Wizards and witches, vampires and the tale of a one-eyed donkey are what Kiwi children love to read about.

Since the novel Puberty Blues first scandalised the complacent Australian middle classes in 1979, there have been a couple of updates.

The smartest young writer anyone is ever likely to have coffee with is cosily wrapped in a knitted jumper against the spring freshness.

Talent and hard work are important but chance plays a big part, economist Tim Harford tells David Larsen.

As a coming-of-age story, this first novel by a young Australian writer would alarm those who leaped to condemn Ted Dawe's Into The River, which recently won this country's Young Adult Fiction award.

The book will be entitled Santiago, The Dreamer in the Land Among the Stars and will be released on November 14 simultaneously in Spanish and English.

Controversial children's book of the year Into The River will carry a warning that it is suitable for readers aged 16 years and older.

Kylee Guy's sister has dismissed a new book about the 2010 murder of her brother-in-law Scott Guy.

Novelist Liz Jensen’s latest genre-bending novel, The Uninvited, is a modern ghost story that touches on bigger issues affecting the planet, she tells Arifa Akbar.

Consumer Alert: this novel has nothing to do with the Olympics - except for one thing I'll mention later.

The painful end of Stephen Hawking's first marriage, and the bitter acrimony of his second, have been described in detail by the Cambridge cosmologist for the first time in his autobiography.

Copies of The Luminaries, the New Zealand novel short-listed this week for the Man Booker Prize, are flying off the shelves.

Parental oversharing has become commonplace thanks to social media. Emma Rowley meets the controversial blogger telling proud mums and dads to put a lid on it.

Based in New York, British writer Patrick McGrath has published seven novels and two short-story collections.

In fictionalising Thomas Hardy’s life, Damien Wilkins discovers some outrageous truths, writes Rebecca Barry Hill.

He's a contender, Carl Nixon. He's an acclaimed playwright, has won significant awards for his short stories and he's come close with his novels, too

Kiwi technology firm Booktrack is seeking to "ride the self-publishing wave" and has worked with Google to launch a web-based studio where users can add their own soundtrack to novels, short stories or even blog posts.

Albert Wendt says he is "really chuffed" to have received the Order of New Zealand insignia that formerly belonged to fellow writer the late Margaret Mahy.

The Red Cross got no money from the high-profile publisher of a book promoted as a fundraiser for the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

It took a hellish long time for best-selling writer Matthew Quick’s overnight success to come, he tells David Larsen.