Latest from Books

Just open your eyes
Best-selling British crime writer Mark Billingham tells James Kidd where he gets his ‘sick and twisted’ ideas.

Book Review: Lost, Stolen Or Shredded
The universal appeal of the "What If" speculation underpins this fascinating collection of artistic losses ranging from historic thefts to works that never actually realised.

New Bridget Jones novel title announced
The title of the first Bridget Jones novel in 14 years has been announced - Mad About The Boy.

Understanding the opposite sex in the office
Women: do you feel like your male colleagues don't listen to you? Men: do you feel like you're walking on eggshells with women in your office?

Twelve Questions: Sam Neill
Did you always think the name Nigel was a bit of a liability?

Book Review: Americanah
Partly autobiographical novel is a potential winner of awards, predicts Nicky Pellegrino.

Time-travelling kill spree
Stephen Jewell meets the award-winning South African author of a thrilling tale of murder ... and baseball.

Book Review: Blood & Beauty
Sarah Dunant's trio of novels set in Renaissance Italy cemented her reputation as one of the great writers of historical fiction.

Book Review: Belomor
Most of Nicolas Rothwell's books and journalism offer lyrical, subjective evocations of northern Australia and its indigenous people.

Book Review: Who We Were
The first book by Australian author Lucy Neave, Who We Were is a very restrained sort of thriller.

Book examines the human form
Known for his evocative and nostalgic portrayal of everyday life, photographer Derek Henderson's third book examines the human form.

Potter book sells for $200K
A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that contains author J.K. Rowling's notes and original illustrations fetched 150,000 pounds (NZ$227,415) at auction.

How to nurture a genius
I am sitting at the back of a university physics class while the students cluster in small groups around the whiteboards lining the lecture hall, ready to tackle the day’s equation.

Writers saluted on festival's final day
The final day of the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival was bookended by standing ovations for two of New Zealand's ground-breaking writers of the past 50 years.

JK Rowling's own Potter book for sale
JK Rowling's own copy of the first edition of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', adorned with her illustrations and comments, is to go under the hammer.

Writers Festival: Unexpected paths
The big issue with writers' festivals is that you can't be at three or four events at once. So the rich array of offerings presented the ongoing dilemma of which writer to see.

Book Review: Levels Of Life
Some natures are drawn to hazard: to explore the familiar from a vertiginously different perspective.

Book Review: Golden Boy
Abigail Tarttelin has written a dramatic and emotionally authentic story. An unusual sexual secret gives this novel raw power, writes Nicky Pellegrino.

My happy place: Graham Beattie, blogger
I am fortunate enough to spend more time in my happy place than anywhere else. My happy place is my office/library. It's on the ground floor of our three-level townhouse in Ponsonby.

Listen to the silence
New Zealand’s Poet Laureate, Ian Wedde, has written two of my all-time favourite poetry collections: The Commonplace Odes and Three Regrets And A Hymn To Beauty.

Book Review: Two Girls In A Boat
Wellingtonian Emma Martin won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize with the title story of this first collection.

Book Review: Americanah
One of the more startling observations in a book filled with acute and startling observations is that Africans only really come to consider they are “black” when they go to the United States.