A young student who was a finalist in last year's inter-school writing competition has gone a step further this year, winning the top prize.

Carl Hiaasen needn’t look far for a story on which to base a novel. It’s all right outside his door in Miami, he tells Stephen Jewell.

Rudy’s 43rd year is not a good one. He’s on bad terms with his wife and daughters; his parents (living or dead); his assertive younger fellow-architects. He’s falling off the booze wagon and he’s just fallen off his Vespa.

Having never before met a polluter of the moral innocence of youth, I have no idea whether the author Ted Dawe is an unusually engaging example of one.

Detailed descriptions of sex acts, coarse language and scenes of drug-taking are at the heart of why a novel was voted the best children's book of the year.

A novel voted this week as the best children's book of the year is laced with detailed descriptions of sex acts, coarse language and drug-taking.

Julie Thomas was forced to spend the first four years of her life in bed — any physical exertion, even crying, threatened her life. Books were her saviour.

The New Zealand commander of the "Battle of Baghak", in which two Kiwi soldiers were killed, has been allowed to interview witnesses for a book he is writing.

When your husband and brother are best-selling authors, writing your first novel takes guts, writes Stephen Jewell.

Filmed 30 years ago, out-of-print for quarter of a century, The Odd Angry Shot is a savage and mordantly funny novel that follows a group of Aussie SAS troopers in South Vietnam during the ugly, unjustified war of the 1960s.

Paula Deen's merchandise and media empire is fast unravelling as fallout builds from revelations that she used racial slurs in the past.

Margaret Mahy has been posthumously awarded a prize at the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.

A violin's journey invokes smiles and tears, writes Nicky Pellegrino.

British writer Neil Gaiman’s new fantasy, rooted in the darkest corners of reality, is no kids’ tale, writes Stephen Jewell.

Long-time Hollywood director Chris Columbus wants his latest success story to stay on the page — for now, anyway, writes Stephen Jewell.

Katie Price has revealed she is planning to release her fifth autobiography later this year - at the age of just 35.

The Oxford English Dictionary has now included the social networking term 'tweet', as technology continues to change the way we speak.

The illegitimate daughter of a 19th century British Prime Minister lived and raised a family in New Zealand.

When it comes to changing your life, CV writer-turned-career coach Tom O'Neil says it is better to make changes by degrees.

Best-selling author Barbara Taylor Bradford has dismissed erotic romance Fifty Shades Of Grey.

Legendary screen siren Ava Gardner has told all from beyond the grave in a explosive new autobiography detailing the sex, lies and booze that caused her so much heartache.

Stories told of the mostly unknown women behind US astronauts.

The materially successful but spiritually bereft Janine Harding finds herself, in her early 40s, living in a “do-up” on an island in the Hauraki Gulf, where time on her hands sets her to thinking about her family history.

The book I love most is ... Roald Dahl's Matilda, the story of a genius 5-year-old girl who overcomes all odds.

In this book full of striking images, it's the first that seems to best capture the essence of potter Barry Brickell - a 1971 portrait of the artist bent double to work inside a huge ceramic jar, his trunk vanishing ostrich-like into its clay mouth.