Aaradhna’s India Tour Was a Soul-Searching Trip
With four successful albums to her credit and glowing reviews around the world, award-winning singer Aaradhna, 35, who grew up in Porirua, was recently on a tour of India. Here’s what the ‘Brown Girl’…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Weta Digital Receives Significant Investment
Napster co-founder and former Facebook president Sean Parker has invested in film director Peter Jackson’s Wellington-based visual effects studio, Weta Digital, Fortune magazine reports. Weta Digital has contributed work on a number of blockbuster films…
Departing Warren Gatland Out for Perfect End
New Zealander Warren Gatland has achieved almost everything during his tenure as Wales coach over the last 12 years, Steve Douglas writes in a story published in The Washington Post. Four Six Nations titles, including…
Filmmaker Daniel Borgman Busy in Light and Shadow
Dunedin-born filmmaker Daniel Borgman, 31, whose latest film Resin world has premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Contemporary World Cinema section, is now developing “a pair of high-concept projects”: the crime…
Team GB’s First Olympic Surfer is NZer Jay Quinn
New Zealander Jay Quinn, 36, is well-placed to become Team GB’s first surfer at the Olympics – thanks to a rekindled enthusiasm with the sport and his Welsh-born mother. BBC Sport Wales correspondent Dafydd…
Waiheke Evokes Fond Memories for Emilia Wickstead
New Zealand’s most famous fashion export, the Duchess of Cambridge’s go-to designer Emilia Wickstead tells The Telegraph how this “relaxed and beautiful part of the world” evokes happy childhood memories. “There is something special for…
Otago Scientists Explain Loch Ness Mystery
The most famous photo of the Loch Ness monster has long been discredited as a hoax, but University of Otago scientists have come up with a new explanation for other sightings of the elusive…
Taika Waititi Takes on a Decidedly Risky Role
After years of trying to get the film off the ground, New Zealander Taika Waititi, director of Thor: Ragnarok, finally convinced Fox Searchlight to roll the dice on a comedy set in Nazi Germany…
Helen Clark Lays Out Her Reasons for Legalising It
In an opinion piece for the UK’s Guardian newspaper, former prime minister and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy Helen Clark explains why a ‘yes’ in next year’s referendum is a vote…
Tourists Banned from Swimming with Dolphins
Tourists have been banned from swimming with bottlenose dolphins in New Zealand in a bid to protect them from “being loved into extinction”. Chiaro Giordano reports for UK newspaper, The Independent. The population of bottlenose…
NZ’s Café Culture Earning a Reputation in Sheffield
Britain’s coffee culture “owes much to a tiny country on the other side of the world”, according to journalist Alice Geary reporting for Sheffield’s Big Issue North. The high quality coffee on offer at…
Auckland Teen Snapped Up By Stanford University
One of New Zealand’s smartest teenagers is headed to the prestigious US university Stanford, in California. After Yang Fan Yun, 18, won the Prime Minister’s Award for the person who gets the highest marks…
Dance Queen Parris Goebel Curates for UAE Expo
Celebrity choreographer Parris Goebel, 27, has been appointed head curator of the entertainment and cultural programme for the New Zealand pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai and will manage a series of events to be…
Petra Leary Captures Views of Daily Geometry
“Petra Leary sees the world from above. She skates around cities, focusing her lens on becoming the world’s top aerial photographer. The 28-year-old New Zealander is the subject of a newly released Loading Docs…
Are Weka Slacking Off in Seed Dispersal?
Humans can be a terrible influence on birds. Crows that live near us end up with high cholesterol, sparrows screech to be heard over oil pumps, and instead of migrating, some storks now just…
Comeback Hero Bruce Anstey Wins Again at Classic TT
Wellington-born Bruce Anstey, the ‘Flying Kiwi’, was fighting back the tears as the popular motorcycle racer overcame the odds following a two-year break for cancer treatment to win again at the Classic TT. Kyle White…
Māori Wineries Poised for Their Moment
Kaitiakitanga describes Māori guardianship of the land, its people and its culture. It’s also the key value shared by a wave of Māori wineries that’s recently begun to swell across New Zealand, according to…
Vanishing Act of New Zealand’s Toheroa
People talk about toheroa like they’re a dream, because these days, they are, Naomi Arnold writes for travel site, Atlas Obscura. The big, delicious surf clams were once plentiful on New Zealand shorelines, before…
NZ Features in Time’s World’s Greatest Places List
New Zealand stars in Time magazine’s annual ‘World’s Greatest Places’ feature. Wellington’s urban ecosanctuary Zealandia, Monique Fiso’s Wellington restaurant, Hiakai and Camp Glenorchy take spots in the special. The capital’s Zealandia is recommended in the ‘To…
Nelson Tasman Region Dazzles Visitors
“Even in a country renowned across the globe for its ineffable natural beauty, New Zealand’s Nelson Tasman region particularly astounds,” Alexandra Kirkman writes in a travel story for Fortune magazine. “It’s home to a literal…
Poet Selena Tusitala Marsh Rails Against Racism
She blows in like a song carried on a powerful current: a wild-haired woman, larger than life, carrying a tall carved stick. She loses things in that hair, she says; finds pens in there…
Haere Ra Petera. Open Letter to Mr Craig Little, Mayor of Wairoa, and his Hawke’s Bay fellows.
Dear Matua Craig, Late last evening I stood at the hospital bedside of my young Hawke’s Bay Black Power brother Petera Smith. He was in a coma and on life support. I whispered my nickname…
Anna Paquin Talks about Breaking Oscar Protocol
New Zealand-raised actor Anna Paquin, 37, who stars alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Martin Scorcese’s The Irishman, talks to The Guardian about breaking Oscar protocol, loving film-set pranks, and being a…
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…
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,…
ABs Deliver Bledisloe Pain With Wallaby Whitewash
“New Zealand secured the 2019 Bledisloe Cup with a resounding 36-0 victory against Australia at Eden Park to dent any hopes of a Wallabies resurgence ahead of next month’s Rugby World Cup,” Australian Associated…
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…
Performance Artist Alicia Frankovich Set to Work
Alicia Frankovich suspects that the activities we undertake as children can determine the shape of our adult selves, Neha Kale writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. When Frankovich, 38, who’s among the most respected…
New NAB Chief Ross McEwan Faced With More Repairs
Sitting in the Royal Bank of Scotland’s revamped offices near London’s Liverpool Street station last month – days after accepting the top job at National Australia Bank, having given 12 months’ notice at RBS…
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…
Man to Make $40k Profit After Buying Bradman Bat
An unemployed New Zealander with an eye for sporting memorabilia has hit the cricket world for six by buying a rare bat once owned by the great Australian batsman Sir Donald Bradman, Roger Maynard…
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…
Herbs And Freedom Songs For The New Revolution
I’ve just returned from a full-on weekend in Auckland. I originally come from Timaru. My father used to say, on learning that I’d been in that city, “Did you call in on your aunt…
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…
Champagne Guru Nick Lane Discusses Vintage
“It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to visit three of France’s most prestigious champagne maisons in just one day,” Kylie McLaughlin writes for a story featured online at The Australian Financial Review. McLaughlin travels…
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…
Porsche Driver Jaxon Evans on New Life in Germany
It’s been a whirlwind 18 months for New Zealander Jaxon Evans. Just days after securing last year’s Australian Carrera Cup title, Evans, 22, who is originally from Levin, jetted off to France for the…
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…
Artist’s Black Finch Project Aims to Stop Mine
Queenstown-born visual artist and writer Charlotte Watson is the instigator of the Black Finch Project, for which more than 1400 artworks featuring the endangered black-throated finch have been sent to Australian politicians in protest…
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…
