Talent and hard work are important but chance plays a big part, economist Tim Harford tells David Larsen.

As a coming-of-age story, this first novel by a young Australian writer would alarm those who leaped to condemn Ted Dawe's Into The River, which recently won this country's Young Adult Fiction award.

The book will be entitled Santiago, The Dreamer in the Land Among the Stars and will be released on November 14 simultaneously in Spanish and English.

The creators of Kiwi comic anthology Faction aren't in it for fortune and glory - they just want to get their comics out into the world.

Controversial children's book of the year Into The River will carry a warning that it is suitable for readers aged 16 years and older.

Consumer Alert: this novel has nothing to do with the Olympics - except for one thing I'll mention later.

The painful end of Stephen Hawking's first marriage, and the bitter acrimony of his second, have been described in detail by the Cambridge cosmologist for the first time in his autobiography.

Copies of The Luminaries, the New Zealand novel short-listed this week for the Man Booker Prize, are flying off the shelves.

Parental oversharing has become commonplace thanks to social media. Emma Rowley meets the controversial blogger telling proud mums and dads to put a lid on it.

Based in New York, British writer Patrick McGrath has published seven novels and two short-story collections.

In fictionalising Thomas Hardy’s life, Damien Wilkins discovers some outrageous truths, writes Rebecca Barry Hill.

He's a contender, Carl Nixon. He's an acclaimed playwright, has won significant awards for his short stories and he's come close with his novels, too

The Red Cross got no money from the high-profile publisher of a book promoted as a fundraiser for the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

It took a hellish long time for best-selling writer Matthew Quick’s overnight success to come, he tells David Larsen.

A poignant blog shows just what an impact fear can have on women’s lives and dreams. Anna Maxted — no stranger to crippling anxiety — is prompted to ask ... What are we all so afraid of?