Elena Stejko is an actor, tutor and director.

Lexicographer Dianne Bardsley tells David Larsen about her love affair with words.

Funny, bossy 23-year-old crime writer and engineer has firm ideas on how he wants to be portrayed.

JK Rowling spoke yesterday of her anger after discovering that a lawyer at a firm that represents her had leaked the fact she had published a detective thriller under a false name.

A British law firm has admitted that one of its partners inadvertently leaked that J.K. Rowling had authored a mystery novel, The Cuckoo's Calling.

Hollywood mothers who seem to juggle stellar careers with kids, husbands and travel - all while looking fabulous - pose a threat to women's mental health.

Actress Alyssa Milano was inspired by Twitter to write a book.

A fiery episode in our recent history is plumbed for drama, writes Rebecca Barry Hill.

An author of a popular Maori children's book series cannot enter a national library award because she is Pakeha.

When did the amusement park coming-of-age story become a thing? Did I miss the memo?

This well-told story won the American National Book Award last year.

Ray Richards was a modest man who made a significant impact on New Zealand publishing.

Linda Herrick talks to an Australian who has made French food his passion.

Jimmy Nelson's Before They Pass Away is a tribute to vibrant tribal cultures around the world, including New Zealand's Maori population.

A young student who was a finalist in last year's inter-school writing competition has gone a step further this year, winning the top prize.

Having never before met a polluter of the moral innocence of youth, I have no idea whether the author Ted Dawe is an unusually engaging example of one.

Detailed descriptions of sex acts, coarse language and scenes of drug-taking are at the heart of why a novel was voted the best children's book of the year.

A novel voted this week as the best children's book of the year is laced with detailed descriptions of sex acts, coarse language and drug-taking.

Julie Thomas was forced to spend the first four years of her life in bed — any physical exertion, even crying, threatened her life. Books were her saviour.

The New Zealand commander of the "Battle of Baghak", in which two Kiwi soldiers were killed, has been allowed to interview witnesses for a book he is writing.

Good, well-written stories that go to the heart of a reader and touch the truth of any human experience, including sex, can help a young mind rise above smut.

When your husband and brother are best-selling authors, writing your first novel takes guts, writes Stephen Jewell.

Filmed 30 years ago, out-of-print for quarter of a century, The Odd Angry Shot is a savage and mordantly funny novel that follows a group of Aussie SAS troopers in South Vietnam during the ugly, unjustified war of the 1960s.

Paula Deen's merchandise and media empire is fast unravelling as fallout builds from revelations that she used racial slurs in the past.