The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly. She’s a terrific writer of historical fiction (my favourite of hers is The Lilac Girls) – this time set on Martha’s Vineyard in two timelines – present day, when a young woman grieving the death of her mother arrives on the island and discovers things about her mother she never knew; while back during WW2 two sisters are trying to hold it all together as the US army ar...

This week on The Sunday Panel, Newstalk ZB’s Roman Travers and host of The Prosperity Project, Nadine Higgins, joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day...

Mike's Moroccan beef family pie 

COOK TIME: 40 minutes 

PREP TIME: 40 minutes 

SERVES: makes 1 bid pie 

500gm diced beef  

1 onion, peeled and sliced  

6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed  

1 tbsp fennel seeds  

...

On the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 1 June 2025, fresh off the Aotearoa Music Awards, indie folk artist Mel Parsons stops by for a performance of her single 'Post High Slide'.

Nutritionist Claire Turnbull has had a destructive relationship with food for over 20 years.  She talks of why she's using her experience to help others.

This week ACT MP Laura McClure held up a nude deepfake of herse...

When you think of penguins, you might imagine adorable black-and-white birds waddling across icy landscapes. But a surprising new study published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment reveals that penguins might also be helping to form clouds that could influence climate change. 

Adélie penguins, a species found only in Antarctica, eat a diet rich in fish and krill. This high-protein menu results in poop, or guan...

Organisers of the Aotearoa Music Awards have labelled Chris Bishop's comments as 'inappropriate' - and say they have no place at their event.

The National Party Cabinet minister's come under fire, for saying "what a load of crap" during a Stan Walker performance.

Bishop says he was criticising what he described as 'overtly political' Toitū te Tiriti flags and banners, but should have kept this thoughts to himself.

Flicks.co.nz edit...

Off the back of the Aotearoa Music Awards, indie folk star Mel Parsons has been planning out her next steps.

She's released her new single Brick by Brick and she's been touring her way through New Zealand before making some stops in Australia.

She says she feels 'lucky' that she gets to create her music independently - and she's experienced plenty of growth.

"With the way that our industry's changed, everything's based around strea...

An unconventional trip up Mount Everest by British climbers has started a bit of a debate.

The group managed to fly from London, summit Everest and return home in under a week by using xenon gas. The gas is said to help climbers quickly acclimatise to high altitudes. 

The trip has left many people questioning the ethics of using the gas - and asked if one of mountaineering's greatest accomplishments should be made easier. ...

David Seymour was officially sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister - and he's hoping to be a bit different to his predecessors.

He takes over from New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters, who just returned to the country after a visit to India, and he'll remain in the position until next year's election.

Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls says this isn't the same situation - as David Seymour's from a different party than Luxon an...

Act MP Laura McClure is calling on MPs from across Parliament to support her bill to make the production and distribution of explicit, deepfake AI content illegal. 

She says this type of content is having a damaging impact on many young Kiwis, and to demonstrate her point she held up a deepfake photo of herself in Parliament. 

McClure says she hoped to get the attention of the other MPs in the House to raise awareness of ...

This week, the New Zealand rugby union say it will cancel senior rugby matches for a weekend if there are any more incidents of serious abuse directed towards referees.

And I say - good on them. The Horowhenua Kapiti Rugby Football Union said recent events had seen refs targeted with verbal threats, threats of physical harm - including of being stabbed - and 'actual physical abuse'.

We don’t put up with verbal or physical abuse or ...

In this edition of Great Chats with Francesca Rudkin, the author and screenwriter of the novel, film and television series One Day, David Nicholls is back with a new best-selling novel. He joins Francesca to talk the his massively successful career. 

Author Kailane Bradley was also on our shore for the Auckland Writer's Festival this month - and joined Francesca to talk her debut novel, The Ministry of Time. 

And Kiw...

Kiwi musician Georgia Lines is back with her new musical projects, and she's set to make an appearance at the upcoming cabaret festival.

She released her new single Wonderful Life last Friday - and she's a finalist for four Tui’s at the Aotearoa Music Awards, including Single of the Year for her song The Letter.   

She says it was an 'amazing' experience to be nominated for these awards.

"When I saw the email about the mu...

Author Raynor Winn experienced a week like no other back in 2013 - and it inspired the hit film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

In the space of seven days, she and her husband Moth lost their family home, and then Moth was diagnosed with a rare terminal degenerative brain disease and given two years to live.  

Homeless and facing an uncertain future together, Raynor and Moth left on a 630 mile trek along the South ...

Air by John Boyne. This is the fourth book in a series about the four elements of matter (the preceding titles are Water Earth and Fire), where he takes each element and writes a story around it. This time the novel is set while the protagonists are on a flight, 30,000 feet up in the air, on a trip towards a woman who isn’t expecting them. It’s story of a father and a son on a moving journey to mend their troubled lives. I love Joh...

This week on The Sunday Panel, Coast Day host and host of the Trip Notes podcast, Lorna Riley and Partner and Freebairn and Hehir Lawyers, Liam Hehir, joined in on a discussi...