Saturday Morning for Saturday 16 July 2022

8.10 Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa: Sri Lanka’s civil uprising

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has resigned, abruptly departing the country this week after his presidential palace was stormed by thousands of protesters. Days later people were still flocking to the palatial home, trying out gym equipment, swimming in the pool, and cooking in the kitchen - cleaning up after themselves as they went.

The dramatic scenes follow months of protests over the country's deepening economic crisis, which has seen the cost of food, fuel and other basic supplies soar for Sri Lankans. 

Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa founded Sri Lanka’s first citizen journalism website Groundviews in 2006, and edited it until 2020. He is currently based in Dunedin, where he is a research fellow at The Disinformation Project.

 

8.35 Brian Burke: putting the ‘wow’ into the World of WearableArt

Las Vegas show-maker Brian Burke has a reputation for creating incredible large-scale stage productions. Among his credits are America’s Got Talent, American Idol, Little Big Shots, and he was the artistic director for Celine Dion’s Las Vegas residency, A New Day.

Now Burke is bringing his magic to our very own World of WearableArt, having signed on as the show’s creative director for the next three years. His vision is to build upon the competition’s success and take it to the global market — a long way from the rain-soaked marquee in rural Nelson where it started in 1987.

World of WearableArt runs between September 29 and October 16 at the TSB Arena in Wellington. Head over here for more information.

 

 

9.05 Professor Lea Ypi: coming of age at the End of History

Lea Ypi grew up in Albania, once one of the most isolated countries on Earth and the last Stalinist outpost in Europe. But after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990, everything changed. As statues of Joseph Stalin and Enver Hoxha were toppled, so was everything young Ypi thought she knew.

Ypi’s new memoir Free: Coming of Age at the End of History, is a coming of age story amid a turning point in history, exploring what freedom really means.

Currently a professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics, Ypi will be appearing at the Auckland Writers Festival on Sunday 28 August in conversation with Colm Toibin and Jan Kemp. Head here for more information.

 

9.40 Lucien Johnson: saxophonist puts Peter Bland love poems to music

Celebrated saxophonist Lucien Johnson has poetry in the blood. He is the son of late poet Louis Johnson and first met his father’s friend and fellow poet Peter Bland as a child. The two men became well-known in the 1950s and 60s as part of the so-called ‘Wellington Group’ of poets.  

For the upcoming Classical on Cuba festival, Johnson has set three love poems by Bland to music for The New Cuba Street Suite, which will be premiering at City Gallery Wellington on 23 July. 

Recently nominated for New Zealand Jazz Artist of the Year, Johnson’s latest album is Wax/Wane, released last year. 

 

10.05 Robert B Weide: the Vonnegut film 40 years in the making 

In 1982, young filmmaker Robert B. Weide wrote a letter to his literary idol Kurt Vonnegut, proposing a documentary on the author’s life and work. Vonnegut, who was 60 at the time, met Weide, and authorised the production. An optimistic Weide thought he could raise the money and complete the film within a year.

Recently released documentary Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time documents not just Vonnegut’s work, but the firm friendship forged between the filmmaker and his subject.

Weide’s other work includes Oscar-nominated documentary Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth, and he is a director and executive producer of popular sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time is screening as part of the NZ International Film Festival. Head over here for information and screening times.

 

10.35 Chris Rinke: polystyrene-eating worms could revolutionise recycling

The beetle larvae known as Zophobas morio - more commonly called superworms - have been found to be able to survive on a diet of polystyrene, a discovery which could help change the recycling industry.

Dr Chris Rinke, who leads a team of scientists based at the University of Queensland, says enzymes in the superworm's gut have the ability to degrade the plastic, which is prevalent in takeaway containers and items such as car parts and insulation.

Originally hailing from Austria, Dr Rinke also has an interest in microbial dark matter — microbes that biologists struggle to culture in the lab.

 

11.05 Playing Favourites with poet Kate Camp

Kate Camp‘s newly published memoir You Probably Think This Song Is About You borrows its title from Carly Simon’s classic 1972 song ‘You’re so Vain’. So it's no surprise the Wellington poet is joining us to play some musical favourites.

Camp’s memoir speaks to difficult experiences in a frank, honest and funny way. It travels from the nostalgia of a Wellington childhood in the 70s and 80s, through the hazy 90s, and into “the sobering reality of a world in which Hillary Clinton did not win”.

Camp is the author of seven collections of poems, her last being How To Be Happy Though Human: New and Selected Poems. 

 

Books featured in this show:

Free: Coming of Age at the End of History
By Lea Ypi
Published by Allen Lane
ISBN: 9780241567265

Working the Scrapbook 
By Peter Bland
Published by Shoestring Press 
ISBN: 1910323888

You Probably Think This Song is About You
By Kate Camp
Published by Te Herenga Waka Press
ISBN: 9781776920129

Music featured in this show:

Into the Belly of Capricorn
Performed by Estère
Played at 8.31am

Magnificent Moon
Performed by Lucien Johnson
Played at 9.35am

You're So Vain
Performed by Carly Simon
Played at 11.06am

Any dream will do
Performed by Paul Jones
Played at 11.15am

Four Strong Winds
Performed by Neil Young
Played at 11.30am

A Case of You
Performed by Joni Mitchell
Played at 11.47am