RNZ: Saturday Morning

Josephine Johnston is the director of research at New York-based The Hastings Center, the world's first bioethics research institute. She is an expert on the ethical, legal, and policy implications of biomedical technologies, particularly as used in human reproduction, psychiatry, genetics, and neuroscience. Her current projects address the ethical implications of new kinds of prenatal genetic tests, the relationship between gene editing technologies and understandings of human flourishing, and the potential use of genetic sequencing technology in newborns. A New Zealand-trained lawyer with a master's degree in bioethics and health law from the University of Otago, Josephine Johnston will be in New Zealand in late September to give a series of talks about the ethics of gene editing for the Royal Society.

Jonathan Bielski, who began his career in theatre as a lighting designer in Palmerston North, has taken over the job of artistic director of the Auckland Arts Festival from Carla van Zon, and will lead programming of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 festivals. Most recently, Bielski was the project director for Auckland Theatre Company's new ASB Waterfront Theatre, and was at Sydney Opera House for 13 years as head of programming and then director of programming. Bielski has announced his first two shows in the March 2018 Festival, one a performance of the classic romantic ballet Giselle by the English National Ballet, choreographed by dance superstar Akram Khan, and the other a performance of George Orwell's 1984 by UK theatrical innovators Headlong.

This week, the woman credited with launching the second wave of the feminist movement, Kate Millett, died aged 82. Her 1970 book Sexual Politics sought to analyse patriarchal power in many ways, including deconstructing sex scenes written by three enormously influential male writers - Norman Mailer, D.H Lawrence and Henry Miller. The controversial book propelled her to fame and fortune but she remained ambivalent about her leading role in the feminist movement of the time. Maggie Doherty, a writer and academic based at Harvard University, has had work published in The New Republic, Dissent and the New Yorker. Last year she wrote an article defending the enduring legacy of Kate Millett's Sexual Politics for The New Republic.

Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi helped to set up the International Criminal Court, and it now its president. Her academic experience includes professorships of international criminal law at the universities of Buenos Aires and Palermo. Fernández was briefly in New Zealand this week to speak to the Auckland Law School, marking 15 years since the ICC's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, in 2002. The Court is busy with trials and investigations and has made some progress in addressing grave international crimes such as the use of child soldiers, sexual violence in conflict and the destruction of cultural property. Fernández also this week visits Samoa to attend the Pacific Islands Forum where she will put the case for eight non-member Pacific states - Kiribati, Micronesia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu - to become parties to the Rome Statute.

Kim Hill reads messages from listeners to the Saturday Morning programme.

Mary Kisler is the senior curator, Mackelvie Collection, International Art, at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. Along with Dr Ludovica Sebregond, she has curated a new exhibition at the gallery called The Corsini Collection. The works are drawn from the extensive private art collection of the eminent Corsini family in Florence, Italy, and include Renaissance and Baroque painting by artists such as Botticelli, Caravaggio, Andrea del Sarto and Pontormo. It is the first time this collection has toured outside Italy and the first time a Florentine private collection will be displayed in New Zealand.

Nick Malmholt is script producer on Shortland Street. Since he kissed goodbye to his career in journalism, Malmholt has worked as a writer, executive producer and creator on productions around the world including Neighbours, Bad Girls and the gold standard of soaps - Coronation Street. He joins Kim Hill to talk about mining the best and worst of humanity to write drama, and about life on Aotearoa's most successful soap opera.

Colorado company Sphero is leading the way in next-generation toys. They've produced a scaled-down version of the Star Wars characters BB-8 and R2-D2 and an educational robot called SPRK.

Rebecca Rudolph is a principal at Los Angeles firm Design, Bitches, an architectural design practise seeking to expand the definition of architecture. Rudolph and business partner Catherine Johnson co-founded Design, Bitches in 2010, and both are native Californians. The pair collaborate on projects that range in scale from brand identities to commercial spaces and residential and cultural buildings, and have won awards and acclaim for their eclectic style. Rudolph and Johnson will be keynote speakers at NZs inaugural Festival of Architecture (September 7- 17) and will give free public lectures in Auckland (September 11); Wellington (September 13) and Christchurch (September 15).

Rob Wilkins was British author Sir Terry Pratchett's assistant, business manager, and friend. When Sir Terry died in 2015 after a battle with Alzheimer's disease, he left instructions for his unfinished books to be destroyed - and not just destroyed, but 'steamrolled', to retain what he called the 'magic' of his work. A faithful observation of his wishes happened, when his hard drive was destroyed by a vintage steamroller named Lord Jericho at the Great Dorset Steam Fair. The crushed hard drive will be displayed at England's Salisbury Museum in September, as part of the exhibition, Terry Pratchett: His World. Sir Terry was thought to have left as many as 10 unfinished novels in some form after his death at age 66.

GNS Science geologists and geophysicists have added an eighth continent called Zealandia to the world map this year. At 4.9 million square kilometres - roughly the same size as India - it's the world's smallest continent, and 94 per cent of it is underwater. GNS Science and partners are embarking on a long-term programme to to probe the seafloor of the continent, with a string of six voyages just started under the banner of the International Ocean Discovery Program. GNS' Dr Stuart Henrys currently leads New Zealand's consortium of institutions that comprise membership of IODP and has served on its Science Evaluation Panel. Dr Chris Hollis is a paleontologist and paleoclimate scientist who led New Zealand's efforts to join the 23-nation International Ocean Discovery Program in 2008, participated in an expedition in 2012 and is one of the proponents on the current expedition in the north Tasman Sea.

Ian Shirley is Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, founder and member of the Policy Observatory and a former Pro Vice Chancellor at the Auckland University of Technology. Professor Shirley was New Zealand's first Professor of Social Policy and over the past three decades he has held foundation and personal chairs in public and social policy as well as visiting professorships and fellowships at a number of international academies. At AUT, Professor Shirley established the Institute of Public Policy and led the engagement of the institute with the formation of Auckland's Super-City, leading a research project reviewing Auckland's governance five years on from the establishment of the unitary council. Professor Shirley has led Ministerial Councils for both Labour and National administrations and participated as a member of research advisory boards and panels for the National Research Advisory Council, the Royal Society and the New Zealand Government's Bioethics Council. Professor Shirley's most recent initiative saw him establish a series of briefing papers and the building of a Policy Observatory based at AUT but engaging scholars from both New Zealand and overseas.

Kim reads messages from listeners to the Saturday Morning programme.

Ed Verner and wife Laura co-own Auckland eating establishment Pasture, which is not a bistro or restaurant in the traditional sense, but an eating 'experience' lasting around three hours where all food is cooked over an open fire. Up to 25 diners at a time eat a six-course set menu with paired wines or non-alcoholic drinks, and all food is made from scratch including bread made from grains ground on site and naturally fermented sodas. Pasture is a year old on August 5. Ed Verner is originally from Dorset in England, and has cooked at some of the world's top restaurants - before Pasture he worked under Sid Sahrawat at Sidart, one of Auckland's most popular fine-dining restaurants.

Reni Eddo-Lodge is a UK writer and journalist. In 2014, The Guardian listed her as one of the 30 most exciting people under 30 in digital media. She has also been listed in Elle magazine's '100 Inspirational Women' list, and The Root's 30 black viral voices under 30. In 2014, Eddo-Lodge wrote a blog post about her frustration with the way discussions of race and racism in Britain were being led by those who weren't affected by it. The post went viral and comments flooded in from others desperate to speak up about their own experiences. Galvanised by this clear hunger for open discussion, she decided to dig into the source of these feelings and write a book, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race. Eddo-Lodge will appear in discussion with playwright Victor Rodger as part of Shifting Points of View, a series of events staged jointly by WORD Christchurch and the Christchurch Arts Festival.