RNZ: Saturday Morning

Neal Stephenson is an American writer, known for his fiction works, which have been variously categorized science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. Stephenson explores areas such as mathematics, cryptography, philosophy, currency, and the history of science. He also writes non-fiction articles about science, technology, and culture. In the past he has worked part-time at Blue Origin and Intellectual Ventures Labs; he's currently Magic Leap's Chief Futurist. His new work, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O (co-written with Nicole Galland) will be published in June. Various screen adaptations of his books are in the works including a film project based on his most well-known novel Seveneves. Neal Stephenson has joined the line-up for this year's Techweek'17, and will be keynote speaker at Future Realities, a mixed reality and IoT (internet of Things) conference, in Wellington on May 10. Stephenson is also visiting New Zealand as part of the New Zealand Film Commission's GPS 2026 Project, which aims to spark discussion about the future of the screen industry.

Andrew Norman Wilson is a biographer, novelist, journalist and essayist. Initially drawn to the teaching profession and priesthood, Wilson published his first novel, The Sweets of Pimlico, in 1977. Since then, he's published over 50 works of fiction and nonfiction, across subjects ranging from the Bible to Queen Elizabeth II and Iris Murdoch. The television drama Victoria was based on his biography of the monarch, and recent work includes the novel Resolution, and a biography of Charles Darwin. He is a regular voice on BBC radio, and a columnist across many titles, including the Daily Mail, Telegraph, the Times Literary Supplement, and The Spectator. A.N Wilson will be in New Zealand for the Auckland Writers Festival, featuring at events from May 19-21st.

Dr. Lobsang Sangay was born and grew up in a Tibetan settlement near Darjeeling. He was a Fullbright Scholar, obtaining a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D) from Harvard Law School - the first Tibetan to ever do so. A scholar of conflict resolution, he's organised seven major conferences among Chinese, Tibetan, Indian and Western scholars including two unprecedented meetings between the Dalai Lama and Chinese scholars in 2003 and 2009 at Harvard University. Chief executive of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile since 2011, Dr Sangay became Tibet's highest leader (Sikyong) at the request of the Dalai Lama - and was re-elected as Sikyong for a second term in 2016. Dr Sangay has been in New Zealand to give public talks about the state of relations between China and Tibet to audiences in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.

Frances Hardinge spent a large part of her childhood in a huge old house that inspired her to write strange stories from an early age. She read English at Oxford University, then got a job at a software company. A few years later, a persistent friend persuaded her to send a few chapters of Fly By Night, her first children's novel, to a publisher. Macmillan made her an immediate offer. The book went on to publish to huge critical acclaim and win the Branford Boase First Novel Award. Hardinge has since written many highly acclaimed children's novels including, Fly By Night's sequel, Twilight Robbery, as well as the Carnegie shortlisted Cuckoo Song. She was the first children's author in 14 years to win the Costa Book of the Year in 2015 with The Lie Tree. Frances Hardinge will be appearing at the Auckland Writers Festival on the 20th and 21st of May.

Lorde's second album - which has already produced two hit singles - is out next month. She talks to Kim Hill about feeling free, hearing colours and the oddness of some of her "spicy" fan mail.

Campbell McLachlan, QC, is professor of Law at Victoria University, teaching international law and dispute settlement. He is author of Foreign Relations Law - the first modern study of this field in relation to the UK and the Commonwealth, and  was the only living author whose book was cited (with approval) by the majority in the judgment of the UK Supreme Court on Brexit in Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union in January.  Prof. McLachlan talks to Kim about a week that has seen a war of words escalate between the Conservative Government of Theresa May and the European Union over the conditions of their 'divorce'.  

A selection of feedback from today's show.

Alan Jansson - producer, songwriter, engineer, label owner, and musician, and the owner of Uptown Studios, in Auckland's Freeman's Bay - was someone local rock legend Graham Brazier had wanted to work with for years. After a massive crowdfunding effort, Alan's produced Left Turn at Midnite, the album Brazier had just finished before his death in September 2015, and a collection of songs many say are his finest ever. Left Turn at Midnite will be released on 5th May 2017.

The information we get about meat production usually comes from either those staunchly opposed to meat-eating or farmers themselves, says filmmaker David White. His new film MEAT tells the personal stories of 'the people behind the meat'.

Dr Dhananjayan (Danny) Sriskandarajah is the secretary general of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. 

Considered one of America's foremost contemporary writers, George Saunders has just published his first novel Lincoln in the Bardo to critical acclaim.

Arthur Tompkins is a District Court judge, and editor of Art Crime and its Prevention: A Handbook for Collectors and Art Professionals (Lund Humphries). He has a special interest in crimes involving artistic masterpieces, and writes a bi-monthly series of articles in the online magazine Versopolis about stolen masterpieces now back on public display. He'll talk to Kim about the theft of Raphael's Sistine Madonna, one of the world's most famous paintings after the Mona Lisa, and its eventual return to Dresden, where it had been purchased Elector of Saxony Frederich August II in the mid 18th century.

Jazz singer Mary Coughlan is regarded as an Irish national treasure, who is also treasured for her extraordinary candour. She'll talk about her best-selling autobiography Bloody Mary at this year's Auckland Writer's Festival.

Piet Chielens is director of the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium. His team at the musuem are currently working on commemorations for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele. 

David Dougherty, who was wrongfully convicted of abducting and raping an 11 year old girl in 1993, has died. Donna Chisholm campaigned for Dougherty to be cleared and supporting him through his retrial and fight for compensation.