Novels, for all their categorisation as fiction, must, to some extent, draw on the writer's own experiences. Or they must, at least

Sarah Broom, who has a PhD from Oxford, is the author of a book on contemporary British and Irish poets and has just released her

Dylan Horrocks, author of newly published graphic novel Hicksville, said he grew up in two places: In New Zealand and in comics.

Mitch Albom has realised people are hungry for stories that touch them deeply.

Writer Peter Nowak starts his survey of technology by linking war, porn and fast food - the idea surfaced after he saw the lurid sex tape of Paris Hilton.

McEwan shows us all the fear and loathing of the modern world in a packet of crisps.

Artist Don Binney has been attracted to the Waitakere coast since childhood. He tells Alan Perrott how the diverse landscape can mean so much to so many

Booker Prize-winning novelist Ian McEwan tells Boyd Tonkin how a trip to the Arctic helped inspire his new satirical novel about science, scientists and climate change

Author and columnist Nicky Pellegrino has gone public on how she was raped at knifepoint as a young woman - and her attacker was never found.

The NZ author's story Last Season's Man, beat more than 1150 entries from published authors around the world.

Anita Shreve is fascinated with relationships. And this story, which explores a new marriage set against the backdrop of Africa, puts yet another relationship under the microscope.

Over the years - and rather unkindly, in my opinion - Joanna Trollope's books have tended to be relegated to the category of "Aga saga".

Stephen Jewell talks to author Andrea Levy about slavery, story-telling and holidays on the North Shore.

Forget the mundane, give your life meaning ... become enthused and inspired. We meet people who have followed their hearts, and share simple ways to fuel your fire for life.

Sharon Osbourne talks to Stephen Jewell about getting revenge on the literary critics.

Free-thinking and gifted intellectuals, or a bunch of dissolute subversives "who lived in squares but loved in triangles"?

Jenny Pattrick conjures up colourful images of Samoan life from a barren room in France.