Better off Read

Una and I spoke on the day her amazing book The Chthonic Cycle (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2024) was released into book shops. I have been incredibly moved by Una's book. It has shifted my mind and my world. It offers such an exciting opportunity to explore a new perspective of our current moment. Action: Hikoi mō Te Tiriti As I type this the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti is moving over the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Member in the hīkoi are walking from all over Aotearoa to Parliament in opposition to the Government’s assault on tangata whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Hīkoi is organised by Toitū Te Tiriti. Toitū Te Tiriti is tupuna inspired, tiriti led, mana motuhake driven and mokopuna focused. Our intent is to demonstrate the beginning of a unified Aotearoa response to the Government’s assault on tangata whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Click this link to find out what you can do to support Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti You can support Better off Read financially at Buy Better off Read a Coffee

It was so great to talk with Claudia. I am a huge fan of Claudia's book Biter published by Auckland University Press. It is an amazing, amazing poetry collection that I can't recommend enough. Claudia and I chatted about Biter but also her other work including her music and new band Goodbye Starlet. You'll hear us talk about Claudia's amazing Ōtautahi Christchurch Lit Scene Zine. Click this link for this incredible guide to all the literary events happening in Ōtautahi this month. Thank you for listening Action: Implement all recommendations from the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry There is a new petition on Action Station calling for the Government to implement all recommendations from the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry. Survivors of abuse in State and Faith-based care, and their supporters call on the Lead Coordination Minister for the Government's Response to the Royal Commission's Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, to implement all of the 138 Recommendations of Whanaketia Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light and the 95 Holistic Recommendations of the Inquiry's Interim Report, He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu from Redress to Puretumu Torowhānui. Click this link to sign this petition You can support Better off Read financially at Buy Better off Read a Coffee

My novel I'm Working on a Building has been out of print for a long time. In November it is being reissued in a really stuning B-Format edition by Te Herenga Waka University Press For this episode I've recorded a short reading from the first chapter. It feels quite emotional being in Ōtautahi for the re-release of this book. The book centres around a structural engineer and includes a fictional earthquake in Te Whanganui-A-Tara. I will always remember the day Lawrence Patchett, Lynn Jenner and I stood around a radio listening to the devastating events unfolding in Ōtautahi following the massive earthquake on September 4, 2010. It chills me now that we didn't realise how much worse was in store on February 22, 2011 at 12.51 pm.

It was so great to chat with Kerry Donovan Brown. Kerry and I have been friends for a long time and I always love talking to them. In this conversation we talk quite a bit about work - the work of writing and the other work Kerry has been doing. Kerry's first novel Lamplighter is an amazing read. You can get a copy at the Te Herenga Waka University Press website You may notice a slight change in acoustics for the last two questions of this conversation. For years people have been telling me to get a bigger SD card and I have not. When Kerry and I were recording at Tūranga my SD card ran out of room. I'm really grateful to Kerry for coming up to the office at Te Whare te Wānanga o Waitaha which is where we took the photo at the top of this post. Thanks for listening. Action: Nothing about us without us Since this government came into power the assault on the rights of disabled people and their support networks has been continuous and cruel. I wanted to highlight a couple of ways to stay informed about what is happening if you are pre-disabled and also maybe find community if you are disabled or whanau of disabled people. Awhi Ngā Mātua - a community for parents of disabled, neurodivergent and medically fragile tamariki. They have a substack you can subscribe to here The D*List is the home of disability culture in Aotearoa. Their website is an online culture magazine that creates space for disabled people to tell our own stories through features, columns and news reporting. Here is the website for The D*List You can support Better off Read financially at Buy Better off Read a Coffee