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First ep of the year - woohoo! I was chuffed to finally speak with David Whittet - the author of recently released Gang Girl, who also happens to be a filmmaker and a family doctor to boot. When David came to Audiobooks NZ to have Gang Girl produced, I was lucky enough to be the narrator for his protagonist Alicia’s side of the story. It’s as good a listen as it is a read! Check it out on http://davidwhittet.com/ (davidwhittet.com) or http://audiobooksnz.co.nz/ (AudiobooksNZ.co.nz)

Linn Lorkin is one of our most notoriously successful musical treasures; singer, songwriter, actor and linguist, with residencies in Copenhagen, Naples and New York, she’s been accused of being ‘good at too many things,’ but most notably, fans appreciate her writing. Linn was taught to play the piano by her mother, and claims ‘if you train when you’re young, you never forget it.’ Hearing Nina Simone and feeling starved for artistic company or creative peers, she knew she had to get offshore. A scholarship from the French Government allowed her to do just that, albeit to explore the world of linguistic academia. Destined to be an artist, she made her way to London in the swinging 60’s and began making up for lost time, meeting and partying with the greatest of characters. Music followed her wherever she went and she performed extensively. By fluke, she got her first job in Copenhagen after asking to sing with the resident band. They offered her 20 crona for 8 songs a night. These weren’t originals however, and it wasn’t until an evening in New York, listening to Joan Armitrading while feeling a bit down on life, that she took pen to paper. She wrote 12 songs in a fortnight, established her prolific stance as a singer-songwriter within her communities and the rest, as they say, is history. For someone who was seen as a ‘junkie or a lesbian’ for wielding an electric keyboard at her performances - arguably one of the only women at the time doing so - this must have felt in some way vindicating. Linn still loves to stand out in a crowd, and has always paired her flaming red locks with beautiful vintage garments that appear as a running motif throughout her memoir. As is her music; hand-picked from her extensive repertoire of original compositions that have seen their way into her shows all over the world, and lovingly reproduced as stings to begin most chapters, indicating the style or tone of the next part of the story. From the front page of the NZ Herald, to a 6 month stint in an Italian prison, lovesick mishaps and rowdy celebrity riddled parties, Linn’s experiences and travels really do appear to rival that of Gulliver. And this is only the first installment of her story, with a second in the pipeline documenting her return to the NZ music scene in the 80s. She is consummate in her vocation as a musician and performer, and continues to be a stalwart for music and performance where she currently resides in Tāmaki. You can catch Linn at Epolito’s Italian Restaurant on Richmond Rd on the last Tuesday of every month from 6pm-8pm, or at the Pt Chevalier RSA with her band the K’Rd Quartet for the Auckland Jazz and Blues club on Tuesdays, and often at Botticelli’s restaurant in Takapuna. Check out her Facebook pages for more information about upcoming gigs and events https://www.facebook.com/HeyPianoBarLady (https://www.facebook.com/HeyPianoBarLady) and https://www.facebook.com/linn.lorkin (https://www.facebook.com/linn.lorkin)

Season 2’s third episode of Sound Salad has us tossing it with Rosy Fenwicke. She’s made the shift from writing part time alongside a medical career, to working full time as a mystery and women’s fiction writer (The Euphemia Sage Chronicles; Hot Flush, Switched Up and Empty Nest, among other solo titles) and is the esteemed editor of ‘In Practise: The Lives of NZ Women Doctors in the 21st Century.’ Her recent cryptocurrency thriller ‘Cold Wallet’ is stocked on the shelves of your local bookstores and on Amazon, with the audiobook available through @AudiobooksNZ

Episode 4 has us tossing it with esteemed non-fiction and children’s fiction writer Karen McMillan. Having published in 9 countries she has a number of titles under her belt already, - almost 20, not to mention her Elastic Island series for younger readers, comprised of 6 titles all set to be released as audiobooks with the first coming out this month, narrated by beloved children’s entertainer Suzy Cato. You can access the audiobook @AudiobooksNZ

Welcome to Sound Salad, the interview podcast for all things spoken and all things heard. I’m Romy, nice to have you with us. Sound Salad is the brain-child of Theo Gibson, (founder and creator of Audiobooks NZ) and myself, Romy Hooper (actor, audiobook narrator, writer, fellow bibliophile) essentially because we thought it was about time that there was a decent, local podcast about audiobooks. One that didn’t centre around reviews, or that were simply audiobooks released in podcast format. While we may cover some of that stuff, we’re keener to be a bit niche and chat with those who work in the creation of audiobooks. The voices, the authors, the publishers, the engineers, the editors, readers and appreciators of the spoken word who all have the same thing in common - they’re lovers of aural storytelling.

Michiel first started working at the (then) Blind Foundation in 1976 at the age of 16, doing tape to tape transfers for the National Library as they adapted to a two-track system for print disabled people, (people who had difficulty holding books or reading them.) He desperately wanted to work in the library and fought out 3 other applicants to do so. He’s been in various spaces in the library since, and currently works in Accessible Format Services for (now) Blind + Low Vision NZ as a scanner operator, getting digital copies of books through to engineers. Now aged 60, he’s been working in and around the creation of audio content his entire professional life.

‘We turn pages, they press buttons.’This week my guest is Josh Nathan.Josh figured out at university that audio engineering was what he was going to focus his energies on, and has been a keen listener of all manner of recordings since. Beginning with the ‘sound side’ of music, (not surprising given his influential Uncle happened to be the drummer of iconic Kiwi reggae band ‘Herbs,’) he was looking to extend his engineering portfolio, when he saw that BLVNZ (Blind + Low Vision NZ) were advertising for a role...

This week our first narrator interview is with an amazing New Zealand actor, musical director, and vocal mimic, the artistically and musically adroit Paul Barrett chats to us about the role of the narrator in bringing a story to life for an auditory audience

Pip McKay is our next guest on Sound Salad, and one of our first authors! She self published her novel 'The Telling Time' over lockdown in 2020 and has won numerous awards since, featured at multiple events through our Writer's Festival circuit and has already developed her ideas towards a sequel. She's an awesome new addition to our literary sphere here, and isn't afraid to ask the hard questions about culture, sense of belonging and self in NZ as an immigrant, the places we find ourselves hunting for that sense of belonging, and where we sit as women in that exploration. Thanks for the chat Pip, we look forward to the next one! :)

"We’ve got a lot yet to tell, and see, and watch and listen to in this country. There’s such a lot more to tell."This week I chat with Martin Crump. Martin Crump is a writer, broadcaster and MC, and (among many other things) one of Barry’s Boys. His feature book, In Search of the Great Kiwi Yarn (2007), is a collection of thematically linked Kiwi stories that he claims he never even knew he could write, least of all deliver. But with his literary lineage, it was a shoo-in, and there were plenty of other projects that followed....

Today we’re speaking with a woman I admire hugely, she’s a powerhouse of productivity and advocacy and action and she’s always got time for sending the elevator down to help other writers at all levels of their creative journeys. She is many many things, public speaker, workshop facilitator, genius behind the Writing Room, but is primarily a screenwriter. Her credits include Fresh Eggs, The Tender Trap, Under the Vines, My Life is Murder and the Cul de Sac - to name a few. I’ll let her fill you in on the rest, welcome to the show Kathryn!

PANZ, otherwise known as The Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Taakupu They represent 80 trade, educational and digital publishers, and suppliers and consultants to our literary industry. The members range from local independents to large international publishers, educational and trade publishers, publishers for adults and for children. Collectively they create more than 2600 new, locally produced titles a year. We are lucky enough to have some time this afternoon with the Vice President and holder of the communications portfolio Craig Gamble.