Latest from Books

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.

Twelve Questions: Albert Wendt
I feel privileged and honoured. The recurring fear is: Have I wasted my life writing?

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.

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.

Writers Festival: Giant books bring the past to life
Rutherfurd, whose new tome is called Paris, had an extra hour added to yesterday's Writers & Readers schedule after selling out tomorrow and recalled having to speak to a row of schoolboys scowling at him.

Writers Festival: Revealed - a name of shame
The city of Auckland was named after "a dud ex-colonial mediocrity who stuffed up on a quite spectacular scale", says British historian William Dalrymple.

Dan Brown returns to Europe for Inferno
Dan Brown sees the world a little differently than the average person.

Business guru Kawasaki points the way
Former Apple chief evangelist and now entrepreneur and author Guy Kawasaki says he wants to help New Zealand be even more enchanting on his upcoming visit here on Wednesday.

Writers Festival: Food for thought
Graham Reid talks to Australian writer Wayne Macauley about food porn and creativity.

A life more ordinary
Tired? Stressed? Unhappy and pressed for time? Well broadcaster Wallace Chapman has some words of advice for you, writes Greg Dixon.

Libraries lend a hand to youth
Far from becoming irrelevant in the digital age, libraries are adapting to become more like youth clubs, finds Danielle Wright.

Binding commitment
Danielle Wright finds a busy kids' book club in Mangere Bridge that's about a lot more than reading and writing.