Upper Hutt Performer Jason Henderson NY-Bound
Upper Hutt singer Jason Henderson, 30, is heading to New York City to spend two years studying acting at the Neighbourhood Playhouse School of Theatre, where he will follow in the footsteps of Robert…
Blog Archives
Clues for Brexit Future May Be Found Here
There may be insights for the UK on leaving the European Union without a deal from a long time ago on the other side of the world, Bloomberg economic writer Eddie Spence says. Britain would…
Annaleese Jochems’s Debut Novel Alive and Squirming
“Cynthia, the simpering, scheming, covetous emotional sinkhole of New Zealander Annaleese Jochems’ assured debut novel, Baby, is alive and squirming; a memorable addition to the growing coterie of unapologetic antiheroines (dis)gracing the pages of…
Allbirds Co-Founder Tim Brown Talks Travel
In a new Wall Street Journal series, the newspaper interviews designers, artists and entertainers about where they’re travelling this summer, what they’re packing, how they stay entertained in-flight and more. First up, it’s New…
Young Māori Women Stand up for Their Land
Five years ago, law graduate Pania Newton and her cousins got together around a kitchen table and agreed to do everything in their power to prevent a housing development at Ihumātao, the south Auckland…
Karen Walker Launching Cool and Real Wedding Line
New Zealand-based designer Karen Walker is expanding her business to include a fully-fledged bridal line, Karen Walker Atelier, according to Vogue magazine. To anyone who knows Walker’s kaleidoscopic prints, funky sunglasses, and approachable price point,…
Human-Sized Penguin Lived in New Zealand
The BBC reports on the findings of the remains of a giant penguin the size of a human that were discovered in Waipara, North Canterbury by amateur palaeontologist Leigh Love in 2018. The fossilised leg…
Inaugural Toronto Film Fest Award Goes to Taika
The Jojo Rabbit and Thor: Ragnarok filmmaker, Taika Waititi, will receive Toronto Film Festival’s (TIFF) first-ever Ebert Director Award, which will be handed out on 9 September at the inaugural TIFF Tribute Gala, reports…
Study Provides Alarming Biodiversity Figures
“When humans arrived in New Zealand some 700 years ago, they discovered a plethora of unusual birds that could be found nowhere else in the world, having evolved in isolation on the island ……
Investigative Role for Lucy Lawless
In My Life Is Murder, a “delightful new detective show”, New Zealand actor Lucy Lawless plays Alexa Crowe, a former police investigator “half-reluctantly drawn back to work as an unofficial consultant on deaths the…
Fossils of Largest Ever Parrot Found in Otago
The fossils of an enormous parrot, estimated to have weighed about 7kg, have been found near Saint Bathans in Central Otago. The Guardian reports on the discovery. Palaeontologists have named the new species Heracles inexpectatus…
Thomasin McKenzie Chats to Vanity Fair
New Zealander Thomasin McKenzie, 19, made a name for herself in indie stunner Leave No Trace, Britt Hennemuth writes for US magazine, Vanity Fair. Now she’s taking winning turns in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit…
Rocket Lab Aims to Catch Boosters with Choppers
New Zealand-founded California-based Rocket Lab wants to use a helicopter to “catch” the first stage of its Electron rocket as it floats toward the ground with a parachute, according to Robert Mogg reporting for…
Statistician Hadley Wickham Wins Global Award
Hadley Wickham, a statistician from Hamilton who is now based in Houston, Texas, has won the international 2019 COPSS Presidents’ Award. The prize is awarded annually to a statistician under 40 in recognition of…
Black Ferns Hand Wallaroos a Reality Check
Australia’s Wallaroos “were drowned” 47-10 by World Champions New Zealand in the first of two women’s Tests in front of 30,142 fans at Optus Stadium in Perth. Sam Worthington reports on the heavy loss…
New Zealand Study Looks At Robot Racism
The reason for shades of technological white in the creation of robots may be racism, according to new research undertaken by the Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ) and published…
All Black Brian Lochore One of Our Greatest Players
Former New Zealand captain and World Cup-winning coach Sir Brian Lochore has died aged 78, the BBC reports. An All Blacks player between 1964 and 1971, he made 68 appearances and captained his country on…
Power Inclusion Summit Attracts More Big Film Names
Award-winning writer-director Jackie van Beek joins fellow New Zealanders Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Mulan director Niki Caro at the two-day Power of Inclusion Summit in Auckland on 3-4 October. According to The Hollywood…
Actress Sarah Jessica Parker Drops New Invivo Wine
In February, Food & Wine magazine first caught wind of Sarah Jessica Parker’s latest project – her own line of wines, in collaboration with Auckland-based wine company Invivo & Co. Last week, the publication…
Monique Fiso Shows Gordon Ramsay How It’s Done
He’s been exploring the world while cooking for his new TV series on National Geographic, Olivia Wheeler reports for the Daily Mail. And during the second episode of the show, Gordon Ramsay, 52, travelled…
Equestrian Legend Sir Mark Todd Retires
Cambridge-born equestrian star Sir Mark Todd, who competed in seven Olympic Games, has announced his retirement after helping the New Zealand team to win a FEI Eventing Nations’ Cup event in Ireland. China’s English-language…
Entrepreneur Steve Ashby Helping Others Start Up
New Zealander Steve Ashby tells Dubai-based newspaper The National that he launched his start-up Businessmentals in the UAE in 2017 with one clear ambition: to provide other would-be entrepreneurs with everything they needed to…
Cellist Richard Belcher Appointed in Minnesota
New Zealander Richard Belcher, founding cellist of Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet, has been appointed to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) in Minnesota, the Violin Channel reports. A graduate of Yale University, where he studied…
Rose Matafeo’s Comedic Rise to the BBC
New Zealand stand-up Rose Matafeo, 27, talks on-stage confidence, teen crushes and writing her own BBC sitcom with Alice Jones, a journalist for UK newspaper, i. It is almost a year since Matafeo won the…
Waiheke’s Man O’ War Vineyards is Otherworldly
Luxury and lifestyle magazine Condé Nast Traveler is “currently obsessed” with Man O’ War Vineyards on Waiheke Island. “When I was planning a vacation to New Zealand earlier this year, Traveler’s resident Kiwi expert Erin…
Anti-Hate Satire Jojo Rabbit Trailer Out
The first trailer for Taika Waititi’s new “anti-hate” satirical film, set in Nazi Germany, has been released, featuring the much-loved Māori-Jewish actor and director playing a paunchy Adolf Hitler, Stephanie Convery writes for UK…
Why New Zealand’s Other All Blacks Matter
“The Māori All Blacks are a source of rugby-playing pride in a community that has struggled economically,” The Economist reports in a sports feature. “The team … is an enduring oddity.” “In late 2018, as…
Caravan’s Trio of Nomads to Open Vardo in Chelsea
Caravan Restaurants, the London group owned by New Zealanders and largely responsible for mainstreaming London specialty coffee a decade ago, has announced it will open at Duke of York Square off the King’s Road…
England’s Ben Stokes Nominated for NZer of the Year
Christchurch-born Ben Stokes, 28, is already receiving award nominations for his match-winning role in England’s Cricket World Cup win – but not from who you would expect, BBC Sport reports. Despite breaking New Zealand’s heart…
Little Blue Penguins Stake Out Local Sushi Joint
When the police call saying there’s been an arrest at your business, it’s usually cause for concern, CNN correspondent Isabela Espadas Barros Leal writes. The owners of the Sushi Bi restaurant in Wellington, however,…
National Australia Bank Hires RBS Head Ross McEwan
National Australia Bank (NAB) has appointed the New Zealander who oversaw Royal Bank of Scotland’s lengthy restructuring as its new chief executive, Daniel Shane and Jamie Smyth report for the Financial Times. Melbourne-based NAB,…
New Zealand Trail Star Nancy Jiang Rises to Success
Chinese-born New Zealander Nancy Jiang’s determination to succeed in trail running is shaped by her upbringing, when her parents pushed for academics over sport, according to Mark Agnew who interviewed Jiang on the South…
New Zealanders Turn over Their Guns
The first of more than 250 planned gun collections across New Zealand has been held in Christchurch. The buyback scheme was introduced after March mosque attacks in which 51 Muslim worshippers were killed, Deutsche…
New Culture Making Cow Cheese Without Cows
Head of Silicon Valley-based food startup New Culture, New Zealander Matt Gibson, founded the company because he didn’t like the non-dairy options on the market, according to a story by Larissa Zimberoff published online…
What to Do in Cool Lil’ Wellington
Wellington is, “of course”, the more “Melbourne” of the North Island’s two largest cities, according to Pedestrian TV correspondent Chantelle Schmidt. Schmidt writes that Wellington is “art, vintage, bars and all-round vibes on speed”….
Stop and Wander Tokoroa’s Talking Poles
“Tokoroa uses public art to encourage tourists travelling between Hamilton and Taupo to stop and wander around,” online magazine and travel site Atlas Obscura writes about the North Island town of 14,000. “Wooden sculptures [Talking…
New Zealand Ramps up Plans to Purge All Pests
There are strains on New Zealand’s environment. In this corner of the South Pacific, waterways are increasingly polluted and, from the suburbs to the alpine peaks, an untold army of feral pests is running…
Artist Gill Gatfield Smashes the Glass Ceiling
New Zealand artist Gill Gatfield is profiled in the latest World Sculpture News magazine, with particular focus on her latest work created in glass, which was exhibited in February this year at Silo Park…
Star Batter Kane Williamson Surpasses Them All
“Martin Crowe’s batting was grace personified and had he been alive, he would have been the first one to acknowledge that Kane Williamson, 28, probably is the greatest batsman to have played for New…
Andrew Nicholson Claims Another Barbury Win
New Zealand eventer Andrew Nicholson has continued his Barbury Horse Trials brilliance with another victory in the event’s premier competition as Swallow Springs triumphed in the CCI 4* class, according to Swindon Advertiser sports…
Stephen Hall Celebrates Manglish with New Book
New Zealand-born linguist Dr Stephen Hall and his English language specialist wife Dr Lee Su Kim have teamed up to record a very unique number of colloquialisms in their latest book Manglish: Malaysian English…
Visiting New Zealand’s Oldest City Dunedin
“Dunedin has long had a reputation in New Zealand as the country’s avant garde student haven, a gritty post-industrial city now home to artists, musicians, academics and more than a handful of eccentrics. Odd…
Phoenix Player Sarpreet Singh Signs with Bayern
Wellington Phoenix midfielder Sarpreet Singh, 20, has signed with German powerhouse Bayern Munich in one of the highest-profile transfers of a New Zealand footballer, AFP reports. Born in New Zealand to Indian parents, Singh was…
Fighting the Darkest Corners of the Web
New Zealand has worked hard to keep the name of the man charged with killing 51 Muslims in Christchurch, out of the news, and to restrict the spread online of the hateful ideology he…
Touring Neil Robson’s Rebel Chocolate Factory
For World Chocolate Day, New Zealander and chocoholic Dr Neil Robson gave Glasgow Live an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour at Rebel Chocolate, where reporter Gary Armstrong discovered how Robson’s two-man mini factory was bringing…
Emma Rigby First New Zealander to Win UK Award
Rotorua woman Emma Rigby, 41, has become the first ever New Zealander to receive the British Citizens Award, which she was presented with at the Palace of Westminster in London last week, Stuff reports. The award…
Sean Marks and the Nets Are in the Endgame Now
According to the New York Daily News, “selling hope is the easy part of being an NBA executive. The blueprint is simple: Refrain from long-term contracts, trade short-term assets for long-term assets, give playing…
Obama Gets His Allbirds On
They say you can judge a man by his shoes, according to The Telegraph’s Tamara Abraham, so when Barack Obama stepped out in the south of France in June, a handful of eagle-eyed fans were…
Janaya Wilkins Makes Swimsuits From Plants
New Zealander Janaya Wilkins grew up exploring the country’s beaches and the sports they entailed, Esha Chhabra writes in an article published on the Forbes news site. After travelling the world, Wilkins returned to…
Eight Can’t-Miss New Zealand Adventures
When American travel blogger Liz Carlson, the self-proclaimed ‘Young Adventuress’, moved to New Zealand six years ago from Washington D.C., she says she wasn’t sure what she’d gotten herself into. “I was struck by the…
How the Gig Economy Worked for Sue McLachlan
New Zealand-born mother-of-two Sue McLachlan is pursuing her passion in the gig economy and making a comfortable amount of money after the collapse of her cloth nappy company business. Yahoo Finance reports on how…
New Zealand Gave a Home and Hope to Abbas Nazari
Abbas Nazari was stranded on a ship in the Indian Ocean when he first heard the words “New Zealand”, Dunedin-based journalist Eleanor Ainge Roy writes for UK newspaper, The Guardian. Then aged seven, Nazari’s mother,…
Denis Smith Living on Images of Liquid Light
A decade ago, New Zealander Denis Smith was working in Auckland and living the high life. “I was killing myself working, trying to sustain lifestyle,” he says to Wired journalist Michael Hardy. “It developed…
Summer Styling with Emilia Wickstead
New Zealander Emilia Wickstead, “arguably one of modern-day fashion’s most modest and functional designers”, talks to Grazia Middle East about the about the “intricacies of summer dressing”. It may come as a surprise then that…
Modulation Effects Man Lee Nicholson Talks Business
Dunedin boutique effects maker Lee Nicholson has earned a reputation for creating innovative modulation-based analogue effects with digital brains that blend sonic experimentalism with ease of use. Josh Gardner at Guitar.com spoke to him…
Meet Gold Coast-Based Rapper Saint Lane
There’s something about Saint Lane that’s impossible to ignore, according to GQ Australia which features the New Zealand-born, Gold Coast-based rapper who has dropped a total of three tracks to date – a discography…
