Join Tracey and friends as they share some of their favourite short stories from Aotearoa - from Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Phyllis Johnston, Katherine Mansfield and more.
Join us for Part One of One Summer Morning by Witi Ihimaera when the young Hema discovers puberty. From moments of rebellious response to one of inquiry, this story will resonate with us all on our youth.
11 Mar 2026
Wā Kōrero: Tangi
Tangi by Witi Ihimaera tells the story of grief of Tama, of his father as news of his death comes as an expected loss. Reconnection with tangata whenua and identity as the eldest son plays heavy in his heart.
4 Mar 2026
Wā Kōrero: Witi Ihimaera - The Child
Join Tracey and friends as they share some of their favourite short stories from Aotearoa - from Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Phyllis Johnston, Katherine Mansfield and more.
25 Feb 2026
Wā Kōrero: The Beginning of the Tournament
Join us for the next instalment of Wa Kōrero - the podcast that shares some of NZ’s best short stories from writers known and unknown. Sit back, relax and transported into a world of imagination, reflection and storytelling.
18 Feb 2026
Wā Kōrero: Pot Plants
The Pot Plants By Shirley Edge tells the story of a young middle to upper class teenager who becomes a tenant and all goes wrong with the tenancy and she offers every excuse under the sun.
11 Feb 2026
Wā Kōrero: Up the River
Up the River with Mrs Gallant by Barbara Anderson is the latest short story featured on Wa Kōrero. This story speaks of an outing on the Whanganui River with a group of friends where a day not necessary planned comes to light.
4 Feb 2026
Wā Kōrero: Discontinuous Lives
Hawkes Bay writer, Barbara Anderson’s Discontinuous Lives is our story today that shares a reconnection of childhood friends when they come together at a relatives funeral.
28 Jan 2026
Wā Kōrero: The Internment / Bike Ride to Dannevirke
Kevin Barry’s short stories The Internment and Bike Ride to Dannevirke feature today on Wā Korero. The former tells of small town life growing up in NZ with migrants settling into life and dealing with societal acceptance. The latter, Bike Ride to Dannevirke shares the fun of two young men setting off a journey of life’s experiences.
21 Jan 2026
Wā Kōrero: Pony Cub & Fool's Gold
Two short stories by Masterton based writer, Kevin Barry. Pony Club and Fool’s Gold will evoke memories of country life growing up in small town Aotearoa, from the fun of learning to ride and participating at the local A&P Show to thinking you’ve hit the jackpot when you find a gold nugget!
14 Jan 2026
Wā Kōrero: The Hole / Expunge
Regan Drew Barsdell, a novice New Zealand writer living between the sea and the mountains, draws on personal experience to create evocative, original fiction — his short story The Hole, which placed runner-up in the 2017 New Zealand Writers College (NZWC) Short Story Competition, uses a deceptively simple image of a hole in the ground to carry the weight of loss, memory and regret. Meanwhile John Drennan — who after years working in newspapers and logistics began writing more seriously and placed first runner-up in the 2010 NZWC competition — offers Expunge, a story of sudden, dramatic loss when a catastrophic event destroys the lives around the narrator, forcing him to reckon with grief, destruction, and the fragility of everyday life. In combining Barsdell’s reflective, character-driven sorrow with Drennan’s visceral portrayal of disaster and its aftermath, the two stories — and their authors — show different but equally powerful ways fiction can examine trauma, memory, and what remains after tragedy.
7 Jan 2026
Wā Kōrero: The Game Of Cards / Tell Me About The Love Of Your Life
Witi Ihimaera, one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most celebrated writers, is known for weaving Māori culture, family, and identity into vivid everyday storytelling, as seen in The Game of Cards, where a young boy watches his aunties’ lively, gossip-filled card game and comes to understand the warmth and strength of whānau bonds. Similarly, migrant Indonesian writer, Feby Idrus brings emotional honesty and quiet reflection to her work; in Tell Me About the Love of Your Life, a simple conversation between strangers unfolds into a thoughtful exploration of love, memory, and the personal stories that shape how we see ourselves and others.
31 Dec 2025
Wā Kōrero: The Whale
Witi Ihimaera, often celebrated as the first Māori novelist, is a major figure in New Zealand literature whose work explores whakapapa, cultural identity, community, and the deep connections between people and the natural world. His short story The Whale centres on a kaumatua who, facing his own mortality, reflects on the importance of Tikanga. Through the kaumatua's perspective, Ihimaera weaves themes of kaitiakitanga, compassion, and the sacred relationship between whānau. Together, his distinctive storytelling and the emotional resonance of The Whale illustrate the strength of Māori narrative traditions and the importance of interdependence between all living things.
24 Dec 2025
Wā Kōrero: The Bird Child
Patricia Grace (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Te Āti Awa) is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most influential writers, known for her lyrical, understated storytelling that captures the richness of Māori life and identity. Her short story The Bird Child follows a young girl who becomes enchanted by a newborn baby she imagines as a “bird child,” viewing him with wonder while subtly revealing the family’s everyday tensions. Together, Grace’s distinctive voice and the story’s gentle, child-centred perspective highlight themes of innocence, imagination and the quiet complexities of whānau life. Today we hear an extract from this story.
17 Dec 2025
Wā Kōrero: The Doll's House / The Terrible Screaming
Katherine Mansfield was one of Aotearoa's most famous short story writers. Influenced by the likes of Virginia Woolf and other writers of her time, her short stories demonstrate a slice of life growing up in NZ at the turn of the 19th Century. Today, The Doll's House features as our first story. The Terrible Screaming is one of Janet Frame's more psychological short stories. From the collection Owls do Cry, this Dunedin writer was open about her own mental health struggles diagnosed with Schizophrenia at a young age.
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