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.

Ian Wedde retraces his childhood steps from Blenheim to Pakistan, Bangladesh, England and Jordan, writes Rebecca Barry Hill.

Book lovers will have a chance to see Eleanor Catton's specially bound copy of The Luminaries as part of Auckland Libraries' latest exhibition.

Richard Flanagan won the Man Booker prize for a tale inspired by his father's experiences in a Japanese PoW camp. It was a novel he never wanted to write, he reveals to Arifa Akbar.

The massive foodie tome, 1001 Restaurants You Must Experience Before You Die, has just been released. Among the featured eateries are a dozen of NZ's best.

If ever there was a neon-lit example of cricket implosion, the Kevin Pietersen autobiography debacle is, to use modern management parlance, best practice.

Andy Griffiths creates worlds where killer koalas from outer space invade and robots riot — and kids can’t get enough of them, writes Dionne Christian.

Last year Craig Bullock brought us a book hailing the canine heroes and victims of Christchurch’s earthquakes. Now it’s the turn of the felines.

Enduring love for Agatha Christie sees British thriller writer Sophie Hannah add to the famous detective cases. She talks to Stephen Jewell.

A best-selling author is giving away the hefty book collection that lines every wall of his beachfront Auckland home.

The author informed her millions of followers that she was "very busy" at work on a novel, a screenplay and campaigns for her children's charity Lumos.

A serious injury is many rugby parents' nightmare, and every rugby-playing boy's fear.

Coming up with books wasn't difficult - I love books. Narrowing my list down to only five was far trickier. But here goes, my five life-changing reads.

A humorous look at what happens when taxidermy goes very wrong, by the founder of crappytaxidermy.com

Sequel continues the adventures of lovelorn Asperger's hero.

Society must not forget Henry VIII was a child abuser and wife killer, author Philippa Gregory tells Stephen Jewell.

Liane Moriarty’s latest novel is a darkly comedic tale about a trivia night death, writes Shandelle Battersby.

Sir John Kirwan's new push: “We teach them maths, English, science, but we don’t actually teach them resilience. I think it has to become part of the curriculum."

His own experience has taught him the importance of simply being available for his kids and willing to listen.

An exclusive extract from Stand by Me by Sir John Kirwan, his guide for helping parents and teens around mental health.

They came out of California, featured window seats and shingled tiles, were clad in weatherboard and Auckland has thousands of them.