der Hoeven's exhibition Mortal Dreams opens on Friday 18 Nov at Turua Popup Gallery on Khyber Pass Road in Tamaki Makaurau.