Elspeth Sandys's guest appearances

Elspeth Sandys

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Andrew Geddis

Anne Salmond

James Cook

Stephen Clarke

Rewi Alley

Charlotte Grimshaw

Annette Lees

Witi Ihimaera

Joanne Drayton

Tessa Duder

Auckland Grammar

Taika Waititi

Ava Duvernay

Tara Westover

Glennon Doyle

OwlTail

Rewi Alley, a quiet bloke from Canterbury, a dabbler in poetry, a farmer, fireman and soldier went "to go and have a look at China" and ended up becoming the architect of one of the world's greatest labour movements. In her book A Communist in the Family: Searching for Rewi Alley, Rewi's cousin Elspeth Sandys presents a layered biography of the Kiwi who became a Chinese hero and "the great friend of the people of China". New Zealand has Special Nation Status in China entirely because of Rewi Alley and his work.In conversation with New Zealand Herald investigative reporter Matt Nippert, Sandys recounts her 2017 visit to China to trace her cousin’s life there. On that visit, she was told there were more statues of Rewi than Mao Zedong. While she thought it an exaggeration, it certainly seemed possible in China’s North West.Intrigued by what he had read about China, Alley left New Zealand in December 1926 to see the Chinese revolution up close. He would stay for 60 years, becoming one of China's best-known and best-loved foreigners. In his first decade there, he worked variously as a fire officer, factory inspector and relief worker, labouring among the Chinese and trying to improve their living and working conditions. He came to greater prominence during the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, after he was involved in efforts to found the Association of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (INDUSCO), commonly known by the slogan Alley coined, ‘Gung Ho/Work Together'. Gung Ho aimed to organise small-scale self-supporting cooperatives which created employment for workers, while continuing production to support resistance against the Japanese.In the following decades he worked tirelessly to elevate the lot of the working people of China. Before and after his death in 1987, both the New Zealand and Chinese governments honoured Alley for his work in China and have continued to do so in recent decades, with commemorative events in 1997 and 2007.

Rewi Alley, a quiet bloke from Canterbury, a dabbler in poetry, a farmer, fireman and soldier went "to go and have a look at China" and ended up becoming the architect of one of the world's greatest labour movements. In her book A Communist in the Family: Searching for Rewi Alley, Rewi's cousin Elspeth Sandys presents a layered biography of the Kiwi who became a Chinese hero and "the great friend of the people of China". New Zealand has Special Nation Status in China entirely because of Rewi Alley and his work. In conversation with New Zealand Herald investigative reporter Matt Nippert, Sandys recounts her 2017 visit to China to trace her cousin’s life there. On that visit, she was told there were more statues of Rewi than Mao Zedong. While she thought it an exaggeration, it certainly seemed possible in China’s North West. Intrigued by what he had read about China, Alley left New Zealand in December 1926 to see the Chinese revolution up close. He would stay for 60 years, becoming one of China's best-known and best-loved foreigners. In his first decade there, he worked variously as a fire officer, factory inspector and relief worker, labouring among the Chinese and trying to improve their living and working conditions. He came to greater prominence during the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, after he was involved in efforts to found the Association of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (INDUSCO), commonly known by the slogan Alley coined, ‘Gung Ho/Work Together'. Gung Ho aimed to organise small-scale self-supporting cooperatives which created employment for workers, while continuing production to support resistance against the Japanese. In the following decades he worked tirelessly to elevate the lot of the working people of China. Before and after his death in 1987, both the New Zealand and Chinese governments honoured Alley for his work in China and have continued to do so in recent decades, with commemorative events in 1997 and 2007.

Elspeth Sandys: Rewi Alley - Chinese Revolutionary

In her striking work of creative nonfiction What Lies Beneath, novelist, short story writer, scriptwriter and playwright Elspeth Sandys shares her voyage into memoir and its complex relationship with memory. At Going West in 2015, Sandys was joined in conversation by old friend and Festival founder Murray Gray.Eloquent and humorous, she talks of her search for an emotional truth, uncovering the story of her birth parents, reimagining the past and the power of the landscape. Elspeth declares that she is fascinated by what we forget, and that who we are is largely conditioned by what we forget as much as what we remember.Elspeth Sandys has had many names. Born Frances Hilton James in 1940, she became Elspeth Sandilands Somerville on the occasion of her adoption into the prominent Dunedin Somerville clan at the age of nine months. The circumstances of her birth and adoption, and their impact on her childhood, are the subject of the first volume of her memoir, What Lies Beneath.While Elspeth was happy among the ebullient and welcoming Somerville clan, she had a difficult relationship with her adoptive mother, who was frequently hospitalised with mental health problems. Elspeth’s search for her birth parents did not begin until much later in her adult life. What she discovered after an exhaustive search provided answers that were both disturbing and, ultimately, rewarding. What Lies Beneath is a searing, amusing, and never less than gripping tale of a difficult life, beautifully told.The author of nine novels, two collections of short stories, numerous plays and adaptations for the BBC and RNZ and scripts for film and television, in 2006 Elspeth was made an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit for Services to literature.

In her striking work of creative nonfiction What Lies Beneath, novelist, short story writer, scriptwriter and playwright Elspeth Sandys shares her voyage into memoir and its complex relationship with memory. At Going West in 2015, Sandys was joined in conversation by old friend and Festival founder Murray Gray. Eloquent and humorous, she talks of her search for an emotional truth, uncovering the story of her birth parents, reimagining the past and the power of the landscape. Elspeth declares that she is fascinated by what we forget, and that who we are is largely conditioned by what we forget as much as what we remember. Elspeth Sandys has had many names. Born Frances Hilton James in 1940, she became Elspeth Sandilands Somerville on the occasion of her adoption into the prominent Dunedin Somerville clan at the age of nine months. The circumstances of her birth and adoption, and their impact on her childhood, are the subject of the first volume of her memoir, What Lies Beneath. While Elspeth was happy among the ebullient and welcoming Somerville clan, she had a difficult relationship with her adoptive mother, who was frequently hospitalised with mental health problems. Elspeth’s search for her birth parents did not begin until much later in her adult life. What she discovered after an exhaustive search provided answers that were both disturbing and, ultimately, rewarding. What Lies Beneath is a searing, amusing, and never less than gripping tale of a difficult life, beautifully told. The author of nine novels, two collections of short stories, numerous plays and adaptations for the BBC and RNZ and scripts for film and television, in 2006 Elspeth was made an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit for Services to literature.

Elspeth Sandys: What Lies Beneath

Rewi Alley – the great New Zealander that no New Zealanders know about.Deeply respected in China, Alley left his birth home of New Zealand in 1927 and moved to Shanghai to have a look at the Chinese Revolution.He became a member of the Communist Party of China and dedicated 60 years of his life to the country and the causeIn the 1980s, Alley was honoured in both New Zealand and China for his workIn 2017, his cousin, author Elspeth Sandys, along with other family members, travelled to China to mark the 90th anniversary of Rewi’s arrival in Shanghai.From that trip, Sandys has written a new book. She joined Andrew Dickens to discuss A Communist in the Family: Searching for Rewi Alley.LISTEN ABOVE

Rewi Alley – the great New Zealander that no New Zealanders know about. Deeply respected in China, Alley left his birth home of New Zealand in 1927 and moved to Shanghai to have a look at the Chinese Revolution. He became a member of the Communist Party of China and dedicated 60 years of his life to the country and the cause In the 1980s, Alley was honoured in both New Zealand and China for his work In 2017, his cousin, author Elspeth Sandys, along with other family members, travelled to China to mark the 90th anniversary of Rewi’s arrival in Shanghai. From that trip, Sandys has written a new book. She joined Andrew Dickens to discuss A Communist in the Family: Searching for Rewi Alley. LISTEN ABOVE