Fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson tells David Larsen how a dragon on a book cover lured him back to reading and changed the path of his life.

From the Sharpe books to Arthurian sagas, the prolific output of Bernard Cornwell has topped best-seller lists around the world. The secret is in the plot, he tells Robert McCrum.

Learn how to make the perfect pav and then shake things up with some twists on the traditional.

Martin Bosley's new cookbook means his incredible dishes are yours to sample from the comfort of home.

It's hard to think of a better guide to our wild places than Gordon Ell.

A Kiwi cook and a global baker have cooked up a recipe for simple but tasty home meals.

A new book paying homage to five decades of live music in New Zealand is proof, says one contributor, Herald entertainment editor Russell Baillie, that every generation has gigs to remember.

Lloyd Jones' new novel will unavoidably face the towering legacy of Mister Pip: international acclaim, a Man Booker short-list placing, awards, local admiration, sales and a degree of controversy.

I suppose expecting a writer to match the impact of The Reader, Bernhard Schlink's extraordinary novel of a few years ago, is asking too much of him.

If reading is a pleasure and a refuge in this day and age, imagine what a joy it must have been to snatch a few hours alone with a good book for pioneering New Zealanders.

This extract from a book on Sir Terry McLean portrays TP as a wily and trusted rugby commentator.

With three weeks to go until opening night, tickets for the special midnight screenings are selling fast

For those readers who do not regularly encounter the New Yorker, Guardian, Financial Times, and others it may come as a surprise to find historian Simon Schama finds time away from writing best-selling books.

New Zealand's seven-decade-old fashion industry isn't merely about clothes, finds Rebecca Barry.

When Frank Sargeson was 78 years old, not long before he died, I interviewed him for a half-hour television documentary.

TV One's New York correspondent Tim Wilson might have spent much of the last decade reporting some of the world's biggest stories but somehow he's found time to write his first novel, too. Stephen Jewell spoke to him in New York.

Comedian Sarah Silverman has never been afraid of causing offence with her foul-mouthed stand-up routines. Now her frank autobiography has won plaudits from the most unlikely quarters, reports Paul Harris.