The Bad Sex in Literature Award draw attention to poorly written, perfunctory or redundant passages of sexual description in modern fiction and to discourage them.

I've had an email from Ian Braddon-Parsons, disapproving of my November 1 Herald book review of Alexander McCall Smith's Emma.

As Top Gear’s The Stig, Ben Collins knows more than most what the consequences of speed can be. Here, in an excerpt from his new book, he shares top tips on safety, and parking.

The conversation turns to how to end the world when David Larsen talks to writer Jo Walton.

Lena Dunham has apologised for joking about being a "sexual predator" in her memoir.

For nearly two years Northland doctor Chris Reid photographed his patients. Greg Dixon talks to him on the eve of an Auckland exhibition of the result.

Comedy queen Amy Poehler’s new memoir spills the beans on her divorce and her dalliance with cocaine. Now, the much-feted comedian is on a new mission — to get rid of the cult of cool and promote humour that’s for everyone, writes Hephzibah Anderson.

Thought rock, paper, scissors was a game of chance? Think again, says William Poundstone.

Meetings with prize-winning authors form the basis for new satire, writes Stephen Jewell.

Kerikeri GP Chris Reid photographed - with their permission - more than 400 of his patients at the end of their 15-minute consultation. The photos have just been published in a book called 'Patient: Portraits From A Doctor's Surgery' and will feature in an exhibition in Auckland in November. Check out some of the photos in our gallery.

A new book exploring New Zealand’s long history of bush walking is published this week. In this Exclusive extract, writers Shaun Barnett and Chris MacLean discuss the evolution of that mysterious New Zealand term for hiking: ‘tramping’.

Anthony Horowitz talks to Linda Herrick about shocking his readers with his new Sherlock, why he wrote with a fountain pen and how his difficult school years drove him to the world of books.

S.P.Q.R, hallmark of Auckland dining and Ponsonby road staple for over twenty years, publishes the cookbook S.P.Q.R with the restaurant's recipes, photographs and, republished here, a tribute written by Simon Farrell-Green.

This journey along State Highway 1 show that the nation's backbone is a place of life as well as an inanimate stretch of bitumen, writes Alex Robertson.

What compelled a 20-year-old Irish youth last month to murder his two younger brothers after finding out he was adopted?

The Hairy Maclary sculpture project planned for Tauranga's redeveloped waterfront is closing in on its fundraising target.

He used to be a fine dining chef in Wellington. Then he had an epiphany and moved to Auckland. Greg Dixon meets Al Brown, the man who learned to relax at dinner and made us do the same.