New Zealand Listener

New Zealand Listener is the country’s most respected general interest magazine, bringing you a wide variety of news, stories, columns, reviews, plus TV listings, every week.

Masthead

Emotional rescue • Don’t panic if you’re not panicking when those around you are crumbling.

The final countdown

Bright Lines

Quips & Quotes

10 Quick Questions

Noughts and crossies • Because this issue circulates on voting day, we further investigate the 2026 election, where the wait to form a government continues.

New-fangled ideas

Advance to Australia fair

It never rains but it pours

‘I do the big stuff’ • New York designer Eddie Opara, in Auckland for a recent conference, loves to blow people’s minds with his designs.

Plastic band-aid • Many of us see recycling as the best way we can help to save the planet. But with plastics, are we doing more harm than good?

‘A Revolution Needs To Happen’

Not Sorted • A proportion of the plastics we put out for recycling still ends up in landfill.

Art attack • A battle to save a ceramic mosaic in a condemned Wellington building highlights the lack of protection for beloved artworks in public places.

Truths be told • A shameful saga of race murders largely ignored has finally been exposed, thanks to a book and now a Martin Scorsese film.

A time of miracles • A remarkable account of how two families survived the horrors of Nazi and Soviet rule.

Top 10 Non-Fiction

Calling the tune • A beautifully constructed account of the life of one of the country’s foremost composers.

Short cuts

Family matters • Historical events weave seamlessly through this elegant novel set during challenging times in France and Morocco.

Bestsellers

Thicker than water • Families and relationships take centre stage once again in Irish writer Anne Enright’s eighth novel.

That was then, this is now • A Covid-times roadtrip was the catalyst for reflections on past lives and the threat of climate change.

Pride of places

Spinning Topp yarns • The open book that has been the Topp Twins’ existence is now an actual one. The Dames ponder their back pages.

A real test of characters • The Twins’ most beloved characters were poles apart socially but they captured their souls perfectly.

Snapshots of country girls • Jools and Lynda’s rural roots have stayed with them all their lives.

Angry in the eighties • Turbulent times taught them that being political carried some strength.

Beat the retreat • How witnessing the evacuation of Kabul inspired a diplomat turned songwriter. 

Once more with feeling • Dimmer and the Chills deliver fresh new spins on their debut albums.

Shear joy in farming • A ‘slightly grittier Country Calendar’ focuses on women’s lives on the farm.

Dreaming big • Viewers can expect to hear less of Tom Webster as he brings the next season of Grand Designs to our screens.

Tv Picks of the week

Spectacle of life • A smattering of Spielberg magic makes this series a cut above the rest.

Tv Films

Saturday October 21

Sunday October 22

Monday October 23

Tuesday October 24

Wednesday October 25

Thursday October 26

Friday October 27

Radio October 21-27

Doomed romance • The Christchurch performance of the wellloved Purcell opera will be “full of bangers”.

Turning blue is bad for your health • Packaged blue cheese has been designed that way; cheese that’s gone mouldy through incorrect storage can kill.

Nutrition bites

Top table treats • Tangleby Gardens’ owner Sue Heazlewood has put together a second...