Smart Talk

A wide variety of conversations with expert guests recorded in front of audiences around Aotearoa.

Various RNZ presenters talk to smart people about their big ideas.

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Six tributes to the writer Katherine Mansfield

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.
Katherine Mansfield.

Monty Soutar on Kāwai - his bestselling novel about pre-colonial Māori life

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.
Papalii Faamausili Moli Malietoa - in the middle with the tie

Dr Que Mai Nguyen Phan on her latest novel about Vietnam, Dust Child

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.
Vietnamese woman examines an M60 machine gun on a No. 9 Squadron UH-1

Dame Gaylene Preston on a life making movies

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.
Gaylene Preston looking through a viewfinder lens

Richard Fidler on Baghdad during Islam’s Golden Age

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.
BAGHDAD, IRAQ Murtadha Al-Sudani / Anadolu Agency (Photo by Murtadha Al-Sudani / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP)

The Morality of AI, with Toby Walsh

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.
TERMINATOR: DARK FATE
TERMINATOR 6
2019
de Tim Miller
; robot; androide; android
COLLECTION CHRISTOPHEL © 20th Century Fox - Skydance Media - Lightstorm Entertainment - Tencent

Three Booker Prizewinners on the Booker Ride

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.

The USA writer Colson Whitehead talks to Kim Hill

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.
Colson Whitehead.

Louisa Lim on Hong Kong

In Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, Louisa Lim captures the city's untold history, just as it is being erased from the official record. A highlight of the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.
A school student is questioned by police in the Sai Wan Ho district in Hong Kong on November 12, 2019 following a day of pro-democracy protests.

The UK writer William Sitwell discusses a life of writing about food

MasterChef UK judge and restaurant critic William Sitwell joins Richard Fidler for a conversation about a life in food.. A highlight of the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.
William Sitwell and book cover for The Restaurant

Dr. Mahdis Azarmandi from the University of Canterbury examines racism and anti-racism

An analysis of racism from Dr Mahdis Azarmandi at the University of Canterbury's Raising the Bar Christchurch 2023.
Sharon Murdoch's reality-reversing cartoon for Stuff's Tā Mātou Pono.

Prof. Jack Heinemann from the University of Canterbury on the rise of antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance has been creeping up for 70 years. Prof. Jack Heinemann, discusses how its doomsday scenario in this highlight of Raising the Bar Christchurch 2023.
Antibiotic testing in a petri dish (file photo)

Assoc. Prof. Elsamari Botha explores the future of AI and ChatGPT in business

Assoc. Prof. Elsamari Botha looks at how AI, and language models like ChatGPT, have the potential to revolutionise the way businesses operate, at Raising the Bar Christchurch 2023.
ChatGPT Chat with AI or Artificial Intelligence. woman chatting with a smart AI or artificial intelligence using an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI.

Kim Hill talks to five experts about food safety in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Is Science making our food safer? Kim Hill talks with a panel of experts at the annual seminar of the New Zealand Food Safety Science & Research Centre
Title of session over a photo f an exploding hamburger

Prof. Ekant Veer from the University of Canterbury on the nature of online trolling

Professor of Marketing Ekant Veer argues that online 'trolling' need not be a form of bullying, but something playful which is also good for society. From Raising the Bar Christchurch 2023.
Hooded figure in front of laptop