News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Mata Aho Collective in Conversation with Contemporary Hum about Dhaka Art Summit

Mata Aho Collective in Conversation with Contemporary Hum about Dhaka Art Summit

Mata Aho Collective is a collaboration between four Māori women who produce large scale fiber based works, commenting on the complexity of Māori lives. In the last of their series focusing on the…

Geoff Walker a Helping Hand in Uganda

Geoff Walker a Helping Hand in Uganda

Photographer Geoff Walker left New Zealand to escape the haunting memory of witnessing the 2012 Carterton balloon tragedy, and found a new purpose for life in humanitarian work in Uganda, Mariné Lourens reports for…

James Shaw on Our Economic Climate Post-COVID-19

James Shaw on Our Economic Climate Post-COVID-19

Cheap, renewable electricity is one way of reviving economies and preserving New Zealand’s natural environment, Climate Change Minister and co-leader of the Green Party James Shaw argues in an opinion piece for The Guardian. Shaw…

Football Forward Katie Rood Embraces Veganism

Football Forward Katie Rood Embraces Veganism

“I have gone from five years of continuous injuries to five years with almost nothing,” professional footballer Katie Rood, 27, tells The Guardian’s Suzanne Wrack. The change? In 2015 the New Zealand international and…

AI and Bias Removal a Herculean Task

AI and Bias Removal a Herculean Task

“Google’s algorithm for detecting hate speech tended to punish tweets written by African Americans, classifying 46 per cent of non-offensive messages as hate language, even if they were not, according to a report by…

Rare Parakeet Rebounds in New Zealand

Rare Parakeet Rebounds in New Zealand

Populations of New Zealand’s critically endangered orange-fronted parakeet, or Malherbe’s parakeet, are recovering thanks to conservation efforts concentrated on bringing them back from the brink, the editor of educational geography website World Atlas, Oishimaya Sen Nag,…

New Zealand Will Be Waiting for You

New Zealand Will Be Waiting for You

“New Zealand remains on the top of many tourists’ travel bucket lists,” Forbes contributor Fiona Tapp writes. “But now that travel is severely restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dreams of exploring New Zealand…

Eleven of New Zealand’s Best Wines

Eleven of New Zealand’s Best Wines

Wine writer Wayne de Nicolo examines the wines of his native country – New Zealand – for London’s online culture magazine, The Resident. Home to the southern-most winemaking region in the world, what is…

Katherine Mansfield and Another Edge of the World

Katherine Mansfield and Another Edge of the World

“What does it take to decide to up sticks and live abroad? More than just a name, although I confess I liked the idea of living on the Avenue Katherine Mansfield – named in…

Ben Shewry’s Attica Drops Killer Merch Line

Ben Shewry’s Attica Drops Killer Merch Line

Melbourne fine diner Attica, owned by Taranaki-born chef Ben Shewry, has recruited six of its talented Australian and New Zealand artist mates to design a range of merch, including T-shirts and tea towels, Jo…

When John Walker Ran the Forgotten Mile in 1977

When John Walker Ran the Forgotten Mile in 1977

Everyone remembers the cricket but few recall the day New Zealand running hero John Walker took to the track in Melbourne, Adam Collins writes for The Guardian’s weekly cricket email, The Spin. It started with…

Jemaine Clement Prefers to See the World by Bike

Jemaine Clement Prefers to See the World by Bike

New Zealand actor Jemaine Clement, 46, has spent the last two decades or so travelling from his homeland to Los Angeles and beyond for his career, and has come up with some pretty good…

Xenia Pestova Bennett Makes Best of Bandcamp

Xenia Pestova Bennett Makes Best of Bandcamp

Every two months, Bandcamp will feature some of the best composer-driven music to surface on the online music site, music that “makes room for electronic experimentation, improvisation, and powerful takes on old classics”. In…

Boris Johnson Just Another Patient Says Jenny McGee

Boris Johnson Just Another Patient Says Jenny McGee

The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was “just another patient we were trying to do our best for”, one of the nurses who treated him has said. In her first public comment since Johnson…

Sharing the Enjoyment of Wine with Jenny Dobson

Sharing the Enjoyment of Wine with Jenny Dobson

Jenny Dobson is one of New Zealand’s most experienced winemakers. But she didn’t actually start making wine in New Zealand until 1996. That was still early days for the New Zealand wine industry. When…

Benee’s Hit Supalonely Gets Lockdowners Dancing

Benee’s Hit Supalonely Gets Lockdowners Dancing

The irony of a song she wrote about loneliness going viral during a global lockdown is not lost on Auckland pop singer Stella Bennett, aka Benee, George Fenwick reports for London’s Evening Standard. Benee…

What Next for New Zealand’s Economy?

What Next for New Zealand’s Economy?

“In New Zealand, a country of five million people, new COVID-19 cases have been in the single digits for most of the past week. Australia reported just seven new infections on 23 April. That…

New York-Based Jess Johnson Finds Solace in Art

New York-Based Jess Johnson Finds Solace in Art

Some artists embrace chance and whimsy, but New Zealander Jess Johnson’s painstaking focus puts her into a space entirely under her command, John Bailey writes for WA Today. Right now, the contrast to the…

UAE Roaster Kim Thompson Looks on the Bright Side

UAE Roaster Kim Thompson Looks on the Bright Side

New Zealand-born Dubai-based Kim Thompson, the founder of Raw Coffee Company, tells local English-language newspaper, The National that looking after her employees is her priority during the COVID-19 crisis. The boutique roastery supplies cafés, restaurants,…

Behind the Board with Music Producer Joel Little

Behind the Board with Music Producer Joel Little

Grammy-winning producer/songwriter Auckland-born Joel Little, 37, tells The Recording Academy’s website about his path of starting a band, a record label and a successful studio career. A guitar player since the age of 13, Little’s…

Endangered Kea Image a Shot of the 2000s

Endangered Kea Image a Shot of the 2000s

Photographers working for UK newspapers The Guardian and The Observer pick their favourite moments from over two decades reporting around the world. A fleeting moment, captured by Murdo MacLeod, in the South Island features. “The…

Jacinda Ardern “May Be the Most Effective Leader on the Planet”

Jacinda Ardern “May Be the Most Effective Leader on the Planet”

Influential U.S. news journal The Atlantic says “Jacinda Ardern’s leadership style, focused on empathy, isn’t just resonating with her people; it’s putting the country on track for success against the coronavirus.” Uri Friedman, staff…

Diana Baker’s Online Baby Photography Class a Hit

Diana Baker’s Online Baby Photography Class a Hit

For new mothers across the world the coronavirus crisis has thrown a major spanner in the works of what should be a time of celebration and bonding with their newborn child, Conor Matchett writes…

Sixty Seconds With Anna Paquin

Sixty Seconds With Anna Paquin

New Zealand-Canadian actress Anna Paquin, 37, speaks with UK newspaper Metro about season two of television series, Flack, being a child star, and living under lockdown. “Nobody wants to hear actors complaining about anything ever…

Pink Tiger CEO Raewyn McBain Feels the Rush

Pink Tiger CEO Raewyn McBain Feels the Rush

Connecting over the phone with three-year Discovery Bay resident New Zealander Raewyn McBain, Around DB journalist Elizabeth Kerr discovers that the inspirational CEO of Pink Tiger Media is also a dab hand at feng…

Tips for Virtual Travel From an Agoraphobic

Tips for Virtual Travel From an Agoraphobic

While the coronavirus crisis has restricted most global travel, a typical day sees New Zealander Jacqui Kenny spend the morning in Arizonian desert, lunch in Kyrgyzstan and the evening wandering streets in Mongolia, Francesca…

Abel Leading Clean Fragrance Charge

Abel Leading Clean Fragrance Charge

Much like clean beauty, clean fragrance is often touted as being free from “nasties” – certainly phthalates – and formulated so as to not irritate the skin. There is no clear-cut definition of what…

New Zealand One of World’s Most Resilient Economies

New Zealand One of World’s Most Resilient Economies

Experts have already begun assessing how a recovery might look once the COVID-19 virus is contained, and which countries stand to bounce back best. According to the 2019 Global Resilience Index, New Zealand sits…

Our Entrepreneurs Who Have Made Forbes 30 Under 30

Our Entrepreneurs Who Have Made Forbes 30 Under 30

If you’re looking for reasons to stay optimistic despite what is promising to be a challenging year, look no further than the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia class of 2020, which includes five young…

May the US Find Its Ashley Bloomfield

May the US Find Its Ashley Bloomfield

“It’s a dark time, with the days blurring together and the hours crawling by. New Zealanders may be known for our laid-back, generally cheerful demeanours, but truth be told we’re getting pretty ratty, pretty…

Te Whaea: Our Lady of Aotearoa

Te Whaea: Our Lady of Aotearoa

By Denis O’Reilly. Late last year I attended the unveiling for the late Hon. Parekura Horomia. Helen Clark gave a panegyric for her deceased acolyte. At the time of the tangihana itself, Helen was…

Rhys Darby Stands up on Stage in Washington

Rhys Darby Stands up on Stage in Washington

“New Zealand comic Rhys Darby is perhaps best known to American audiences from the two recent Jumanji films and his show-stealing role on Flight of the Conchords as the eponymous band’s well-meaning but hapless manager Murray Hewitt,” Jibran Khan…

Looking Back at the Wimbledon of Anthony Wilding

Looking Back at the Wimbledon of Anthony Wilding

Now that the Wimbledon Championships have officially been cancelled because of the outbreak of the coronavirus and COVID-19 disease, Forbes looks at other years the world’s most famous tennis event was disrupted, including the…

Attica’s Ben Shewry Dishes up Simplicity

Attica’s Ben Shewry Dishes up Simplicity

If a pasta-heavy diet is getting you through isolation, Broadsheet recommends levelling up your dinner (or lunchtime toastie) with this perfect, lump-free bolognese from New Zealander Ben Shewry the chef-owner of Attica, one of…

Artist Zac Langdon-Pole Travels Time and Space

Artist Zac Langdon-Pole Travels Time and Space

In 2018, Berlin-based New Zealander Zac Langdon-Pole, 32, won the BMW Art Journey prize at Art Basel Hong Kong, an award he used to fund a trip from Europe to his homeland, via several…

Singer Shirley Setia Debuts in Netflix Film Maska

Singer Shirley Setia Debuts in Netflix Film Maska

Aucklander Shirley Setia, who has made her acting debut with the Netflix film, Maska, recently spoke with India’s Bollywood Life. The actress, who began her career as a musician, hopes that the film will…

Arts Can Foster Resilience Says Blair French

Arts Can Foster Resilience Says Blair French

The crisis and the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic will test New Zealander Blair French’s management strengths as much as his curatorial abilities, Sydney Morning Herald journalist Linda Morris writes. But the chief executive of…

How New Zealand Is Coping under Lockdown

How New Zealand Is Coping under Lockdown

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, Forbes hears from their science contributors across the globe, including New Zealand-based Irish writer, Laurie Winkless who, over Twitter, asked a number of New Zealanders to share their stories…

Allbirds for Health Workers During COVID-19 Crisis

Allbirds for Health Workers During COVID-19 Crisis

Around the world, there is a shortage of personal protective gear that will keep health workers safe as they care for patients in COVID-19 wards, Elizabeth Segran reports for Fast Company magazine. While companies…

Contemporary HUM: Sharmini Aphrodite on André Hemer Singapore show ‘Images Cast by the Sun’

Contemporary HUM: Sharmini Aphrodite on André Hemer Singapore show ‘Images Cast by the Sun’

Online publishing platform Contemporary HUM is excited to announce a new series focusing on New Zealand arts activity in the Asia region. In the first essay of the series, produced in collaboration with our guest…

Country Singer Tami Neilson Pulls Out the Big Guns

Country Singer Tami Neilson Pulls Out the Big Guns

The seven women who are “leading the charge” in country music in 2020, according to Kath Devaney reporting for the ABC include New Zealand-based performer, Tami Neilson. “It has been said that women in country…

Ruby Princess and the Great Discontinuity

Ruby Princess and the Great Discontinuity

Denis O’Reilly is a New Zealand community leader and activist. This is his 91st essay for nzedge.com. My time as a bouncer on the door at Ali Baba’s in Cuba St Wellington, circa 1975,…

Designer Kristian Fredrikson a Force of the Stage

Designer Kristian Fredrikson a Force of the Stage

Wellington-born stage and costume designer Kristian Fredrikson is celebrated in a new book by renowned Melbourne dance writer, curator and historian Michelle Potter. Fredrikson, who was born in 1940, took art classes at Wellington Polytechnic…

PM Jacinda Ardern Inspires Across Planet

PM Jacinda Ardern Inspires Across Planet

March is National Women’s History Month in the US and Washington state newspaper, the Chinook Observer, salutes several outstanding women, including our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. The Observer’s Robert Brake writes: “I extend kudos to 39-year-old New…

John Platts-Mills QC Stuck to His Principles

John Platts-Mills QC Stuck to His Principles

A journalist for London’s independent newspaper the Camden New Journal recalls the first public meeting he attended as a 16-year-old in Manchester, a meeting at which Wellington-born John Platts-Mills became his hero. “It was a…

Roaster Rhys Evans-Brown Spreading Good Cheer

Roaster Rhys Evans-Brown Spreading Good Cheer

The culture of specialty coffee in Oceania is in many ways a world apart from the coffee culture of the United States, Howard Bryman writes for Daily Coffee News. Yet according to New Zealand-born…

Tricky Golf Moves With Tania Tare

Tricky Golf Moves With Tania Tare

Auckland-born Tania Tare is one of the world’s most recognisable trick-shot artists and has amassed over 300,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, Golf Australia reports. In an interview with the sporting publication, Tare…

NPR Excited About Folk Singer Holly Arrowsmith

NPR Excited About Folk Singer Holly Arrowsmith

New Zealander Holly Arrowsmith has made NPR’s Austin 100 list, compiled of musicians who would otherwise be performing at the annual SXSW music festival, now shutdown owing to the coronavirus pandemic. “Arrowsmith writes languid, yearning…

Recognising the Whanganui River’s Legal Voice

Recognising the Whanganui River’s Legal Voice

In 2017, New Zealand granted legal personhood to the Whanganui River. Since then, other nations have followed suit in an effort to protect the environment. The BBC’s Luana Harumi reports, with the river featured…

Big Future in Tiny Homes Says Bryce Langston

Big Future in Tiny Homes Says Bryce Langston

Some call them small homes, while others prefer ‘tiny homes’ or ‘tiny houses’. Whatever the terminology, more and more people are getting their heads around the idea of creating living spaces that depart significantly…

Visiting Emily Winkle’s Cornwall Gem Cherry Trees

Visiting Emily Winkle’s Cornwall Gem Cherry Trees

“Padstow, on the north Cornwall coast, has long been a food-lover’s haunt. And that’s largely thanks to Rick Stein, who opened The Seafood Restaurant here more than 40 years ago, and has since added…

Escaping COVID-19 Chaos in New York

Escaping COVID-19 Chaos in New York

It started with an ominous email: “We urge New Zealanders currently travelling overseas to consider returning home while commercial options remain available,” the foreign affairs ministry wrote.  For citizens of the nation at the…

Yumi Zouma’s Latest Is Album of the Week

Yumi Zouma’s Latest Is Album of the Week

Earlier this month, the New Zealand band Yumi Zouma “who splits their time between Wellington, London and New York, unleashed their third full length album Truth Or Consequences, into the world”, Poppy Reid writes…

New Zealand Eases Abortion Restrictions

New Zealand Eases Abortion Restrictions

Lawmakers have voted to liberalise New Zealand’s abortion law and allow unrestricted access during the first half of pregnancy, ending the country’s status as one of the few wealthy nations to limit the grounds…

Corby Lovell Berlin’s Peanut Butter Provider

Corby Lovell Berlin’s Peanut Butter Provider

Auckland-born Corby Lovell is introducing Berliners to the delights of peanut butter, selling his Twisted Nut brand to locals at the famous Saturday market at Kollwitzplatz, in the district of Prenzlauer Berg. “ produces ‘handmade…

Wayve Genius Alex Kendall Makes Forbes 30 Under 30

Wayve Genius Alex Kendall Makes Forbes 30 Under 30

New Zealander Alex Kendall, 27, who went to the University of Cambridge to pursue a PhD in Computer Vision and Robotics, and today serves as the CTO (and co-founder) of London-based Wayve, an AI…