News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Artist Richard Lewer’s Sydney Show an Adventure

Artist Richard Lewer’s Sydney Show an Adventure

Richard Lewer “is a New Zealand-born artist with an understanding of history and a sense of compassion”, John McDonald writes for The Sydney Morning Herald in an article about Lewer’s current exhibition, which is…

Taika Waititi to Direct ‘Time Bandits’ Series

Taika Waititi to Direct ‘Time Bandits’ Series

The “Thor: Ragnarok” director is set to helm Apple’s TV adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 fantasy flick Time Bandits, which is currently in development,” writes Bill Thorne in an article for Variety. “The…

New Zealand Farmers Herd Sheep with Barking Drones

New Zealand Farmers Herd Sheep with Barking Drones

In New Zealand, farmers are using drones to herd and monitor livestock, assuming a job that highly intelligent dogs have held for more than a century, and though the robots have not replaced the…

Ambassador Clare Fearnley Interviewed on China

Ambassador Clare Fearnley Interviewed on China

The changes that have taken place in China in the past 70 years are very significant, New Zealand’s Ambassador to China Clare Fearnley has said in a recent interview with Xinhuanet. The ambassador also…

Karting Ace Madeline Stewart Behind New Wheels

Karting Ace Madeline Stewart Behind New Wheels

New Zealand karting ace Madeline Stewart, 18, will race for Australia’s Brad Jones Racing in the Super3 Supercars series this season. The teenager has spent nine years in karts, most recently competing in KZ2 in…

Wuhan Open Appoints Brenda Perry

Wuhan Open Appoints Brenda Perry

Wuhan Open has marked International Women’s Day by becoming the most prestigious professional tennis tournament to have two female tournament directors, New Zealander Brenda Perry and China’s Li Qiuping. Experienced tennis professional Perry will join…

Queenstown Considers Tourist Levy

Queenstown Considers Tourist Levy

In order to cope with large numbers of holidaymakers, New Zealand’s ‘adventure capital’ Queenstown proposes to charge international tourists a $7.50 fee for the privilege of visiting the area. Queenstown, situated in the picturesque Southern…

Academic George Cawkwell Lived Life to the Full

Academic George Cawkwell Lived Life to the Full

Auckland-born George Cawkwell, “who has died aged 99, was Scotland’s oldest rugby international having won one cap against France. He was also a distinguished academic, author and teacher in the field of ancient Greek…

Barbie Releases First-Ever Māori Doll

Barbie Releases First-Ever Māori Doll

Barbie has released its first-ever Māori doll, modelled after New Zealand sports journalist and former rugby player Melodie Robinson. The doll, which has “curly hair and beautiful brown skin”, holds a microphone as part of…

Kieran Read to Play for Japan After World Cup

Kieran Read to Play for Japan After World Cup

“All Blacks captain Kieran Read has signed up to play with Japanese club Toyota Verblitz after this year’s World Cup, bringing an end to 13 seasons as a professional…

Paintings from Sir Edmund Hillary’s Everest Climb Found

Paintings from Sir Edmund Hillary’s Everest Climb Found

“Never-before-seen paintings from Sir Edmund Hillary’s record-breaking expedition to Mount Everest have been found in a house clearance 66 years later.” Darren Boyle reports in an article for The Daily…

Canoeing a Living Entity in New Zealand

Canoeing a Living Entity in New Zealand

“The Whanganui is so important in Māori culture it has the legal rights of a person. A canoe trip along its forested valley proves a great way of getting to know it,” writes…

Rugby Star Sene Naoupu Takes Strength from Family

Rugby Star Sene Naoupu Takes Strength from Family

Spend any length of time with New Zealander Sene Naoupu, 35, and her love for friends and family will be palpable. But she doesn’t just value that ancestral bond, she cherishes it and is…

Sophie Rowley Makes Furniture From Denim

Sophie Rowley Makes Furniture From Denim

New Zealand-born, Berlin-based designer Sophie Rowley gives new life to discarded post-consumer denim offcuts by recycling them into pieces of furniture with marble-like markings. Called Bahia Denim, Rowley’s material development project has seen her transform…

Rose Matafeo to Star in Taika Waititi Exec Produced ‘Baby, Done’

Rose Matafeo to Star in Taika Waititi Exec Produced ‘Baby, Done’

New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo will star alongside Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis in feature comedy Baby, Done, which is exec produced by Taika Waititi. The film is directed by Curtis Vowell (Fantail). Nancy…

Extinct Penguins Wiped out by Hungry Humans

Extinct Penguins Wiped out by Hungry Humans

The discovery of two extinct penguin subspecies in New Zealand is a cautionary tale of the threats faced by the waddling birds in the wild. Veronique Greenwood reports for The New York Times. For thousands…

Antarctic Tour Guide Tarn Pilkington Job Addictive

Antarctic Tour Guide Tarn Pilkington Job Addictive

There is no doubt that Ernest Shackleton’s endeavours in 1916 – when he sailed a lifeboat 1287km across the southern Atlantic Ocean, crossed the remote frozen outcrop of South Georgia and returned to the…

Jess Cornelius’ Sudsy Self-Reckoning on Display

Jess Cornelius’ Sudsy Self-Reckoning on Display

In recent years, self-care culture has exploded beyond simple millennial infatuation; the term, which refers to the conscious integration of health and wellness practices into daily life, is equal parts lifestyle manifesto and multi-billion…

Sale of Portable Cabins Booms in NZ Amid Housing Crisis

Sale of Portable Cabins Booms in NZ Amid Housing Crisis

“The sale of portable cabins is booming in New Zealand, where a housing crisis means hundreds of thousands of Kiwis can no longer afford a home or even a rental.” Eleanor Ainge Roy reports…

Zero-Waste Advocate Kate Mercurio Starts with Soap

Zero-Waste Advocate Kate Mercurio Starts with Soap

Having grown fed up with watching her children play among plastic rubbish on Hong Kong beaches, New Zealand-born Kate Mercurio decided to tackle the issue head on – one bar of soap at a…

New Luxury Lodge The Lindis Blends In

New Luxury Lodge The Lindis Blends In

Boasting slick interiors and gaping floor-to-ceiling windows, this luxury hobbit house takes Middle Earth luxury to the next level, according to the Daily Mail. The Lindis, which is nestled into a slope in the…

Allbirds Taking Viral Wool Tennis Shoe to China

Allbirds Taking Viral Wool Tennis Shoe to China

Allbirds Inc., the wool shoe startup co-founded by New Zealander Tim Brown that’s become a staple of Silicon Valley fashion, is opening its first stores in China, aiming to replicate its viral success in…

In Conversation with the Band Yak

In Conversation with the Band Yak

One of “the most exciting acts around both on stage and on record” is called Yak, according to music site, The 405. Together the Wolverhampton-formed trio, including New Zealand-born drummer Elliot Rawson (pictured centre), talk…

Mt Manganui & Piha Beach among Top 10 Beaches South Pacific

Mt Manganui & Piha Beach among Top 10 Beaches South Pacific

Mount Maunganui and Piha Beach have been ranked among the Top 10 Beaches in the South Pacific in the latest TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice rating. Hot Water Beach (15), Papamoa Beach (18)…

Max Gimblett Reflects On a Life of Love, Art And Freedom

Max Gimblett Reflects On a Life of Love, Art And Freedom

“Internationally renowned New Zealand painter Max Gimblett credits his wife as his greatest supporter, and his leading critic.” Warren Feeney reports for Stuff. “Born in Auckland in 1935 and based in New York since…

Lean On Me – Nga Kupu Aroha

Lean On Me – Nga Kupu Aroha

I nearly started to sob when Joe Walsh, Tim Schmit, and Vince Gill sang a waiata, acapella, at Hoani Waititi Marae Auckland, in support of the…

Invivo Teams Up with Sarah Jessica Parker

Invivo Teams Up with Sarah Jessica Parker

Waikato wine producer Invivo, which was started in 2008 by Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron, has teamed up with Sex in the City star Sarah Jessica Parker to develop sauvignon blanc and rosé wines. The…

Helen Clark Fighting Erosion of Women’s Rights

Helen Clark Fighting Erosion of Women’s Rights

More than 30 female world leaders including current and former heads of state have called for a fightback against the erosion of women’s rights, with one former minister singling out countries led by “a…

Cliff Curtis Set to Soar in Avatar Epics

Cliff Curtis Set to Soar in Avatar Epics

New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis, 50, modestly acknowledges he is not a brand or a marquee name, despite a vast body of work which includes Once Were Warriors, Whale Rider, The Dark Horse, Blow,…

Colenso BBDO Auckland One of 2019 Contagious Pioneers

Colenso BBDO Auckland One of 2019 Contagious Pioneers

Colenso BBDO, Auckland have been featured as number one 2019 Contagious Pioneers in a ranking published by creative and strategic intelligence service website Contagious. Their Te Kupu App campaign was…

Chef Peter Gordon’s Charity Dinners a Who’s Who

Chef Peter Gordon’s Charity Dinners a Who’s Who

Twenty years ago, 20 chefs headed to the Berkeley at the behest of Peter Gordon (pictured right), the New Zealander best known at the time for his Sugar Club restaurants. With 20 tables of…

Storyteller Anthony McCarten Humanises the Iconic

Storyteller Anthony McCarten Humanises the Iconic

An “exploration of humanity” drives novelist, playwright, television writer, and filmmaker New Plymouth-born Anthony McCarten to write about famous people. Initially a journalist, McCarten credits his time in the newsroom for learning how structure and…

Merata Mita Doco Reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter

Merata Mita Doco Reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter

The legacy and personal life of the late New Zealand filmmaker Merata Mita are brought to life in the documentary Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen. The film, which had its international premiere at…

Level Playing Field is a Myth Says Academic

Level Playing Field is a Myth Says Academic

“Those who argue that women with differences of sexual development and transgender should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports usually claim that their testosterone levels and different muscle-to-fat ratios give them an…

Upbringing Helped Turn Barrett Trio Into All Blacks

Upbringing Helped Turn Barrett Trio Into All Blacks

Running around frost-covered coastal Taranaki fields in their bare feet was indicative of the sort of grounded upbringing that former captain Richie McCaw believes helped the three Barrett brothers – twice World Player of…

Origins of Extinct Adzebill Traced to Africa

Origins of Extinct Adzebill Traced to Africa

Scientists at the University of Adelaide have revealed the African origins of New Zealand’s most mysterious giant flightless bird – the now extinct adzebill – showing that some of its closest living relatives are…

John Scott’s Werry/Francis Houses Make New Book

John Scott’s Werry/Francis Houses Make New Book

The sunlit spaces of a mid-century modern family home in Greytown, designed by the late architect John Scott, are captured in images by photographer Mary Gaudin. Gaudin, a New Zealander who…

Flack Stars First-Rate Cast Including Anna Paquin

Flack Stars First-Rate Cast Including Anna Paquin

“In Flack, Anna Paquin plays Robyn, an American living in London and working in a high-powered PR firm, an outfit just as moral as it needs to be to protect its own…

‘The Changeover’ “a Perfect Genre Movie”

‘The Changeover’ “a Perfect Genre Movie”

The opening weekend of ‘The Changeover’ – the New Zealand film of Margaret Mahy’s beloved, award-winning 1984 young-adult novel by the writer-director team of Miranda Harcourt and Stuart McKenzie, drew rave…

Has the Overseas Investment Amendment Act Worked?

Has the Overseas Investment Amendment Act Worked?

After watching home prices rise by 60 per cent in a decade, New Zealand decided to ban foreigners from buying property. Will it work? The New York Times reports. When it was reported in 2017 that…

Anna Wilding Gives Different Look at Obama Family In LA Photo Exhibit

Anna Wilding Gives Different Look at Obama Family In LA Photo Exhibit

“For Black History month, The Perfect Exposure Gallery in Alhambra in Los Angeles is giving you a different look at the Obama family. During the Barack Obama’s presidency, photographer Anna…

Chris Liddell Helms Rural America Broadband Era

Chris Liddell Helms Rural America Broadband Era

Chris Liddell, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Coordination at The White House, is leading a newly announced initiative to address a significant gap in broadband access in rural America. Writing in Agri-Pulse, Liddell…

NZ-Dubai Roll Out Electronic Trade Processes

NZ-Dubai Roll Out Electronic Trade Processes

New Zealand and Dubai have initiated an electronic exchange of export certificate process that will provide a simpler, more time effective and sustainable method to facilitate two-way trade currently estimated at around $2 billion,…

NZ Marks Eighth Anniversary of Christchurch Quake

NZ Marks Eighth Anniversary of Christchurch Quake

The city of Christchurch has marked the eighth anniversary of an earthquake that killed 185 people and caused extensive damage from which the city is still recovering. Of the victims, 115 people were killed when…

The Breaker Upperers Adds Some Welcome Irreverence to Netflix Comedies

The Breaker Upperers Adds Some Welcome Irreverence to Netflix Comedies

“The New Zealand comedy The Breaker Upperers adds some welcome irreverence to the homogenized mix of Netflix comedies. This collaboration between Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami — who wrote, directed and star together…

New Zealand’s Sacred Mermaid Pools Closed Indefinitely

New Zealand’s Sacred Mermaid Pools Closed Indefinitely

“Picturesque Mermaid Pools in Matapouri in New Zealand have been closed indefinitely after human waste and litter were repeatedly found at the sacred Māori site, Joanna Whitehead reports for The Independent. “The failure to…

Director Taika Waititi Tackles Star Wars

Director Taika Waititi Tackles Star Wars

After directing Thor: Ragnarok, which was a worldwide blockbuster hit, New Zealander Taika Waititi next explores the Star Wars universe and returns to the world of vampires. The multitalented Wellingtonian directs an episode of The…

Instagram Your Way Across Auckland

Instagram Your Way Across Auckland

“No, it’s not just your feed – New Zealand is hot right now. Americans make up 9 per cent of the country’s visitors, and it’s not hard to see why we’re flying all the…

Spin Slowly, Fighting Gravity

Spin Slowly, Fighting Gravity

Recently published on online art platform Contemporary HUM, arts facilitator and producer Samuel Walsh reflects on his residency at Zaratan – Arte Contemporânea in Lisbon, Portugal. Zaratan, a not-for-profit art space,…

Mark de Clive-Lowe’s New Album Goes Next Level

Mark de Clive-Lowe’s New Album Goes Next Level

“For those who recognise Mark de Clive-Lowe’s name from this or that compilation disc, his new straight-up jazz effort is the most pleasant surprise of the new year. Others who follow the…

Lisa Walker Exhibits Some Uncomfortable Jewellery

Lisa Walker Exhibits Some Uncomfortable Jewellery

World-renowned artist New Zealander Lisa Walker, 52, sees potential in everything, from shoes, Lego and mobile phones, to egg beaters and dead animals. A new show on now at RMIT Design Hub Gallery in…

Fisher and Paykel Introduce Organic Modernism to US

Fisher and Paykel Introduce Organic Modernism to US

“What is it like to be a well established heritage brand in your own country, only to find yourself as the innovative upstart on the other side of the globe?” Design Milk’s tech editor…

Virgin’s CE Josh Bayliss Brings Focus to Group

Virgin’s CE Josh Bayliss Brings Focus to Group

The first tickets went on sale last week for Virgin Voyages, a Miami-based cruise operator aiming to launch the first of the four ships it is building early next year. Followed by a group…

Rising MMA Star Israel Adesanya Holds off Veteran

Rising MMA Star Israel Adesanya Holds off Veteran

Mixed martial arts star Israel Adesanya, a Nigerian-born New Zealander, beat former middleweight champion, Brazilian Anderson Silva in a wild three-round brawl, according to The Straits Times. The match that was upgraded to the main…

Bartender Andy Griffiths Heads Singapore’s Idlewild

Bartender Andy Griffiths Heads Singapore’s Idlewild

New Zealand-born bartender Andy Griffiths has moved to Singapore to join new bar Idlewild as head of operations and creative. Taking up the position when Idlewild opens on 20 February, Griffiths…

Deer Milk Heralds New Industry With Kōtia Skincare Brand

Deer Milk Heralds New Industry With Kōtia Skincare Brand

Offered some goat, sheep and cow milk cheese to accompany an early evening pinot on the deer farm of a friend, South Islander Graeme Shaw asked out loud “Where’s the deer cheese?” The response…