Barefoot Is a Way of Life in New Zealand
“I had just moved to New Zealand, at age 12, when a new friend suggested that we slip out to the corner store (dairy in New Zealand English) for some candy (lollies),” now Melbourne-based…
Tag Archives: New York Times (The)
Feathered Icon Breeds in Wellington
New Zealand’s national bird, the kiwi, has hatched eggs in the wild in the Wellington area for the first time in living memory, thanks to a multiyear conservation effort, Pete McKenzie reports for The…
Anton Thomas Illustrates World Without Borders
In July 2020, his universe shrunk to a two-bedroom apartment by a rattling train line, New Zealander Anton Thomas pulled out an H pencil and opened a portal to the world, Natasha Frost writes…
Take a Transcendent Train Journey
New Zealand by train has made The New York Times ‘52 Places to Go in 2024’ list, coming in at number four. “Road-tripping across New Zealand via camper van is a free-spirited traveller’s dream,” Stephanie…
Birnam Wood Gets the Paperback Makeover
New Zealand-born author Eleanor Catton’s bestseller Birnam Wood is one of “eight intriguing” paperbacks included in a New York Times piece about book design – “the paperback edition is the second chance, an opportunity…
Māori Wardens Want People to Feel at Ease
The strategies used by the Indigenous community policing alternative, the Māori Wardens, are in stark contrast to more muscular tactics pitched by the incoming government, Natasha Frost reports for The New York Times. Christopher Luxon,…
Birnam Wood Makes NY Times 2023 Best of List
“Each year, we pore over thousands of new books, seeking out the best novels, memoirs, biographies, poetry collections, stories and more. Here are the standouts, selected by the staff of The New York Times…
Runner Garth Barfoot the Oldest in NY Marathon
Eighty-seven-year-old Aucklander Garth Barfoot was the oldest participant at this year’s New York City Marathon. Barfoot, who has run dozens of marathons, including last year’s London Marathon, said this was his first time running New…
New Zealand Curling Team Finds a Home
New Zealander Ben Smith never could have imagined spending the winter at a retirement home in Calgary, Alberta, sipping Caesar cocktails with three of his best friends – Anton Hood (pictured), Brett Sargon and…
Americans Look to New Zealand for Second Homes
When Jim Rohrstaff moved to New Zealand in 2014 to help Ric Kayne manage and start his private golf club, Tara Iti, he didn’t know what the future held, Michael Croley reports for The…
New Zealand Trying to Shake Off Losses
In recent weeks, a mood of cautious optimism swept through rugby fans and sports analysts in New Zealand. After a year of dismal performances, the All Blacks seem at times to have regained the…
New York Times Recommends Catherine Chidgey’s Pet
Auckland-born writer Catherine Chidgey’s latest novel Pet has been included in The New York Times’ regular column, ‘Nine New Books We Recommend This Week’. “In this twisted psychological thriller, a motherless 12-year-old Catholic school student…
Americans Catching on to Real Fruit Ice Cream
In New Zealand, one of summer’s great pleasures is known as real fruit ice cream: a scoop of vanilla blended with fruit in a machine that produces an airy, barely sweet twirl with a…
Extinct Dolphin Had Tusks Fish Wise to Avoid
The waters off New Zealand 25 million years ago were home to early baleen whales, megatooth sharks and human-size penguins. Now researchers are adding a bizarre dolphin to the mix that may have used…
Zoo Miami Gets Reprimanded for Kiwi Petting
A video of the national bird being handled by Zoo Miami visitors has caused an outcry in New Zealand, with even the prime minister weighing in, Natasha Frost reports for The New York Times. Shy and…
Fine Jeweller Jessica McCormack Goes Goth
“All black, all the time: Black diamonds, black pearls, onyx, black spinels, obsidian and blackened gold are just some of the materials turning up recently in fine jewellery creations,” New York Times correspondent Kathleen…
Eleanor Catton Guest on New York Times Podcast
The New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton, who won the Man Booker Prize in 2013 for her novel The Luminaries, discusses her latest book, Birnam Wood, with New York Times Book Review podcast host Gilbert…
Anne Perry a Crime Writer with Her Own Dark Tale
“Anne Perry, the prolific London-born author of historical and socially conscious crime fiction who in her teens served five years in prison for murder, a sordid past that came to wide attention with the…
Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood Does the Improbable
“Eleanor Catton’s third novel, Birnam Wood, is a big book, a sophisticated page-turner, that does something improbable: It filters anarchist, monkeywrenching environmental politics, a generational (anti-baby boomer) cri de coeur and a downhill-racing plot…
Atamira’s Te Wheke Debuts at NY’s Joyce Theater
“Founded in 2000 in New Zealand, Atamira fuses Māori cultural expression with contemporary dance theatre. There’s an admirable integrity to how the group doesn’t explain much to the uninitiated,” New York Times…
The Examined Life of Melanie Lynskey
In series like Yellowjackets, New Plymouth-born actor Melanie Lynskey specialises in revealing the turbulent emotions of women who seem innocuous and mild on the surface, Alexis Soloski writes in a profile piece for The…
Ans Westra’s Photos Captured a Changing Nation
Ans Westra, a Dutch-born photographer who created the most comprehensive record of New Zealand’s social history, comprising more than 300,000 powerful images, died on 26 February at her home outside Wellington. She was 86….
Two Prehistoric Penguins Added to Our Aviary
New Zealand has been a haven for earthbound birds for aeons. The absence of terrestrial predators allowed flightless parrots, kiwis and moas to thrive. Now researchers are adding two prehistoric penguins to this grounded…
After Ardern Politics Will Never Look the Same
“ Ardern may have been known on the international stage for many things as a leader, but her wardrobe was rarely among them,” Vanessa Friedman reports for The New York Times. “Yet throughout her time…
Dissecting the Rhetoric of Jacinda Ardern
“There used to be a website devoted to pointing out examples of world maps that didn’t bother to include New Zealand. If we did make it, we were tucked into the lower right corner,…
New Zealand’s Leader Jacinda Ardern Steps Down
Jacinda Ardern, who became a global liberal icon as New Zealand’s prime minister but faced deepening political challenges with an election looming at home, has said in a surprise announcement that she would step…
Auckland’s Pastries Rival France’s Best
Your time is up Wellington, Auckland is Aotearoa’s new culinary capital according to The New York Times, including the City of Sails in the top five on its annual interactive travel list, ‘52 Places…
Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger Danny de Kek Speaks Up
From his home in New Zealand, the YouTuber Danny de Hek assails what he calls a dangerous and deceptive scheme, one rant at a time. David Segal interviews de Hek for The New York…
M3GAN a Deadly Doll with a Killer Wardrobe
The titular star of the New Zealand-made horror film M3GAN, released last week in the US, had to try on several outfits before finding a signature look, Joshua Lyon reports for The New York…
Killer Doll Movie M3GAN Reviews Well in US
New Zealand director Gerard Johnstone’s latest film, the comedy horror M3GAN, is well reviewed in Variety, with critic Owen Gleiberman describing it as “creepy, preposterous and diverting”. “Gemma (Allison Williams), a robotics engineer, works for…
UFC’s Israel Adesanya Fights on His Terms
New Zealander Israel Adesanya has cleared out most of his challengers and has faced criticism for some fights lacking flashy knockouts. “It’s a high-level game we play, but not everyone who watches is high-level,”…
Sustainability is Abel’s Top Note
Artisanal companies from Britain to New Zealand are putting environmentally sensitive production, practices and packaging at the centre of their business models, Isabella Kwai reports for The New York Times. Based between Wellington and Amsterdam,…
Hamish Kilgour a Freewheeling Musician With Worldly Reach
Hamish Kilgour, a founding member of the New Zealand band the Clean, who was celebrated among fans of underground music for his propulsive drumming and his countercultural approach to life, has died in Christchurch,…
Kate Newby’s NY Art Rose Through Cracks
In New York, on the Lower East Side, Laurel Gitlen gallery features two tile works that Kate Newby, the sculptor and ceramist, calls “murals”. Hung like paintings, they incorporate found objects, specifically glass, gathered from…
Antipodes’ Penguins Lay Eggs Doomed to Die
In 1998, a team of researchers made the three-and-a-half day trek to the isolated Antipodes Islands in the South Pacific to study one of its few residents: the enigmatic and endangered erect-crested penguin. “These…
Researchers Marvel at Godwit’s Migratory Flight
Tens of thousands of bar-tailed godwits are taking advantage of favourable winds in September and October for their annual migration from the mud flats and muskeg of southern Alaska, south across the vast expanse…
Flockhill Lodge Offers Majestic Sense of Place
“On New Zealand’s sparsely populated South Island, an alpine retreat has opened in the windswept Craigieburn Valley,” Michaela Trimble writes for The New York Times. “Flanked by three ski fields in the Craigieburn Range…
Even in Liberal-Leaning NZ Anglican Church Divided
Divisions over the acceptance of homosexuality have raised doubts about whether the Anglican Church can remain united, a conflict that has played out both on a global level and inside even liberal-leaning countries like…
How Our Climate Fight Threatens Iconic Farmland
As New Zealand puts a growing price on greenhouse emissions, investors are rushing to buy up pastures and plant carbon-sucking trees, Serena Solomon reports for a story published in The New York Times. So-called carbon…
Haunting Black Grace Dances Different Kind of Buzz
In a New York Times review of their recent Joyce Theater show, Gia Kourlos describes Black Grace’s two Big Apple premieres as at times, “moody” and “breathtaking”. “This was especially true in ‘O Le Olaga…
NZ Inflation Research Discussed in NY Times
“What’s worse, higher inflation or higher unemployment?” Peter Coy asks in The New York Times. “The answer is actually pretty straightforward: Higher unemployment is worse than higher inflation if you go by the feelings…
Surgeon Harold Gillies Worked Wonders in WWI
Lindsey Fitzharris’ new book The Facemaker recounts the life and work of the pioneering reconstructive surgeon New Zealander Harold Gillies, a specialist in mending those who survived the mechanised slaughter of World War I…
Sam Neill and Friends Return to Jurassic Park
Though nearly three decades have passed since New Zealander Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum starred in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 dinosaur epic, that series-starter still manages to resonate in impressive ways. Now, five…
What Makes Taika Waititi Run and Run and Run?
The Thor: Love and Thunder director, New Zealander Taika Waititi, can’t say no – to starring in Our Flag Means Death, making a soccer movie, writing a Star Wars idea, adapting Roald Dahl. For…
Auē a Striking Tapestry of Fierce Love
Coming-of-age novels set among the Métis community in Canada, the Māori population in New Zealand and the Crow Nation in Montana were recently reviewed by The New York Times. According to Gregory Brown writing…
Rocket Lab Grabs Booster With a Helicopter
Rocket Lab aims to join Elon Musk’s SpaceX in reusing rocket boosters, which can lower costs and increase the frequency of launching to orbit, Kenneth Chang writes for The New York Times. The small…
Hamish McKenzie and Substack Colleagues Chat Growth
Subscription publishing platform Substack, co-founded by New Zealander Hamish McKenzie (pictured left), finds itself no longer a wunderkind but a company facing a host of challenges, Tiffany Hsu writes for The New York Times….
Photographers Chase New Zealand’s Glowing Waves
Capturing bioluminescence, a phenomenon in which glowing algae give crashing waves an electric blue glow, requires technical skill and a bit of luck, Mike Ives reports in an article for The New York Times….
Star of 32 Sounds is Composer Annea Lockwood
New Zealand-born composer and academic musician Annea Lockwood features in American filmmaker Sam Green’s documentary about the physics and emotions attached to sound. The film, called 32 Sounds, recently screened at the Brooklyn Academy…
Aldous Harding’s Latest a NY Times Critic’s Pick
“On her fourth album, Warm Chris, the New Zealand singer and songwriter delivers unpredictable but enchanting vocals and enigmatic lyrics that revel in simplicity,” Lindsay Zoladz writes in a music review for…
Bruce Glavovic Urges Climate Scientists to Strike
Sometimes, Massey University professor Dr Bruce Glavovic feels so proud to be an environmental scientist, studying coastal planning and teaching future researchers, that it moves him to tears. Other times, he wonders whether any…
Gender Revolution Brewing in New Zealand Rugby
One in five rugby players in New Zealand are now women, and their numbers are rising. But persistent stereotypes are proving hard to dismantle, Pete McKenzie reports for a feature in the print issue…
Hundreds Held After New Zealand-Led Investigation
A two-year investigation led by the Department of Internal Affairs in New Zealand has resulted in the arrests of hundreds of people around the globe on charges of possessing and sharing child sexual abuse…
Pandemic Effects Roil Aotearoa – End in Sight
A full two years into the pandemic and New Zealand has been roiled by the mass arrival of the Omicron variant, economic stress in the tourism and hospitality and agricultural sectors, protests against mandate…
The New York Times Sends the World to Northland
In Northland, “cultural lessons await, as do hot springs where visitors can recharge body and soul,” according to Daniel Scheffler writing for The New York Times. The region is included in the publication’s 2022…
Revival for Moriori Pushed Close to Cultural Death
On the windswept coast of Chatham Island stands a statue of a thick-jowled, cheerful man, his gaze fixed on the endless sea stretched before him, Pete McKenzie writes for The New York Times. The memorial…
