Tips from a top storyteller
Write what you know. That was one of the gems of advice award-winning children's author Jennifer Somervell passed on to pupils during a writing workshop at Port Chalmers School.
Entertainment
Nowhere to run to
Nowhere to run to
When the poisons we spill into the environment accumulate in ourselves to critical levels, what then will be the body’s response? A British novelist has sketched one terrifying possibility. Tom...
Guiding a privileged journey
Guiding a privileged journey
Knowing your family's stories can be profoundly grounding, says publisher Gareth St John Thomas. So he has set out to help you capture yours.
Cable car book offers glimpse of yesteryear
Cable car book offers glimpse of yesteryear
Bill Campbell reviews a new book celebrating Mornington's Cable Trams.
From 'margins' to Poet Laureate
From 'margins' to Poet Laureate
Dunedin poet, writer, reviewer and former Burns Fellow David Eggleton has been appointed as the latest New Zealand Poet Laureate.
Paddon grabbing hold of the dream
Paddon grabbing hold of the dream
Concentrating on ducking and diving through the lunar landscape of Rally Argentina, World Rally Championship driver Hayden Paddon had to shake off a serious dose of self-doubt on the way to claiming his maiden WRC win.
Russian-born author's Invercargill creation
Russian-born author's Invercargill creation
When it comes to settings for romance novels, Invercargill does not immediately spring to mind.
Readers in love with romantic fare
Readers in love with romantic fare
Dunedin: city of romance. Well, city of romance readers at least.
More than 150 years of choral ambitions in Dunedin covered
More than 150 years of choral ambitions in Dunedin covered
Jenny Burchell sets the choral scene in 19th-century Britain and describes the expectations of a culture that the European settlers to Dunedin brought with them
Book shares the shearers' stories
Book shares the shearers' stories
The success of an earlier book on drovers has prompted Timaru author Ruth Entwistle Low to write another, this time on shearers.
That's the story: Timaru gets a literary vending machine
That's the story: Timaru gets a literary vending machine
A vending machine with more than 80,000 short stories is open from this week in Timaru.
Poet looking forward to public performance
Poet looking forward to public performance
Central Otago-based authors are set to read some of their poems at Take a Risk, Make a Poem in Alexandra later this month.
Nobel-winning author Toni Morrison dies
Nobel-winning author Toni Morrison dies
US author Toni Morrison, the first black woman to be presented the Nobel Prize in Literature, has died at the age of 88.
Barrels, handpumps, porters and pils
Barrels, handpumps, porters and pils
Richard Emerson loved frequenting The Orange, a historic brewpub in London’s Pimlico, writes Michael Donaldson in the new biography Richard Emerson The Hopfather.
A communist in the family
A communist in the family
This is my story of the man, Rewi Alley - family member, writer, humanitarian, activist and unwitting myth-maker, Elspeth Sandys writes of her just-published book A Communist in the Family: Searching for Rewi Alley.
From dairy farmer to fantasy writer
From dairy farmer to fantasy writer
Korie Massey says milking his cows gives him time to dream and create scenarios for his fantasy novels.
Hair-raising tales told by former high flyer
Hair-raising tales told by former high flyer
Retired Mosgiel pilot Tom Enright has come full circle and landed back at Taieri aerodrome. He talks to Mike Houlahan about his autobiography and a life spent up in the sky.
Baring her seditious heart
Baring her seditious heart
Arundhati Roy talks to Greg Bruce about her wild success and her despair at the state of her home country.
Rehoming 20,000 books
Rehoming 20,000 books
Dunedin bookseller Richard West is a man on a mission - to sell or find new homes for 20,000 books.
Piece of resistance in South Otago
Piece of resistance in South Otago
Imagine the Nancy Drew series was spliced with Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, then throw in a hearty splash of swearing. Oh yeah, and set it in South Otago.