Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton has described her embarrassment at growing up without a car or television - but says she later came to thank her parents for it.

Singer Morrissey has confirmed long-running rumours he formed a close relationship with a male photographer in the 1990s.

The Canadians can't have her. Open all the champagne - even if you bought it in the hope of winning a boat race, writes Toby Manhire.

Winning the Man Booker prize was like being "plunged into a bath of ice", Eleanor Catton said.

She was raised in NZ, but our Man Booker prize-winning author suddenly found herself being claimed yesterday by her birth country of Canada.

Eleanor Catton's Man Booker Prize win puts New Zealand on the "literary map", according to colleagues and students who watched live as the 28-year-old author received the award.

Some of New Zealand's finest authors have congratulated Eleanor Catton on her Man Booker Prize success.

Thank you. When I began writing The Luminaries, I was very much in the thrall of Lewis Hyde's wonderful book, The Gift, as I still am.

New Zealander Eleanor Catton has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize this morning. At 28, she becomes the youngest author to ever win the award.

At 9.45 this morning New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton could win the 50,000 Man Booker Prize for her epic historical novel The Luminaries.

There's a lot about New Zealand that makes it a pretty dreadful place to ride a bike.

She might not be the bookies' favourite, but New Zealand author Eleanor Catton has been singled out as one of the likely winners of this year's Man Booker Prize.

From rubbing watercress on the gums to stuffing bread into the ear, there is a cure for virtually any ailment.

This Mr Darcy fan says Helen Fielding's latest offering is annoying and fails to offer any depth or relevance.

A major British retailer has shut down its website after finding hardcore pornographic ebooks being sold through the company's online store.

Bill Bryson tells Stephen Jewell he is drawn to American subjects in his writing.

She was born in Canada just 28 years ago. She wrote her first novel - a three-page job - at the age of 5.

Brain expert Jenni Ogden was one of handful of specialists granted access to the most studied patient in medical history.

"Toe-curling, clunking disappointment": New Bridget Jones reviews are in, and they're not good.

Simon Schama's beginning is Egypt. But it is not the beginning of patriarchs and prophets.

Sales of ebooks in New Zealand have exploded in the past six months, industry experts say, but the future of Kiwi books may lie with small, independent publishers.

Iranian-American writer Reza Aslan’s latest release offers a fresh perspective on Jesus of Nazareth, writes Stephen Jewell.

British writer Margaret Drabble is beloved by generations of readers, especially women.

Tom Clancy, whose high-tech, Cold War thrillers such as 'The Hunt for Red October' made him the most widely read military novelist of his time, has died.