Nine To Noon

Martene McCaffrey of Unity Books Auckland reviews Harrow by Joy Williams, published by Allen and Unwin NZ Martene says: Harrow is "A darkly funny story of a teenage girl navigating the post apocalyptic landscape brought about by the corporate destruction of the natural world".

Matt Davison has a day job at a desk, but in his spare time he goes on expeditions all over Tāmaki Makaurau to photograph secret places. When the pandemic put the kaibosh on his passion to travel the world photographing live volcanoes, he turned his lens on stunning local examples of bioluminescence, rock formations and other natural beauty.

Susana has an update on the pact between Solomon Islands and China, with some nations expressing concern. She looks ahead to next week's Our Ocean Conference hosted by the Republic of Palau and the United States. And also how systemic issues have resulted in the Pacific Community in New Zealand dealing with high rates of infection among Pacific people, with more than 100-thousand cases since August last year. Susana Lei'ataua is RNZ Pacific's news editor

When New Plymouth woman Dianne Dobson was made redundant in her 50s, she started up her own business decluttering houses and selling people's unneeded belongings on their behalf. Now she can't keep up with the demand.

Last week the country's only oil refinery based at Marsden Point ceased operations and became an import-only terminal for already-refined products. The company that runs it, Refining New Zealand has rebranded to Channel Infrastructure. It will utilise the existing site to receive, store and distribute transport oils to its customers. There have been concerns the change alters the country's security of fuel supply, although those fears have been downplayed by the government. Kathryn is joined by Naomi James, CEO of Channel Infrastructure.

Film and TV reviewer Tamar Munch joins Kathryn to talk about Amy Schumer's tender new comedy series Life & Beth (Disney), the second season of reo Maori historical action drama Kairakau (Maori Television) and darkly comedic spy drama Slow Horses (Apple+) about a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents.

How can parents best develop their children to become great learners? Kathryn speaks with father and son educators John and Kyle Hattie, who've co-authored a book setting out ten steps for encouraging curiosity and intellectual ambition. They say it all starts with parents demonstrating to their child an openness to new ideas and thinking - and not to be afraid of failure.

Tech commentator Paul Matthews joins Kathryn to talk about kids and data collection. Many companies have brought out kid-friendly apps, but what information are they really collecting and what do they plan to do with it? And the Government has been consulting on a draft Industry Transformation Plan for the tech sector - outlining what the future might look like for tech, and really for the economy as a whole. So where's it all heading?

Louise Ward of Wardinis Bookshop in Havelock North reviews The Stranger Times by CK McDonnell (2nd in This Charming Man series), published by Penguin.

A newly discovered "microbial jungle" deep under the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, hundreds of kilometres from the open sea, that thrives without light, has been discovered by Kathryn's guest, Sergio Morales, Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago.