In painting, even at its most abstract, a strong horizontal across a work is inescapably read as a horizon.

Deutsche Grammophon must be very happy to have Grigory Sokolov in its stable. The Russian came to the notice of the world in 1966, winning the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition at only 16.

On Thursday, Kathryn Stott caps off her first visit to our coundty playing Shostakovich with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Super-sized eggs of all colours are to be placed around the country - making for the ultimate Easter egg hunt.

Award-winning Auckland playwright Elisabeth Easther was once an erotic fiction writer. As Fifty Shades of Grey hits our screens, she reveals the highs and lows of her short-lived career in smut.

Other winning photographs highlighted animal cruelty in China and the Ebola crisis in west Africa.

As a setting for Shakespeare it would be hard to beat the café balcony of the historic Pah Homestead.

With the ongoing diet of gallery exhibitions, theatre and comedy, Auckland's creative offering rivals any of the world's great international cities, writes Heather Shotter.

Local playwright Victor Rodger has followed up last year's revival (Sons) and premiere (At the Wake) with a new play that brings a light touch to tragedy.

High above the K Rd kingdom, opposite St Kevins Arcade, is Kfm, a station that aims to provide a soundtrack to the heart of Auckland's music-centric community.

A NZ student who took only two years of art classes has received the best subject marks in the world in the Cambridge International Examinations.

Sections of the left-wing intelligentsia appear to believe the Eleanor Catton brouhaha says something disturbing about New Zealand.

'Oh my God, it's a cock and balls.' A $200,000 public sculpture being installed in Auckland is causing a stir with locals, who say it resembles a penis.

How to bring a legend to life? That was the challenge for film-maker Ava DuVernay when she was given the opportunity to direct - what is remarkably - the first major motion picture about Martin Luther King.

Prime Minister John Key says author's views shouldn’t be given any more credence than those of the Mad Butcher or Richie McCaw.

Is Eleanor Catton a traitor? Does Sean Plunket have a brain? Has the Prime Minister read The Luminaries? Who would have thought an obscure Indian literary festival could cause such agitated ripples.

Art causes lurching emotions. "From hateful boredom to supreme enlightenment," as John Radford puts it, raving about regular avant-garde concert series, Vitamin S.

Author says she'll discuss “inflammatory, vicious and patronising things that have been broadcast and published in NZ this week” in future interviews with foreign media.

Feisty Bette Davis was memorably photographed by Roddy McDowall in 1981, holding a cushion inscribed, "Old Age Ain't No Place for Sissies".

Antony Sher compares him to the Bard, and he has been dubbed the greatest living playwright. John Nathan on Tom Stoppard's long-awaited comeback.

The Taxpayers’ Union says Kiwis have done more than enough to support under-fire author Eleanor Catton, who received upward of $50k in funding over the last few years.