Man Booker prize-winner Eleanor Catton is made of the write stuff.

That tree Keith Richards fell out of and almost killed him when he was last down this way? It's not long for this world.

Sometimes it’s the only way to get in print, and sometimes it’s the best way to keep control of your work. James Russell charts the rise of self-publishing.

Ian McEwan’s new novel centres around a family court judge who gets too involved in one of her cases. She blows it, McEwan tells Linda Herrick.

Sarah Waters’ new novel explores what happens when an ‘unruly passion’ in the form of two lodgers enters a house. She talks to Linda Herrick.

Oh, to write like Alan Bennett. The consummate modulations of mood and structure. The utterly English urbanity and self-deprecation.

Martin Amis is a child of the 20th century, both literally and by literary preoccupation. He was born in the aftermath of World War II and grew up in the shadow of the unholy trinity of great ideologies — fascism, communism and capitalism.

There are two sides to the eReader debate - Shelley Bridgeman is pro paperbacks, while Joanna Hunkin has turned for the hi-tech device. Share your thoughts.

Roald Dahl was born in this month in 1916. As a tribute, here are 10 of my favourite quotes from his books.

An unseen chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory deemed too subversive for young British children has finally been released.

A bestselling author who sells books by the million, Jennifer Weiner is on an almighty mission to get ‘chick lit’ the serious attention she believes it is due.

Children's classic removed from Australian supermarket chain after complaints it contained the word "slut".

A "stunning" biography of a Wellington art dealer has beaten Eleanor Catton's acclaimed novel The Luminaries to win the top New Zealand Post Book Award.

Women who read 'Fifty Shades of Grey' are more likely to have abusive partners and eating disorders, according to academics worried about the novel's impact.

In her beloved Little House series of books, Laura Ingalls Wilder painted a wholesome picture of prairie life in which the most scandalous event was rival Nellie Olsen pulling her pigtails.

In keeping with the almost impermeable wall that prevents a healthy transtasman book trade, Helen Garner is relatively unknown in New Zealand.

I'd love to meet John Crace. The Guardian columnist is acerbic, focused, appallingly funny.

The hacker who took years of Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater's communications has reached out from behind the pages of 'Dirty Politics' and promised further revelations.

Some of the emails to and from Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater which investigative writer Nicky Hager based his Dirty Politics book on have been posted online.

Data release shows emails between Slater and an email account linked to former worker in the PM's office and it's just a fraction of the information the hacker has.

The revelation from Nicky Hager that politics is a dirty business comes tens of thousands of years late.