Saturday Morning for Saturday 25 March 2023

8.10 Adharanand Finn: Zane Robertson and Kenyan running culture

New Zealand runner and two-time Olympian Zane Robertson has been banned from all sport for eight years. 

The 33 year old, who has trained in Kenya since age 17, tested positive for performance enhancing drug Erythropoietin (EPO) last year, and then lied about it.

Fellow runner, author and journalist Adharanand Finn raced with Robertson in Kenya in 2011 and interviewed him last year for his podcast The Way of the Runner. 
 
Adharanand Finn is author of Running with the Kenyans, The Way of the Runner and The Rise of the Ultra Runners and has written for The Guardian and The Observer. 

 

8.30 Dr Ellen Nelson: local hero who helped evacuate Afghan colleagues to NZ

NZ Army leader Dr Ellen Nelson worked night and day for almost a year to help evacuate 563 Afghan Defence Force allies and their families after the country fell to the Taliban in 2021. 

Nelson started her career in the NZ Army, with deployments including Afghanistan, Antarctica, the UK, Australia and the Pacific. She completed a PhD in 2019, focused on the leadership experiences and wellbeing of women in the workforce, and used these findings to help the army reduce the barriers women face.  

She continues to work in leadership training, with her post-doctoral research aimed at reducing stress for working parents. 

Ellen Nelson is a finalist for Local Hero of the Year at the 2023 New Zealander of the Year Awards. 

 

9.05 Author Bonnie Garmus on her debut bestseller "Lessons in Chemistry"

Bonnie Garmus's debut novel Lessons in Chemistry has become a multi-million selling bestseller largely through word of mouth. 

First published a year ago, and out in paperback this month, it will be televised later this year. 

The story concerns a American scientist who, sacked for being pregnant in 1955, takes revenge when she’s hired to front a teatime cookery show. Stephen King has called it “the Catch 22 of early feminism.”

Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter and creative director who's worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education. Born in California, she now lives in London. 

 

9.40 Jai Grewal: pickleball, the greatest sport you've never heard of

You might not have heard of the sport of pickleball, but it’s the fastest growing sport in America, and increasingly popular with older players in New Zealand. The ‘pop’ sound of its ball is causing neighbourhood tensions and turf wars with tennis clubs. 

So big a deal, that on April 2 tennis icons Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick and Michael Chang will be among those competing for $1 million in an inaugural Hollywood Pickleball Slam.

Essentially a form of paddle tennis, pickleball is a lower impact sport than tennis but has seen the development of a booming US pro circuit, established by competing billionaires.

Wellingtonian Jai Grewal played on the US circuit last year and returns next month. Pickleball has taken him to Japan, India, Australia and all over New Zealand to hold clinics and play in tournaments.

 

10.05 Chloe Gong: #BookTok and the remarkable rise of a young adult fiction writer 

Those not familiar with TikTok might not have heard of #BookTok, but, gathering 196,000 followers and 10 million likes, its been an important part of Chloe Gong’s journey to becoming a New York Times bestselling author.

Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, Gong is now based in New York. A 2021 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in English and International Relations, she began writing books on an iPad aged 13. 

Her debut novel, These Violent Delights, won her the Best Youth Novel at the 2021 Sir Julius Vogel Awards. Her latest, Foul Lady Fortune is the first of two novellas. In July the first instalment in an adult fantasy trilogy, Immortal Longings, will be released..

Gong will be returning to New Zealand, appearing at Auckland Writers Festival, in May.

 

10.40 Fire vs ice: volcanologist Graham Leonard on Tongariro and Ruapehu

Ruapehu, the largest active volcano in Aotearoa, and its neighbour Tongariro, are iconic mountains in the central North Island.

They don’t look like most other New Zealand volcanoes though - their rough, undulating cones more closely resemble those found in Iceland.

GNS volcanologist Graham Leonard joins us to explain the ongoing clash between fire and ice that forges their unique shape, and to share the latest science on these “tenacious rogues”.

 

11.05 Playing Favourites with artist Judy Darragh 

Life-long creative Judy Darragh is known for her bright and brilliant use of colour and found materials as a sculptor, painter and jeweller. Not afraid to use plastic, Darragh wants us to reflect on how we treat the planet.     

An art teacher for much of her career, in 2022 Darragh received the Order of New Zealand Merit for her services to the arts. One of those services has been as a staunch advocate for other artists. As well as a significant role in developing artist-run spaces, she recently co-founded advocacy group Artsmakers Aotearoa.

Judy Darragh is appearing at Nelson Jewellery Week, 13-23 April.

 

Books featured on this show

Running with the Kenyans
Adharanand Finn
ISBN: 0345528808
Published by Ballantine Books

Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus
ISBN: 9780857528131
Published by Penguin

Foul Lady Fortune
by Chloe Gong
ISBN: 9781529380279
Published by Hodder & Stoughton

These Violent Delights
by Chloe Gong
ISBN: 9781869714703
Published by Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand

Music featured on this show

It's Only Poison
Performed by Robert Forster
Played at 9.40am

Her Mother's House
Performed by Bjork
Played at 10.30am

Less than Zero
Performed by Joan Armatrading
Played at 1015am

Monkey's Gone to Heaven
Performed by The Pixies
Played at 11.30am

Not Given Lightly
Chris Knox
Played at 11.45am

Something on your Mind
Karen Dalton
Played at 11.57am