In 2019, Deborah Shepard travelled to England to spend two days recording the oral history of writer Fleur Adcock. In the last episode Fleur talked about some of her life in New Zealand; this episode focuses more on her life in London, her permanent home now for nearly fifty years.

Fleur Adcock lived between New Zealand and England for many years. Although Fleur settled in London as a full-time writer in the 1970’s, she is still published here and we still regard her as ‘one of our own’. Over two episodes we are going to drop into parts of Fleur’s oral history, collected in 2021 by Deborah Shepard – here’s part one.

Denys Trussell is well known for his environmental poetry and advocacy, yet there is much more to learn about him. In this episode we drop into his 2021 discussion with Kelly Ana Morey where they talk about his turn towards writing, and why he spends so much of his time fighting for what he believes in.

Graeme Lay is the author of more than forty books of fiction and non-fiction, and many many shorter works. He was good friends with most Auckland writers of his generation. Graeme spoke with Kelly Ana Morey in 2021, and they start by talking about the first works of short fiction he had published as a young writer.

This podcast was recorded at the Janet Frame Memorial Lecture, given by the NZSA President of Honour 2022-2023, Witi Ihimaera-Smiler in November 2023. The prestigious position of NZSA President of Honour, is bestowed on a senior writer and long-serving member in recognition of their contribution to writing and writers and the literary arts sector in Aotearoa.

In 2016, Marilyn Duckworth won the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction. The award came more than 50 years after she had won the New Zealand Literary Fund Award for Achievement in 1963. In this episode, Marilyn talks to Deborah Shepard about her career as an author over those 50 years.

Witi Ihimaera has become one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most recognised and decorated writers over his 50+ years as an author. The first episode of this season covered some of those highlights; this episode we again join Witi talking to Deborah Shepard about his life as a writer.

The New Zealand Society of Authors Oral History Podcast is back with our fifth season! We start with two episodes featuring Witi Ihimaera. In this first episode we begin with Witi talking to Deborah Shepard about the writing scene he launched into in 1970’s New Zealand. New episodes every 3 weeks.

It’s been a while since our last New Zealand Society of Authors Oral History podcast episode, so we thought you’d enjoy being introduced to ‘The Author’s Tale’. This great podcast is presented and produced by NZSA member, Stephanie Frewen, and features casual conversations with prominent and influential New Zealand authors. This featured episode is with Gavin Bishop.

This podcast was recorded at the Janet Frame Memorial Lecture, given by the NZSA President of Honour 2021-2022, Tessa Duder in May 2022. The prestigious position of NZSA President of Honour, is bestowed on a senior writer and long-serving member in recognition of their contribution to writing and writers and the literary arts sector in Aotearoa. Tessa Duder has been a champion of children’s and young adult writing in Aotearoa for 40 years through many literary organisations, including being a past President of NZSA. She has been widely recognized for her writing and advocacy; Tessa is a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, she has won the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement, the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, The Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal, and numerous awards for her books and writing.

In the last of our New Zealand Society of Authors Summer Encore episodes, novelist Gigi Fenster introduces you to her favourite episode: the workshop ‘Writing Process for Essay and Memoir Writers’ with Lynn Jenner given at the 2018 National Writers Forum.
Learn more about Gigi’s books at: https://gigi-fenster.com/About
More about Lynn Jenner at: https://pinklight.nz/about/

This week, James Russell, author of the Dragon Brothers Trilogy and Dragon Defenders series, introduces you to his favourite episode: Philip Temple’s oral history conversation with Deborah Shepard discussing his life and work over half a century as a writer in Aotearoa.

Learn more about James’s books at: https://dragonbrothersbooks.com/
More about Philip Temple at: https://philiptemple.com/