Sound Salad Podcast

Women of Inspiration in STEM - Lisa Hemopo - Women of Inspiration in STEM

AudiobooksNZ — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:15:00 +1200

In her role as a Technical Engineer - Civil, Lisa plays a key part in managing Orion's overhead power network. No two days are the same.

A note from the Author Simon Taylor - Chylgar

Simon Taylor — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 17:45:00 +1200

Boy and the Wolves of Chylgar

Book 1 in the Chylgar series

By Simon Taylor

For more information about Simon Taylor, his books, audiobooks, radio broadcasts and school storytelling, go to www.simontaylorstoryteller.com

Book Summary

An ordinary boy who hates his name. A boy who is drawn into the world of Chylgar, by the giant talking wolves who protect the Land. Aided by two village children, they ride the wolves on a perilous journey to seek a cure for the sickness that ails the wolf packs. Tracked by the Emperor's soldiers, and threatened by monstrous creatures, Boy discovers he has a special gift. Can he control the power? Can he protect the wolves? Will they be time? A journey of adventure and magic. Book 1 in the Chylgar series. Written and narrated by Simon Taylor Audiobook copyright 2023.

Produced and distributed by Audiobooks NZ www.audiobooks.com

Blindingly Obvious Chapter 2 - Blindingly Obvious The Audiobook Series

Minnie Baragwanath — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 00:15:00 +1200

This is the moving story of a woman who, throughout her life, has refused to be defined by what others think she can or cannot do. Minnie Baragwanath was diagnosed, at the age of 15, with a congenital condition that left her legally blind. However, she did not meekly accept the limitations that blindness might have imposed on her: instead, she dug in her heels and set about improving not only her own life but also the lives of all New Zealanders with access needs. The dramatic events of Minnie’s life – losing her sight, being admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Japan at 19, becoming a television presenter, participating in the New York Marathon, surviving life-threatening illnesses, founding and leading innovative organisations, receiving prestigious awards (including the New Zealand Order of Merit) – are related in vivid detail. Minnie looks candidly at both her challenges and her triumphs, giving the reader the opportunity to share her exceptional experiences. This book has the potential to change our views of what ‘disability’ means. Minnie’s far-reaching ideas on how our society could be transformed – to everyone’s benefit – are not just intellectual speculations: they are based on her experiences and on those of the many people with disability with whom she has worked. There is a growing demand for information about ‘diversity and inclusion’. This book, with its keen insight into what it means to be in a meaningful relationship ‘with’ one another, and in particular how we as a society choose to relate to leaders and pioneers of a more progressive world, breaks new ground on those subjects.

Written By: Minnie Baragwanath

For more about Minnie go to www.minnieb.co.nz

Read By: Romy Hooper

Produced and Distributed by Audiobooks New Zealand

To make your audiobook or podcast go to www.audiobooksnz.com

Blindingly Obvious Chapter 1 - Blindingly Obvious The Audiobook Series

Minnie Baragwanath — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 00:30:00 +1200

Written By: Minnie Baragwanath

For more about Minnie go to www.minnieb.co.nz

Read By: Romy Hooper

Produced and Distributed by Audiobooks New Zealand

To make your audiobook or podcast go to www.audiobooksnz.com

Blindingly Obvious By Minnie B Introduction - Blindingly Obvious The Audiobook Series

Minnie Baragwanath — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 00:15:00 +1200

Written By: Minnie Baragwanath

For more about Minnie go to www.minnieb.co.nz

Read By: Romy Hooper

Produced and Distributed by Audiobooks New Zealand

To make your audiobook or podcast go to www.audiobooksnz.com

Tossing it with Minnie Baragwanath

Audiobooks New Zealand — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 13:00:00 +1200

I was delighted to be the narrator for Minnie's autobiographical book Blindingly Obvious which tells of her travels and stories as a partially sighted woman and access advocate, and her quest to build a more equitable and accessible world. The book was destined to be the countries ‘most accessible published book’ to date - which I believe it is, given that it's available as a printed text, an audiobook, it's the first full non-fiction book to be translated into NZ sign language, it is soon to be released episodically as a podcast series and will be coming to a Braille and e-braille format as well. The next step is te reo Māori, other global languages and beyond.

Check out her work at www.minnieb.co.nz or contact her at minnie@minnieb.co.nz

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Tossing it with Theo Gibson - AI Audiobook Production

Audiobooks New Zealand — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 15:30:00 +1200

We’re chatting about the impending doom that is the use of artificial intelligence and cloned or computer-generated voices as replacements for narrators and actors in the audiobook industry.

Join me as I talk through the nitty gritty with Theo Gibson, founder and head of AudiobooksNZ, who has a breadth of experience and opinion on the subject of AI and what it means for the audio publishing industry. We share some horror stories and what we can expect as we move ahead with the knowledge that AI is here to stay, we just have to learn to live with it and safely protect ourselves from being exploited as it continues to learn from the infinite melting pot of content and information available on it’s feeding ground; the internet. We’re hopeful the layperson - or indeed any human who enjoys listening to long-form content, podcasts, audiobooks and stories can become advocates for the continued use of human voices, instead of letting us be taken over by robots.

Tossing it with Rahul Rai

Audiobooks New Zealand — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 10:30:00 +1200

Our first episode for 2023 features Rahul Rai with his new book: Repurpose Me, Your Path to a Contentment Mindset.

Do you take life too seriously even though you know it is so temporary? Have you found yourself postponing the things that you really want to do? Do you ever wish you could enjoy your work a little more or wonder where to find purpose, happiness, or just contentment? After a near-death health experience and living through the horror of the Christchurch earthquakes, Rahul Rai started to look at the bigger purpose of all we do. As always, thanks so much to @audiobooksnz for making Sound Salad possible!

Tossing it With Karen McMillan

Audiobooks New Zealand — Sat, 28 May 2022 01:00:00 +1200

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

Tossing it with Rosy Fenwicke

Audiobooks New Zealand — Sat, 21 May 2022 01:00:00 +1200

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

Tossing it with Linn Lorkin

Audiobooks New Zealand — Sat, 30 Apr 2022 01:00:00 +1200

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 and https://www.facebook.com/linn.lorkin

Tossing it with David Whittet

Audiobooks New Zealand — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 14:45:00 +1200

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 davidwhittet.com or AudiobooksNZ.co.nz

Tossing it with Peter Dowling

Audiobooks New Zealand — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +1200

“When we started, we said: We’re not going to give up. Publish it with us, and we’ll show your book to the world.”

Guest number 10 for ya's!

An independent publisher since 2008, Peter Dowling has been an editor for book and magazine publishers in Japan and the UK, he’s been a contract editor and writer with specialisation in Asia, Latin America and Oceania too. (Helped by the fact that he is IMPRESSIVELY multi-lingual, speaking English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Māori.) A Christchurch man, Peter has MA (Hons) and MBA (Distinction) degrees. He also does charitable work as executive director of Te Potiki National Trust, and was previously president of the Publishers Association of New Zealand and Publishing Manager of Reed Publishing (NZ.) That’s all in the past though! Currently, Peter is the Founder and Publisher for Oratia! Woohoo!!

Tossing it with Ghazaleh Golbakhsh

Audiobooks New Zealand — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 12:00:00 +1200

This week I’m stoked to have my long-time dear and close friend Ghazaleh Golbakhsh chiming into the show remotely - gosh darn Covid levels aye.

Ghaz is: a kick-arse writer, screenwriter, director/filmmaker, academic/Fulbright scholar, and she completed her PhD by creative practice in Media, Film and Television at University of Auckland, researching the topic ‘Monsters, Slackers, Lovers: Exploring cultural identity in Iranian diasporic cinema from 2007-2017.’ Oh, she is also a current director and actor in New Zealand’s longest-running soap ‘Shortland Street.’

Tossing it with Craig Gamble

Audiobooks New Zealand — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 01:00:00 +1200

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.

Tossing it with Kathryn Burnett

Audiobooks New Zealand — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 13:00:00 +1200

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!

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Tossing it with Martin Crump

Audiobooks New Zealand — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 13:00:00 +1200

"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....

Tossing it with Pip McKay, author of The Telling Time

Audiobooks New Zealand — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +1200

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! :)

Tossing it with Narrator Paul Barrett

Audiobooks New Zealand — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +1200

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

Tossing it with Josh Nathan

Audiobooks New Zealand — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 22:21:00 +1200

‘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...

Tossing it with Micheil Reid

Audiobooks New Zealand — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 13:00:00 +1200

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.

Sound Salad Begins with host Romy Hooper

Audiobooks New Zealand — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 07:10:00 +1200

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.