News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Spiderways Plots with Helium Balloon Record-Breakers

Spiderways Plots with Helium Balloon Record-Breakers

New Zealand company Spidertracks, which specialises in airline tracking equipment, recently partnered with the pilots of helium-filled balloon expedition Two Eagles, enabling the American and Russian pair to set a world record. Spidertracks,…

Te Papa’s Autochrome Collection Illuminates the Everyday

Te Papa’s Autochrome Collection Illuminates the Everyday

Lissa Mitchell, curator of historical documentary photography at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, explores the work of three photographers creating autochromes in early 20th-century New Zealand. Mitchell’s writing features on the…

Peter the Great’s Hobbit Premieres in China

Peter the Great’s Hobbit Premieres in China

Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson was joined by Weta Workshop’s Richard Taylor (pictured far left) in Beijing for the Chinese premiere of the final Hobbit installment on 19 January. This was Jackson’s final stop on his…

Arbitration Stars Audley Sheppard and Wendy Miles Made QCs

Arbitration Stars Audley Sheppard and Wendy Miles Made QCs

New Zealand arbitrators, Clifford Chance construction disputes partner Audley Sheppard (pictured) and Boies Schiller & Flexner partner Wendy Miles, feature among the five leading solicitors on the latest Queen’s Counsel list in England and…

Graeme Simsion and Wife Anne Buist Literary Double Act

Graeme Simsion and Wife Anne Buist Literary Double Act

Auckland-born author Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist are Australia’s hottest literary couple, according to the Age, spurring on each other to keep the words – and surprises – coming. Buist is showing signs of nerves…

Pat Lamb Stays on at His Transformed Connacht Club

Pat Lamb Stays on at His Transformed Connacht Club

New Zealand-born head coach Pat Lam, 46, has transformed Galway’s Connacht club from a development side for provincial rugby players to one genuinely competing with the best teams in UK’s Guinness PRO12 competition. And the…

Art of Learning Author Lance King Motivating Kids in Bermuda

Art of Learning Author Lance King Motivating Kids in Bermuda

Author of educational programme the Art of Learning, New Zealander Lance King, has been invited to address students and their parents in Bermuda at the country’s oldest school, Warwick Academy. King has delivered his programme…

Tesla Co-Founder Ian Wright Has More Electric Ideas

Tesla Co-Founder Ian Wright Has More Electric Ideas

A decade ago, New Zealander Ian Wright and a few tech-minded buddies got together bent on creating a fast and cool electric car. They called the company Tesla Motors. Now, Wright is…

New Zealand Baches Get a Luxury Makeover

New Zealand Baches Get a Luxury Makeover

A bach on the beach has long been the embodiment of the New Zealand dream, with the traditional version often a modest structure haphazardly pieced together with corrugated iron and reused timber. Lance and Nicola…

Meet John Bougen the World’s Best-Travelled Man

Meet John Bougen the World’s Best-Travelled Man

Thirteen years after he began exploring the globe, New Zealander John Bougen expects to be named the world’s best-travelled man by the end of the year. And he knows who to thank. “I had the…

Snowmaker Mark Eldring Skips Summers for Colorado Slopes

Snowmaker Mark Eldring Skips Summers for Colorado Slopes

Snowmaker and groomer Mark Eldring, 32, originally from Mount Maunganui, has experienced one summer in the last nine years opting for winters instead shaping slopes around the world. Eldring is part of a small crew…

Julian Robertson’s Legacy from Hedge Funds to NZ

Julian Robertson’s Legacy from Hedge Funds to NZ

Billionaire Julian Robertson is renowned on Wall Street for being a pioneer in the hedge-fund industry in the 1980s and, more recently, for being a philanthropist who is giving much of his fortune away…

Amos Chapple Couldn’t Resist Shooting in the Coldest Place on Earth

Amos Chapple Couldn’t Resist Shooting in the Coldest Place on Earth

New Zealand photographer Amos Chapple says he shoots travel photos aimed at the news sections of papers and which need a headline to hang a story on. It got down to -31 degrees Centigrade…

Tabby Besley to Be Honoured by the Queen for LGBTI Advocacy

Tabby Besley to Be Honoured by the Queen for LGBTI Advocacy

At just 22, Tabby Besley is set to be honoured by the Queen for her work for the LGBTI community, the only New Zealander to be awarded the inaugural Queen’s Young Leader award, a…

Jane Campion’s Sweetie a Beautifully Strange Debut

Jane Campion’s Sweetie a Beautifully Strange Debut

Writer-director Jane Campion’s “mysterious visual style was showcased” in her 1989 film debut Sweetie, a “left field story about the love-hate relationship between two sisters,” the Guardian’s Luke Buckmaster writes. “Campion has made a career…

Animation Tutor Oana Croitoru Wins International 3D Print Comp

Animation Tutor Oana Croitoru Wins International 3D Print Comp

Aucklander Oana Croitoru, aka “Oana Jones”, has won first prize in the MakerBot Ghostly Vinyl Challenge for her hand-cranked record player featuring a 3D printed 15 cm-cube turntable. Croitoru is a tutor at Auckland’s Animation…

Michael Wayne Plant Named One of Six Imaging Ambassadors

Michael Wayne Plant Named One of Six Imaging Ambassadors

Sony UK has announced that New Zealand-born Michael Wayne Plant has been named one of six photographers to join its Imaging Ambassadors programme, which is run on Sony’s behalf by the World…

Oscar Nominations for Screenwriter Anthony McCarten

Oscar Nominations for Screenwriter Anthony McCarten

Among the five Oscar nominations announced for the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory Of Everything came a nod for New Plymouth-born producer and screenwriter Anthony McCarten. McCarten has been nominated twice as co-producer and…

Poet Lang Leav Offering up More Romance

Poet Lang Leav Offering up More Romance

Best-selling poet and artist Lang Leav has just released her second collection of poems, Lullabies. The New Zealander cemented her name in publishing history with a Best Poetry win at the Goodreads…

Meet the New Zealand Opera Trio That Outsold Lorde

Meet the New Zealand Opera Trio That Outsold Lorde

Lorde may be the greatest New Zealand musical export of 2013, but back home, she’s got competition. The members of the improbably popular operatic trio Sol3 Mio, buck all the current trends in the…

Oamaru Embracing the Steampunk Vibe

Oamaru Embracing the Steampunk Vibe

Technology blog Boing Boing visits “amazing steampunk town” Oamaru, which though “probably best known for its large colony of blue penguins”, is also the steampunk capital of New Zealand. “Oamaru has fully embraced the steampunk…

Peter Jackson Embarking on WWI Museum Project

Peter Jackson Embarking on WWI Museum Project

Peter Jackson is leaving the battle for Middle Earth behind to dive into some real-world war history curating a collection of artifacts at a new museum in Wellington.  The temporary museum will open in…

Malaghan Institute Observes Extraordinary Cell Transfer

Malaghan Institute Observes Extraordinary Cell Transfer

New Zealand and Australian scientists have observed DNA moving between animal cells in a breakthrough discovery that may lead to a better understanding of a range of human diseases and new gene therapies. The team…

Lake Tekapo Night Skies Premium Spot for Stargazing

Lake Tekapo Night Skies Premium Spot for Stargazing

The clarity of the night sky in Aoraki Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve has made Lake Tekapo the world’s second-best spot for stargazing after San Pedro de Atacama in Chile and the best in New…

Kauri Cliffs a Place to Holiday like a Billionaire

Kauri Cliffs a Place to Holiday like a Billionaire

Boutique golf resort the Farm at Cape Kidnappers in the Hawkes Bay wine region is one place in the world where it is possible to holiday like a billionaire, Forbes contributor Larry Olmsted says,…

Dutch Film Industry Appoints Marten Rabarts

Dutch Film Industry Appoints Marten Rabarts

New Zealand-born Marten Rabarts, currently head of development and training at the National Film Development Corporation in India, has been appointed head of EYE International (formerly Holland Film) and will take up…

Trygve Wakenshaw’s Solo Show Kraken Perfectly Executed

Trygve Wakenshaw’s Solo Show Kraken Perfectly Executed

New Zealand comic Trygve Wakenshaw’s solo show Kraken, a follow up to his Edinburgh and London 2013 smash hit, Squidboy, is on at the Soho Theatre as part of the 2015 London…

Swimming Star Sophie Pascoe Aims for More Medals in Rio

Swimming Star Sophie Pascoe Aims for More Medals in Rio

Christchurch Paralympic swimmer, and gold medallist Sophie Pascoe may only be 22, but she is already a veteran on the sport’s elite stage and aims to retain the titles she won in London in…

Air New Zealand One of World’s Safest Airlines

Air New Zealand One of World’s Safest Airlines

Of 449 airlines monitored by the aviation website AirlineRatings.com, Air New Zealand makes the Top 10 safest for 2015 based on aviation governing body audits and airline incident records, among other factors. AirlineRatings.com’s rating…

Melanie Lysnkey’s Togetherness Performance a Stand-Out

Melanie Lysnkey’s Togetherness Performance a Stand-Out

It’s hard to pinpoint what is brilliant about new comedy series Togetherness, but a good place to start is its casting of Melanie Lynskey, according to Salon television critic Sonia Saraiya. “Lynskey is a New…

New Zealand WWI Contingent Enlivened Village

New Zealand WWI Contingent Enlivened Village

During World War I, New Zealand soldiers, many from the Maori Battalion, including a self-declared Niuean prince, arrived in the small East London village of Hornchurch and formed a strong bond with residents. The location…

Sheep Numbers Fall to Their Lowest for 75 Years

Sheep Numbers Fall to Their Lowest for 75 Years

New Zealand has long been the butt of sheep jokes but latest figures show the nation’s woolly flock has slumped to its lowest number since World War II, with numbers dropping by 3.2 per…

A Phenomenal Peter Stichbury Show in NYC

A Phenomenal Peter Stichbury Show in NYC

“Anatomy of a Phenomenon,” a one-of-a-kind exhibition from Auckland-born artist Peter Stichbury—2008 winner of New Zealand’s prestigious Wallace Art Award—recently enjoyed a successful month-long run (October 16-November 15, 2014) at…

Batting Star Kane Williamson Tipped as Best of All Time

Batting Star Kane Williamson Tipped as Best of All Time

Yorkshire batsman New Zealander Kane Williamson – “a bona fide ‘star’ as opposed to one of the self-generated variety – is not your average character or your average cricketer. Tauranga-born Williamson, who can block the…

Eleanor Bishop Creating Challenging Theatre in Pittsburgh

Eleanor Bishop Creating Challenging Theatre in Pittsburgh

During her first trip to the United States, self-described “feminist artist who creates documentary theatre”, New Zealander Eleanor Bishop, 28, was so moved by a 2012 rape case involving high school students in Steubenville,…

Brendan Cole Promises a Night to Remember

Brendan Cole Promises a Night to Remember

Professional dancer Christchurch-born Brendan Cole, 38, star of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, begins a 48-date tour of the UK and Ireland with his dance spectacular A Night To Remember on 27 January in…

South Island Fly Fishing a Bucket List Must

South Island Fly Fishing a Bucket List Must

A combination of big fish, spectacular scenery and clear streams has made New Zealand, particularly the South Island, a “bucket bucket-list destination for diehard trout anglers”, according to American writer and fisherman Chris Santella. “Like…

Soundtrack Tool Booktrack Now Has 1 Million Members

Soundtrack Tool Booktrack Now Has 1 Million Members

Booktrack, a tool designed for self-published writers and publishers to add soundtracks to their eBooks, now has more than a million users. The company, which launched 11 months ago, expects to reach 2 million…

Flat White Now Available at Starbucks Throughout the US

Flat White Now Available at Starbucks Throughout the US

When produced properly the Flat White – now on offer at Starbucks throughout the United States – is made with art and science and dolloped with culture, according to Melburnian CNN contributor Andrew Demaria….

Peter Walker’s Coming of Age Novel Absorbing and Ethereal

Peter Walker’s Coming of Age Novel Absorbing and Ethereal

New Zealand author Peter Walker’s latest novel Some Here Among Us is “an absorbing, ethereal meditation into how the passage of time opens us up”, Peter Carty writes in a review of the book…

Sarah Robb O’Hagan Influencing and Innovating in NY

Sarah Robb O’Hagan Influencing and Innovating in NY

New Zealander Sarah Robb O’Hagan, 42, was recently named as one of the New York Business Journal’s “Women of Influence” at an inaugural award ceremony honouring business leaders in New York City who innovate,…

New Zealand One of the Year’s Travel Hotspots

New Zealand One of the Year’s Travel Hotspots

“Attention is going to be lavished on New Zealand in 2015 – and it won’t all be Hobbit-related,” according to the Guardian, who include our country on their “holiday hotspots” for the year. “Wellington will…

Ireland Becomes Data Analyst Christina Tuataga

Ireland Becomes Data Analyst Christina Tuataga

Originally from Auckland, Christina Tuataga, business data analyst at Fidelity Investments in Galway, explains why she chose Ireland as a place to live and work, and how snow still amazes her even after 10…

Get Interior Design Tips from Expert Sandra Nunnerley

Get Interior Design Tips from Expert Sandra Nunnerley

Later this month, New York-based New Zealand interior designer Sandra Nunnerley will answer readers’ questions on the Washington Post’s online feature Home Front about living and decorating with art. Nunnerley runs a design studio in…

Meet Dr John Money the Father of F***ology

Meet Dr John Money the Father of F***ology

In an essay excerpted from Fuckology: Critical Essays on John Money’s Diagnostic Concepts, the authors examine the work of trailblazing Morrinsville-born scientist and sexual libertarian Dr John Money. Money, who was based in the United…

Lucas Hugh Gym Clothing Transcending the Treadmill

Lucas Hugh Gym Clothing Transcending the Treadmill

New Zealand-born Anjhe Mules, founder and creative director of luxury activewear brand Lucas Hugh, designs gym gear for “busy women with busy schedules” who are “committed exercisers”. Mules, a successful swimwear designer in her homeland,…

At Last Martin Phillipps Is Back

At Last Martin Phillipps Is Back

At last, The Chills are back and its something of a miracle to meet Martin Phillipps preparing for his first London show with the band for 18 years, Michael Hann reports in the Guardian. The…

Henry Hargreave’s Photos Examine How the World Eats

Henry Hargreave’s Photos Examine How the World Eats

New Zealand-born photographer Henry Hargreaves, 35, who has made a name for himself by using food as a vehicle for the provocative, charming and macabre, has launched a new series showcasing the way in which…

Feel Write at Home in Mansfield’s Menton Cottage

Feel Write at Home in Mansfield’s Menton Cottage

Katherine Mansfield’s home in Menton, France is included in a Vanity Fair article about staying in places where “literary idols dashed off their masterpieces”. Included alongside Virginia Woolf’s Sussex country house; John Keats’ Old Mill…

Pope Francis Reaches Out to the Edge

Pope Francis Reaches Out to the Edge

In a move that underscores his “campaign to reach out to the peripheries,” Pope Francis on January 4 named 20 new cardinals from far-flung corners of the world including Panama, Thailand, Cape Verde, Mexico,…

Portland Vikings Star Alicia Carline Making Name for Herself

Portland Vikings Star Alicia Carline Making Name for Herself

Women’s basketball is not big on the radar of most New Zealanders, according to Portland State’s 6-foot-3 junior centre Alicia Carline, 22, but because she was already tall, her mother, Angela, got her into…

Blacks Caps Claim First Win of 2015

Blacks Caps Claim First Win of 2015

The Black Caps won their second test match against the Sri Lankan side yesterday, completing a 2-0 series sweep at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. The winning start to the years continues what was the…

New Zealand Glaciers Ebb and Tour Guides Play Catch-Up

New Zealand Glaciers Ebb and Tour Guides Play Catch-Up

Climate change is having uneven economic effects on tourism operators like Fox Glacier Guiding and Franz Josef Glacier Guides whose businesses depend on ice and snow, the New York Times reports. Guided glacier hiking began…

Stephen Daisley’s New Novel the Pick of 2015

Stephen Daisley’s New Novel the Pick of 2015

New Zealand-born Stephen Daisley’s 2010 debut novel, Traitor, is one of the “best works of fiction” the Australian’s Stephen Romei “has read in recent times” and this year the author’s second novel “will press…

Peter Jackson Wants Off Hollywood Blockbuster Bandwagon

Peter Jackson Wants Off Hollywood Blockbuster Bandwagon

The new Hobbit film made US$90 million in its opening weekend, but in an interview with Esquire magazine director Peter Jackson confesses he doesn’t really like the “Hollywood blockbuster bandwagon.” The third and final installment…

Esteemed Middle-earth Location Scout Dave Comer

Esteemed Middle-earth Location Scout Dave Comer

Dave Comer, who selected many of the spectacular New Zealand locations for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies for director Peter Jackson, has died aged 58. Comer started out as a still…