Vitale Lafaele has lived a life of challenges, adversity, and bravery. 

Arriving in Auckland from Samoa during the 1970s Dawn Raids era, his childhood was characterised by poverty, discrimination, and bullying. 

Lafaele told Jack Tame that he would never take back the hard times, and that it taught him a lot about life.

He served for seven years in the New Zealand army and the Police for 30. Lafaele was the first Samoan to gain the command of an area in New Zealand and the first Polynesian to reach the top level in any of Auckland's three metropolitan police districts. 

He’s told his extraordinary journey in his book ‘A Canoe Before the Wind’.

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Vitale Lafaele has lived a life of challenges, adversity, and bravery.  
Arriving in Auckland from Samoa during the 1970s Dawn Raids era, his childhood was characterised by poverty, discrimination, and bullying.  
Lafaele told Jack Tame that he would never take back the hard times, and that it taught him a lot about life. 
He served for seven years in the New Zealand army and the Police for 30. Lafaele was the first Samoan to gain the command of an area in New Zealand and the first Polynesian to reach the top level in any of Auckland's three metropolitan police districts.  
He’s told his extraordinary journey in his book ‘A Canoe Before the Wind’. 
LISTEN ABOVE

Jack Tame’s crisp perspective, style and enthusiasm makes for refreshing and entertaining Saturday morning radio on Newstalk ZB.

News, sport, books, music, gardens and celebrities – what better way to spend your Saturdays?

Jack Tame’s crisp perspective, style and enthusiasm makes for refreshing and entertaining Saturday morning radio on Newstalk ZB. News, sport, books, music, gardens and celebrities – what better way to spend your Saturdays?

Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Vitale Lafaele: First Samoan Police Commander and speaker on his book 'A Canoe Before the Wind'

An author with a pen game strong enough to reduce people to tears, Jodi Picoult has quite an extensive and well-loved body of work.

She’s written nearly 30 books, selling around 40 million copies, with fan favourites such as My Sister’s Keeper, Mad Honey, and Wish You Were There flying off the shelves. 

Picoult writes across a diverse scope of genres, from thriller to romance to ghost stories, and her latest work steps into the world of historical fiction. 

By Any Other Name details the intertwining narrative of the woman many believe was the real playwright behind the work of William Shakespeare alongside a contemporary story of a New York author suffering the same fate of being silenced.

Picoult joined Jack Tame for a chat about how this new story came to be, her love of Shakespeare, and the meticulous research she puts into the narratives she creates.

"To me this is really a book about how women have been written out of history by the men who were writing it."

LISTEN ABOVE

An author with a pen game strong enough to reduce people to tears, Jodi Picoult has quite an extensive and well-loved body of work. 
She’s written nearly 30 books, selling around 40 million copies, with fan favourites such as My Sister’s Keeper, Mad Honey, and Wish You Were There flying off the shelves.  
Picoult writes across a diverse scope of genres, from thriller to romance to ghost stories, and her latest work steps into the world of historical fiction.  
By Any Other Name details the intertwining narrative of the woman many believe was the real playwright behind the work of William Shakespeare alongside a contemporary story of a New York author suffering the same fate of being silenced. 
Picoult joined Jack Tame for a chat about how this new story came to be, her love of Shakespeare, and the meticulous research she puts into the narratives she creates. 
"To me this is really a book about how women have been written out of history by the men who were writing it."
LISTEN ABOVE

Jodi Picoult: New York Times bestselling author on writing process and latest novel 'By Any Other Name'

Album 8 in his 10|10|10 project is Troy Kingi’s ‘Leatherman & The Mojave Green’. 

The album is described as a “sun-baked excursion into desert / stoner rock sonics”, released August 16th 2024.

Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the release.

LISTEN ABOVE

Album 8 in his 10|10|10 project is Troy Kingi’s ‘Leatherman &amp; The Mojave Green’.  
The album is described as a “sun-baked excursion into desert / stoner rock sonics”, released August 16th 2024. 
Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the release. 
LISTEN ABOVE

Estelle Clifford: Troy Kingi and the Cactus Handshake - Leatherman & the Mojave Green

The Act of Disappearing by Nathan Gower

Julia White is struggling: her bartending job isn’t cutting it and her first book has sold hardly any copies. She’s broke, barely able to make ends meet while drowning in her late mother’s medical bills and reeling after a one-night stand with her ex-boyfriend, who’s now completely ghosted her. Enter Johnathan Aster, world-renowned photographer, with a proposal: he has a never-before-seen photograph of a woman falling from a train bridge, clutching what appears to be a baby. And he wants Julia to research the story.

Alternating between present-day Brooklyn and Kentucky as it enters the 1960s, the story unfolds as Julia races to find answers: Who was the woman in the photograph? Why was she on the bridge? And what happened to the baby? Each detail is more propulsive than the last as Julia unravels the mystery surrounding the Fairchilds of Gray Station and discovers a story more staggering than anything she could have imagined.



I Will Ruin You by Linwood Barclay 

How would you react in a life-or-death situation?
It’s a question everyone asks themselves, but few have to face in real life. English teacher Richard Boyle certainly never thought he would find himself talking down a former student intent on harming others, but when Mark LeDrew shows up at Richard’s school with a bomb strapped to his chest, Richard immediately jumps into action. Thanks to some quick thinking, he averts a major tragedy and is hailed as a hero, but not all the attention focused on him is positive.

Richard’s brief moment in the spotlight puts him in the sights of a deranged blackmailer with a score to settle. The situation rapidly spirals out of control, drawing Richard into a fraught web of salacious accusations and deadly secrets. As he tries to uncover the truth he discovers that there’s something deeply wrong in the town—something that ties together Mark, the blackmailer, and a gang of ruthless drug dealers, and Richard has landed smack in the middle of it. He’s desperate to find a way out, but everyone in his life seems to be hiding something, and trusting the wrong person could cost him everything he loves.

What price will he pay for one good deed?



LISTEN ABOVE 

The Act of Disappearing by Nathan Gower 
Julia White is struggling: her bartending job isn’t cutting it and her first book has sold hardly any copies. She’s broke, barely able to make ends meet while drowning in her late mother’s medical bills and reeling after a one-night stand with her ex-boyfriend, who’s now completely ghosted her. Enter Johnathan Aster, world-renowned photographer, with a proposal: he has a never-before-seen photograph of a woman falling from a train bridge, clutching what appears to be a baby. And he wants Julia to research the story.  
Alternating between present-day Brooklyn and Kentucky as it enters the 1960s, the story unfolds as Julia races to find answers: Who was the woman in the photograph? Why was she on the bridge? And what happened to the baby? Each detail is more propulsive than the last as Julia unravels the mystery surrounding the Fairchilds of Gray Station and discovers a story more staggering than anything she could have imagined. 
 
I Will Ruin You by Linwood Barclay 
How would you react in a life-or-death situation?   It’s a question everyone asks themselves, but few have to face in real life. English teacher Richard Boyle certainly never thought he would find himself talking down a former student intent on harming others, but when Mark LeDrew shows up at Richard’s school with a bomb strapped to his chest, Richard immediately jumps into action. Thanks to some quick thinking, he averts a major tragedy and is hailed as a hero, but not all the attention focused on him is positive.    Richard’s brief moment in the spotlight puts him in the sights of a deranged blackmailer with a score to settle. The situation rapidly spirals out of control, drawing Richard into a fraught web of salacious accusations and deadly secrets. As he tries to uncover the truth he discovers that there’s something deeply wrong in the town—something that ties together Mark, the blackmailer, and a gang of ruthless drug dealers, and Richard has landed smack in the middle of it. He’s desperate to find a way out, but everyone in his life seems to be hiding something, and trusting the wrong person could cost him everything he loves.    What price will he pay for one good deed? 
 
LISTEN ABOVE

Vitale Lafaele: First Samoan Police Commander and speaker on his book 'A Canoe Before the Wind'

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