Kōrero: Arts reviewing

This is the cover of the first issue of the New Zealand Listener, dated 30 June 1939. The Listener published schedules of radio programmes, but also established a reputation for serious reviews of literature, drama and music by well-known writers (although it paid little attention to reviewing radio programmes). The magazine’s film critic, Gordon Mirams, was perhaps New Zealand’s only serious film critic in the early 1940s. The Listener continues to provide a range of serious reviews.