A first-time author has drawn on her past in a novel that explores themes of family and sacrifice, as Nicky Pellegrino explains.

Gareth Farr is a composer and entertainer.

A decade after his explosive memoir, Kitchen Confidential laid bare the underbelly of the restaurant scene, Anthony Bourdain is back for a second helping. He talks to food writer and critic Jay Rayner.

"In what other industry would you be expected to take options that cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars?"

E-reader competition is hotting up.

I no longer want to live. I'm dying already. You are too. Every breath we take brings us closer to it.

A university researcher has written an academic paper on the social acceptability of vampires, now seen as an "everyman with fangs".

The sort of book that makes you want to sell up everything and flee to the sunshine of the Dodecanese islands.

This year the Montana NZ Book Awards have become the NZ Post Book Awards, with fewer categories and smaller shortlists.

The German Pontiff's favourite recipes are a suicidal mix of fried, buttery and carnivorous pleasures.

Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo by Julia Stuart
Fig Tree, $26.99