Nine To Noon

Mellissa Oliver from Unity Books Wellington reviews What Writers Read: 35 Writers on Their Favourite Book edited by Pandora Sykes, published by Bloomsbury In this love letter to reading, curated by Pandora Sykes in aid of the National Literacy Trust, bestselling and beloved writers share their favourite books: the ones they hold most dearly, that they return to time and again and that helped make them the writers they are.

There's plenty going on in the City of Sails under new Mayor,Wayne Brown, Stuff's Senior Auckland Affairs Journalist Todd Niall talks to Kathryn about the financial challenges facing the council, replacing directors and relationship building.

American author Celeste Ng is best known for her novel Little Fires Everywhere, a family drama set in Celeste's own hometown; the upscale suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio. bvShe now has a new book, Our Missing Hearts. Set in a dystopian, but chillingly realistic America, a political and economic crisis has led to anti-Asian racism and violence.

Koroi Hawkins is a journalist with RNZ Pacific. He speaks to Kathyrn from Da Nang, Vietnam where the Pacific Tuna Commission is meeting, to decide the future of the world's largest tuna fishery.

At Manurewa West Primary School the standardised maths assessment was rewritten to reflect real-life contexts and cultures of the school, student achievement has shot through the roof. The driving force behind this is one of the school's deputy principals, Shea Bowden. She joins Kathryn to talk about how the programme was built and tailored to her school and the boost it had for the children - not just in maths - but in other areas of their education.

DNA ancestry tests might solve some personal curiosity - but are they gifting a treasure trove of data to third parties? Professor Peter Dearden, from the Department of Biochemstry at the University of Otago, and Director of Genomics Aotearoa, says a growing number of people are choosing home test kits without understanding the consequences.

Film and TV correspondent James Croot joins Kathryn to talk about Banshees of Inisherin (cinemas), a TV series sequel to the popular '80s kids' fantasy movie Willow (Disney+) and Quebec-set murder mystery series Three Pines (Prime Video).

How do children develop social skills and how best can parents support this? Wellington speech and language therapist Christian Wright has some strategies and he'll take your questions

Technology correspondent Peter Griffin looks at how the country's video games industry has become a creative powerhouse, generating $407m in the last financial year, and is now under threat from tax breaks across the Tasman.

Why hasn't the games industry here enjoyed the same concessions the film industry enjoys? And 2022 hasn't been the best year for Big Tech.

Peter looks at the five big themes that have shaped the world of tech here and abroad this year.

Gina Rogers reviews We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman, published by Harper Collins