David Mitchell, whose latest novel features a Dutch clerk from old Zeeland, is looking forward to coming to New Zealand.

This year's comic book superhero assault on the big screen starts with Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh who brings some brains to the brute brawn of the mighty Norse god. Desmond Sampson reports.

A rare comic book stolen from Nicolas Cage 10 years ago has been recovered.

Julie Orringer’s first book, a stunning short-story collection entitled How To Breathe Underwater, was a New York Times notable book.

Copenhagen in the early 1990s. Bernardo Greene is a patient at a Clinic for Torture Victims. In his native Chile, he'd been tortured for two years by the Pinochet regime.

James Fergusson tells David Larsen that he is less a risk taker than someone who follows stories where they lead.

It's not always easy to travel with children (or grandchildren) because their needs and interests are rather different.

Last year's MasterChef winner Brett McGregor's cookbook takes your tastebuds on a culinary journey.

Back in the 1970s Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City columns captured the off-beat spirit of San Francisco. One of Maupin's leading characters was Mary Ann Singleton, a TV presenter.

This issue of the British literary journal is dedicated to Pakistan.

American writer Patrick Rothfuss tells David Larsen why he avoids clichés in both life and literature.

Italian mobsters will try anything to convince judges they are suffering from depression or anorexia.

Seeing Hemingway through his first wife's eyes is an intriguing view.

Self-publishing has traditionally been a surefire route to obscurity and dismal sales. Now a British thriller writer who sells his novels as ebooks for as little as 71p ($1.50) is proving the naysayers wrong.

Ross Dobson's latest book makes the most of storecupboard essentials.

Where are they now? It's so often the public catch-cry following reality TV shows.

Nicky Pellegrino explains how her latest 'love story' could well be something else.

Commander of the Continental Army which won the American colonies independence from Britain, first president of the United States: there's no doubt George Washington is one of the key figures who shaped the world we live in.

The latest offering from Simon Kernick sees the characters of his last six novels meeting for the first time. He tells Stephen Jewell how it happened.

Starman captures only some of pop icon David Bowie's intrigue.

Actress Michelle Ang, who stars as Emily in the newly released film My Wedding and Other Secrets, shares what she's learnt from being a bookworm.

The former Two and a Half Men actor is said to have parted ways with Peter McGuigan of Foundry Media Group after the agent failed to sell the star's life story at a big enough price.

With so many ways of storing data, are we forgetting how to remember? Not according to US writer Joshua Foer, who reveals new and remarkable strategies for memorising. By Robin McKie.

Mexico City is notorious for its kidnappings, muggings and other criminal activities so why would a young Australian author choose to live there?

German Nobel Prize-winner Gunter Grass always weaves some kind of magic through his stories and, in the case of his autobiographical work, this further blurs the demarcation line between his facts and his fictions.

Thriller writer Robert Crais talks to Craig Sisterson about the allure of Hollywood and turning an enigmatic sidekick into a leading man.