I suppose expecting a writer to match the impact of The Reader, Bernhard Schlink's extraordinary novel of a few years ago, is asking too much of him.

If reading is a pleasure and a refuge in this day and age, imagine what a joy it must have been to snatch a few hours alone with a good book for pioneering New Zealanders.

This extract from a book on Sir Terry McLean portrays TP as a wily and trusted rugby commentator.

For those readers who do not regularly encounter the New Yorker, Guardian, Financial Times, and others it may come as a surprise to find historian Simon Schama finds time away from writing best-selling books.

New Zealand's seven-decade-old fashion industry isn't merely about clothes, finds Rebecca Barry.

When Frank Sargeson was 78 years old, not long before he died, I interviewed him for a half-hour television documentary.

TV One's New York correspondent Tim Wilson might have spent much of the last decade reporting some of the world's biggest stories but somehow he's found time to write his first novel, too. Stephen Jewell spoke to him in New York.

Comedian Sarah Silverman has never been afraid of causing offence with her foul-mouthed stand-up routines. Now her frank autobiography has won plaudits from the most unlikely quarters, reports Paul Harris.

German author Johanna Adorjan tells Cathrin Schaer about researching her grandparents’ life and death.

The latest Lonely Planet guide to New Zealand came out the other day with the usual flutter of controversy over descriptions of the Bay of Islands as over-hyped, Hamilton as dull and Kiwis as eager-to-please.

Forget takeaways - now you can make your own authentic pizza with recipes from an Italian expert.

Bonobos. They share 98.7 per cent of our DNA. They're slimmer and lankier than chimpanzees. They can be taught to use sign language. They're vocal, sociable, and "extremely amorous". They even (ahem) use the missionary position.

In her latest novel, Fay Weldon has channelled her childhood experiences in New Zealand and some mischievous Maori ghosts. She spoke to Stephen Jewell.

Dirty But Clean is back with the third novel in what could be loosely termed his "Poor White Trash" trilogy. His first, the fresh and adventurous Vernon God Little, rocketed him to overnight fame and Booker Prize stardom.

Viva chats exclusively to Isabella Blow's former husband, Detmar, the author of a new book about the once-fabulous fashion icon.

Isabella Blow, the fashion stylist with a penchant for loony hats and a talent for discovering the Next Big Thing, died on May 7, 2007, at the age of 48, having drunk a quantity of the weedkiller Paraquat.

Poetry usually arrives in the form of the traditional "slim volume" - elegant packages of 40-80 pages, like smoked salmon slices. By contrast, 99 Ways into New Zealand Poetry, all 624 pages of it, landed on my desk with a thump.