The Spinoff's editor-at-large Toby Manhire has been spending much of his recent time following the highs and lows of the local body election campaigns across the country.

El Salvador journalist Carlos Dada received the IPI World Press Freedom Hero award this month in the face of continued persecution of the media in central America.

Listener feedback for 17 September 2022.

'Living well as a practice for dying well' is the subject of deathwalker Zenith Virago's speech on September 23 at the third Death Matters conference in Christchurch. Based in Byron Shire, just north of Byron Bay, Virago is the founder of the Natural Death Care Centre. She has been dubbed a maverick pioneer in working towards cultural change in how we approach death.

'Living well as a practice for dying well' is the subject of deathwalker Zenith Virago's speech on September 23 at the third Death Matters conference in Christchurch. Based in Byron Shire, just north of Byron Bay, Virago is the founder of the Natural Death Care Centre. She has been dubbed a maverick pioneer in working towards cultural change in how we approach death. A deathwalker is someone who accompanies a dying person and their whanau through their journey, something Virago has assisted hundreds of people to do. She is the co-author of The Intimacy of Death and Dying, patron of The Good Funeral Guild in the UK, and the subject of documentary Zen & the Art of Dying.

Hawaiian artist, illustrator and self-described 'possibilist' Solomon Enos evokes Pacific science fiction and fantasy for his art created in his series across different media Polyfantastica.

Hawaiian artist, illustrator and self-described 'possibilist' Solomon Enos evokes Pacific science fiction and fantasy for his art created in his series across different media Polyfantastica. The works manifest a timeline spanning 40,000 years, providing the parallel universe of a para-Polynesian society which overcomes death, destruction and war, and connects all human consciousness while retaining individual identity. Graphite works by Enos are currently on display at The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt as part of Wheturangitia/Made As Stars until 19 February. More details here.

As an "alpha introvert", Richard Osman says it was his worst nightmare to become a TV presenter for the first time at 40-odd – but he now loves hosting the quiz show Pointless.

British author Richard Osman hasn't had the typical route to literary success. The author of the hugely popular comedy crime trilogy Thursday Murder Club, was previously producer and creator of television quiz panel shows. He then ended up with his own tremendous fame in the UK in front of the camera, presenting BBC quiz shows including Insert Name Here and Richard Osman's House of Games. The third and final book in the Thursday Murder Club series, The Bullet That Missed is out now. In it, a decade-old cold case leads the amateur sleuths at the Coopers Chase Retirement Village to a local news legend and a murder with "no body and no answers".

In Emily Writes' latest book Needs Adult Supervision, the mother of two shares stories of growing up at the same time as your kids. The stories range from trying to convince your child's teachers on Zoom that your house isn't falling apart around you, to staging a funeral for a sea creature. The book encompasses the complex feelings of parenting when you're not always feeling up to it, and what happens when you get "radically honest" about the challenges. Emily Writes is the best-selling author of Rants in the Dark and Is it Bedtime Yet?. Needs Adult Supervision is being launched at the University Bookshop Christchurch 6pm Saturday and Emily appears at Verb Wellington in November.