The Writer's Notebook with Karyn Hay

Karyn Hay’s new podcast looks at what makes writers tick. She asks local and international writers, including Sam Hunt and Andrew Fagan to select a book, poem or song lyric that has influenced them, then to do a reading from that work and break it down. What inspires these writers, and what makes particular pieces of writing so very good? Alexa Forbes turns the tables on Karyn to learn about the motivations behind her varied career.

Karyn Hay is a well-known New Zealand author and broadcaster. She came to fame as the presenter of 1980s music TV show Radio with Pictures where she was reputedly the first television presenter to speak with a New Zealand accent. She continued advocating for the music industry while building her career as a writer. She has written three novels and published four short story collections. She won the Best First Book Award in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2001 and was awarded a Frank Sargeson Fellowship in 2004. Karyn was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to broadcasting and the music industry in 2019.

Alexa Forbes arrived in Tāhuna Queenstown in 1986 and enjoyed careers in music, journalism, radio announcing and public relations before retraining in sustainability and tertiary education. A fan of arts, sports, community, the environment and the interconnectedness of all things, Alexa works at Otago Polytechnic, and also represents environment and community as a regional councillor.