Smart Talk

Ever wondered why the heart is associated with love, how it beats relentlessly without thought of mind, or why your physical fitness changes your resting heart rate? Understanding how the body works is "physiology" and Julian Paton is a passionate physiologist who insists "Fizziology is phun".

Is there life out there beyond Earth? And why does it matter? Join former NASA researcher and University of Auckland astrobiologist Professor Kathleen Campbell.

A hundred years after Katherine Mansfield died at the age of 34, six writers and performers share their personal connections to the New Zealand writer's life and legacy.

To engage young people accustomed to visual storytelling, historian Monty Soutar wrote Kāwai: For Such a Time as This as if it were a movie.

Dr Qu Mai Nguy n Phan's latest novel Dust Child sets out to subvert Hollywood movie stereotypes of Vietnamese women being subservient and passive. She talks to Paula Morris in this highlight of the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.

Gaylene's Take is the autobiography of an influential director who created a style of cinema unlike that of male directors of her generation. Dame Gaylene Preston talks about her career at the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.

Richard Fidler speaks with Jack Tame about The Book of Roads and Kingdoms, bringing to life the dazzling cosmopolitan culture of Baghdad during Islam's Golden Age. A highlight of the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.

The world of AI has leapt into focus recently, fuelled by interest in ChatGPT. Prof. Toby Walsh talks to Toby Manhire about its future, in a highlight from the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.

Three Booker Prize winners, Eleanor Catton, Bernardine Evaristo and Shehan Karunatilaka share their experience of being awarded the world's most esteemed literary prize with Karyn Hay at the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.

Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Colson Whitehead has written The Underground Railroad, The Nickel Boys, and Harlem Shuffle. He talks to Kim Hill at the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.