Holly Shervey and Emmett Skilton: Crackhead creator and director on the new locally produced dark comedy

Crackhead is a new, locally produced dark comedy, and it's getting plenty of positive reviews. Created and written by actress Holly Shervey, Crackhead is loosely based on Shervey’s own experience of addiction and psychiatric care.  Holly Shervey and her husband, director of the show, Emmett Skilt…

Charlotte McConaghy: Australian author speaks ahead of Auckland Writers Festival appearance

Australian author Charlotte McConaghy’s novel Wild Dark Shore has been widely reviewed as one of the must read books of 2025.  It also saw McConaghy named on the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.  Ahead of her appearance at the Auckland Writers Festival, she's opened up about the creati…

Whitcoulls Recommends: Lake Effect and Every Second Counts

Lake Effect by Cynthia d’Aprix Sweeney. In 1977, just as The Joy of Sex is sweeping through suburbia, neighbours Nina Larkin and Finn Finnegan leave their respective families for a new life together in a seismic betrayal which ripples through their children’s lives and has a profound, ongoing impac…

Megan Singleton: BloggerAtLarge.com writer on the best times to see the blossoms in Washington DC

It's spring on the other side of the world, which means it's almost peak cherry blossom season in Washington DC. There's over 3000 cherry blossom trees in America's capital, and BloggerAtLarge writer Megan Singleton says timing is everything when it comes to seeing them in bloom. Megan outlined h…

The Sunday Panel: Are the Government taking fuel supply chain issues seriously enough?

This week on The Sunday Panel, Newstalk ZB host Roman Travers and editor and journalist, Jo McCarroll, joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the week - and more! The Middle East crisis is getting worse and there's concerns about what it will do to the global fuel supply chain. Do…

Full Show Podcast: 15 March 2026

On the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 15 March, author Charlotte McConaghy is behind one of 2025s must read books 'Wild Dark Shores'. She joins Francesca to talk about the unexpected success of a book that was very hard to write and the insane research trip she un…

Erin O'Hara: naturopath and wellness expert on how to heal your gut long-term

Healing the gut rather than relying on long-term restrictive diets is considered a better approach to manage IBS and bloating than restrictive dieting. Irritable bowel syndrome is very common in New Zealand, affecting an estimated 15–20 percent of the population, or roughly 1 in 7 adults. Naturop…

Mike van de Elzen: Hot smoked mussel pate

Hot smoked mussel pate   Cook time: 10 minutes  Prep time: 10 minutes  Serves 6-8 300-400 gm darker fleshed fillets like Kahawai or Trevally  100 gm seasalt  2 cups large manuka wood chips 10 green lip mussels   2 tbsp Dijon mustard 3 tbsp crème fraiche Juice of one lemon 1 tbsp honey P…

Dr Michelle Dickinson: nanotechnologist on scientists creating tomatoes that smell like popcorn

Imagine biting into a tomato that smells like freshly buttered popcorn. Research published in the journal KeAi showed the world’s first tomato plants with a popcorn-like aroma made using gene-editing technology. The goal is part of a much bigger effort to solve one of the biggest problems in moder…

Steve Newall: entertainment correspondent on Netflix announcing a sequel to KPop Demon Hunters

Netflix has recently confirmed it would release a sequel to Kpop Demon Hunters, its most popular film of all time and a two-time Oscar nominee. The film's a big hit with fans all over the world, and it's nominated for two Academy Awards this Monday - Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. …