Ashleigh Young Turns a Lyrical Eye
“When I uprooted my family from Seattle this year to move to Wellington, I knew little of the foreign, faraway place beyond its reputation for grey days and great coffee,” Maggie Trapp writes for…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Soprano Claire Egan Makes Violetta Her Own
Understudies rarely get the opportunity to have their names in bright lights, but a sequence of mishaps at the UK’s Longborough Festival Opera gave New Zealand-born soprano Claire Egan, 34, a starring role in one…
Meeting Jenny Dobson a Pioneer of the Médoc
Jenny Dobson is a New Zealander considered to have been one of the first female cellar masters in the Médoc and who was subsequently nicknamed the ‘queen of red wine blending’ for her consultant…
Wayne Pivac to Succeed Warren Gatland as Wales Coach
“Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac will succeed Warren Gatland as Wales coach on a four-year deal.” BBC reports. “Gatland is stepping down after the 2019 World Cup in Japan and…
Richard Hadlee’s the Best Bowling of All Time
New Zealand cricket legend Richard Hadlee has claimed top spot in ESPNcricinfo’s ‘Top 25 Bowling Performances of All Time’. ESPNcricinfo blogger Anantha Narayanan provides a table current up to the West Indies-Sri Lanka St Lucia…
Frolicking Right Whale Charms Wellingtonians
A huge southern right whale frolicking in Wellington harbour brought the capital’s waterfront to a standstill last week as locals skipped work to catch a glimpse of the animal. Southern right whales used to be…
NZ Most Perilous Place for Seabirds
“Seabirds are more at risk of dying due to plastic in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world, new research presented to parliament has shown.” Eleanor Ainge Roy reports for
Thomasin McKenzie a Force of Nature
Might Debra Granik’s latest film launch New Zealand actress Thomasin McKenzie into the same stratosphere as the Oscar-winning Jennifer Lawrence? Vanity Fair investigates. Granik’s work feels like a salve to the kinetic blockbuster that fuels…
Get Summery with Emilia Wickstead and Matches
Auckland-born designer Emilia Wickstead’s summer-ready capsule collection – a collaboration with Matches Fashion – is recommended by Singapore Tatler. “British-based Wickstead, 34, creates her first vacation collection in partnership with e-retailer
Kayaker Paddles from Australia to New Zealand
“Scott Donaldson has arrived in New Plymouth after spending two months at sea, covering 2000km,” as reported in The Guardian. “The 48-year-old has become the first person to kayak the…
Yellow Is Forbidden Auckland Premiere
After premiering to fantastic reviews at Tribeca Film Festival, New York, Pietra Brettkelly’s Yellow Is Forbidden will be shown in Auckland at the upcoming New Zealand International Film Festival. “Kiwi director…
Ink Artist Steve Butcher’s Latest Eerily Lifelike
Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor has been immortalised in a brilliantly detailed tattoo by famed ink artist, Aucklander Steve Butcher. Butcher spent 12 hours on the eerily lifelike tat on a…
Where to See Aurora Australis in NZ
Away from the main cities, New Zealand’s “velvety black skies are a milky swirl of celestial galaxies story,” writes Kate Springer in an article for CNN. “And then there’s the…
Dance Prodigy Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson in Houston
The past year has been a whirlwind of events for professional ballet dancer Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson, Jonathan Guildford writes for Stuff. The Christchurch-born ballet prodigy has started his first professional job with the Houston Ballet company…
Ethique’s Brianne West Challenges Beauty Industry
Self-taught green entrepreneur New Zealander Brianne West launched the zero-waste personal care brand Ethique to challenge the clean beauty industry to live up to its name. The company wants to stop millions of plastic…
New Netflix Show for Tickled’s David Farrier
“If you’re a weird-documentary fetishist, you’re probably already obsessed with Tickled, an unbelievably strange saga featuring underground ‘tickle cells’ and a scheming, shadowy figure who spends thousands of dollars to ruin people’s lives,” Andrew…
Bioethicist Josephine Johnston on Egg-Freezing
Australia’s first dedicated egg-freezing clinic opened late last year, promoting the procedure as an insurance policy against infertility. But does it represent hope, hype or heartbreak? Some call the egg freezing drive a feminist…
New Zealand’s Inside Stories
New Zealand Story Group have created a selection of New Zealand stories, which underpin the values of Kaitiaki, Ingenuity, and Integrity, to share with the world.” “New Zealand already has a well-deserved reputation for outstanding…
Rare ISS Moon Shot Captured by Josh Kirkley
Auckland amateur astrophotographer Josh Kirkley captured a shot so unusual the cameraman can be heard gasping as he films clip. Kirkley describes his “shock” at capturing footage of the International Space Station (ISS) crossing…
Billy Apple in Hong Kong and in Focus
To present 21 works in Hong Kong, spanning approximately six decades (1962–2018), is an unusual occasion for Billy Apple, a groundbreaking New Zealand-born artist whose pop-infused conceptual practice is mostly acknowledged in New Zealand,…
Photojournalist Susan Skinner New US Citizen
After many years of photographing the Carmichael Independence Day Parade in Sacramento, California, newly naturalised US citizen, Susan Maxwell Skinner will this year ride in its first division as Grand Marshal. “4 July has always…
J-Law-Like Rise of Thomasin McKenzie
This January, Winter’s Bone director Debra Granik returned to Sundance, to premiere her follow-up narrative feature, Leave No Trace. And she again brought with her a precocious talent in a role that could be…
Jacinda Ardern What the Global Left Needs Now
The future of the left is bright if it looks like Jacinda Ardern and American political activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to Guardian Australian columnist Van Badham. As a political communication, Ardern’s recent handheld Facebook Live…
Taika Waititi & Jemaine Clement’s Latest: Wellington Paranormal
“Police officers try to solve New Zealand’s most absurd paranormal and supernatural cases in Waititi and Clement’s new comedy series Wellington Paranormal,” which is the first of a handful of continuations of Taika Waititi…
Matt Arbuckle to Exhibit at Melbourne Art Fair
Auckland artist Matt Arbuckle is one of six artists featured in Grazia Australia as “most exciting emerging artists exhibiting as part of the Melbourne Art Fair.” Nicholas Carolan reports. The Melbourne…
Maori Hāngi in Rotorua One of World’s Top Experiences
A Maori Hāngi in Rotorua has been recognized as one of the world’s best experiences in TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Awards for Experiences. Travel Daily News reports. “Experiences are often the highlight…
Slow Down With Low-Key Drama ‘Leave No Trace’
“Purposefully slow cinema can be a welcome respite from the craziness in both our world and multiplexes,” writes Linsey Bahr in an article for The Daily Democrat. “That is exactly…
NZ Wine Wows With Surprises
“’The speed of change in New Zealand wine leaves me breathless,’ writes Elin McCoy after visiting the country for tastings earlier this year.” McCoy reports for Decanter. New Zealand always seems…
Social Enterprise Empowering Women Refugees
“Government discussion surrounding refugees oftentimes revolves around costs and quotas” and “the human element can get lost in the conversation,” writes Rina Diane Caballar in an article for PRI.
Ascot Nod for Emilia Wickstead Vida Jumpsuit
Sophie, Countess of Wessex was the first royal to trial Ascot’s latest dress code amendment, wearing a wide-legged turquoise jumpsuit designed by New Zealander Emilia Wickstead. Admittedly, it was perhaps the most unjumpsuit-y of jumpsuits,…
New Zealand World’s Second Safest Country
New Zealand has been ranked as the second safest country in the world in this year’s edition of the Global Peace Index. Iceland was ranked the world’s safest place for the 11th consecutive year….
Busy Year for Artist Ronnie van Hout
Ronnie van Hout might need to learn to say no. Not only is the New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based artist about to receive the first major solo exhibition at the new Buxton Contemporary gallery in Southbank…
Ashleigh Young’s Essays Praised in New Yorker
Wellington writer Ashleigh Young’s debut essay collection Can You Tolerate This? is New Yorker-recommended summer reading. “Two things happened the first week I moved to New York, in February. I met up with a friend…
Towards Making Auckland Island Predator-Free
At Forest and Bird’s 2018 Conference, New Zealand Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced funding for the first step in the country’s “most ambitious island pest eradication”. Sage has committed $2 million over the next three…
Academic Peter Fleming’s Earthy Economics
Peter Fleming, an amiable-sounding New Zealander, professes for a living at the Cass Business School at City University London. Once, business schools taught accounting, finance, and profit-and-loss. Nowadays the institutions seem to specialise in profit-IS-loss critiques…
Reform Studio’s Yvette McGaffin on Her Lifestyle
New Zealander Yvette McGaffin, 32, runs Reform Studios in Belfast and Edinburgh. McGaffin talks to the Belfast Telegraph about her lifestyle choices. McGaffin says she trains at the boutique gym every day. “Ideally in one of…
Kimbra & DAWN’s ‘Version of Me’ A Vision of Solidarity
“When New Zealand singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Kimbra dropped her third album, Primal Heart this past spring, it proved to be a cohesive marriage of her best ideas to-date,” writes Michael Love Michael in…
Rob Bell’s Wife Is on a Mission to Unite London
After her husband Rob Bell’s suicide, journalist Poorna Bell realised that for all its dazzle, London can create a perfect storm of isolation. In an article for the Evening Standard she writes about her…
New Zealand Fifth Most Reputable Country
New Zealand has been named the fifth most reputable country in an annual ranking by Reputation Institute. Sweden, “known for its generous social benefits and commitment to gender equality, is…
Save Australia’s Ugly Animals with Zoë Bell
Australia’s Wilderness Society has launched ‘Save Ugly’ – a radical new conservation campaign to raise awareness of all the ‘ugly’ creatures that help make life possible, warts and all. To mark the launch, the society…
New Zealand Tackles a Surge in Homelessness
New Zealand is known to many outsiders as a beautiful, affluent country, the place where the Lord of the Rings movies were made. But Joseph Takairangi and thousands of others know it better for…
Former PM Helen Clark Receives Honorary Degree
Helen Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand, was in Edmonton recently to collect an honorary degree from the University of Alberta. She was also in Canada to speak at the Victoria Film…
NZ Museum Exhibition Includes Unusual Feature
New Plymouth’s Puke Ariki museum is “aiming to offer visitors a realistic glimpse of the perils the first European settlers had to endure on their voyage to the Pacific country includes an unusual feature:…
Roadside Gyms Keep Kea Busy
To try to keep New Zealand’s Mountain Parrots “out of harm’s way, conservationists have developed roadside kea gyms which is equipped with ladders, spinning flotation devices, swings and climbing frames,” as reported in an…
Tiny Houses A Big Trend In New Zealand
Tiny houses or “just building what you need” has become a big trend in New Zealand and Australia. Lloyd Alter spoke to Kulja Coulston, editor of Sanctuary Magazine which profiled several tiny houses recently….
Taranaki One of the Most Underrated Destinations
New Zealand’s Taranaki has been featured in INSIDER as one of the 40 most underrated travel destinations worldwide alongside other places including Bergen in Norway and Hobart in Australia. “Situated between Auckland and Wellington on…
Is Dunedin New Zealand’s Most Underrated City?
Despite its low profile, Dunedin has a quiet, understated cool,” writes Lilit Marcus in an article on CNN. “As a university town, it is full of inexpensive eats, street art,…
New Zealanders’ Screen Time Skyrocketing
New Zealanders now spend close to half a standard working week (18 hours) getting their digital fix online, according to findings of this year’s Nielsen Connected Consumer Report 2018. “Accessing…
Cycle NZ from Alps to Ocean
In response to popular demand, cycling holiday specialist Adventure South NZ has created a new Alps to Ocean Cycle trail itinerary for those wanting to cycle the entire trail, start…
Katherine Mansfield Portrait 100 Years On
The well-known portrait of New Zealand’s greatest writer, Katherine Mansfield, is 100 years old. It was painted by the American artist Anne Estelle Rice. At that time, Mansfield and Rice were both staying in…
NZ’s Leader, Jacinda Ardern, Delivers Baby Girl
“Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand gave birth to her first child, a girl, on Thursday, making her the first world leader in almost three decades to give birth while in office,” writes…
Bassist Matt Penman’s Collection Balanced and Fluid
Originally from New Zealand, bassist Matt Penman has lived in New York since 1995. His new collection, Good Question is reviewed by Mike Hobart for the Financial Times. According to Hobart, Good Question “features a mix…
Jane Campion’s the Piano Still Hits All The Right Notes
“Rereleased after 25 years, this literary work about a mute woman in 19th-century New Zealand remains full of extraordinary images and enigmas,” writes Peter Bradshaw in a review in The…
Winston Peters’ 40-Year Political Rise
The ascension of power will be a curious one for Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters who, at times through his career, has looked like he could take the role with ease and at others…
Jane Campion on Why She Went Back to the Lake
Top Of The Lake: China Girl’s Jane Campion talks to film magazine Screen Daily about the importance of telling stories from a female point of view. “Motherhood is a very underwritten topic, especially in those…
Saving New Zealand’s Prehistoric Giant Wētā
New Zealand is rich in wildlife and, because of its isolation, there are hundreds of plants and animals that evolved here that cannot be found anywhere else. The country’s giant wētā (wētā punga) managed…
