Books & Authors

Rachel McAlpine has a novel way to celebrate turning 80, the release of her book of poetry - How to be old. Audio

Louise Ward of Wardini Books reviews Awatea and the Kawa Gang by Fraser Smith, published by Huia. Audio

West Australian physiotherapist Julie Sprigg has captured her experiences working as a physio in the slums of Ethiopia in an extraordinary work of narrative non-fiction. Audio

Food critic William Sitwell reflects on the long tradition of this culinary experience and its future in a Covid 19 world in his new book, The Restaurant: A History of Eating Out. Audio

Harry Ricketts reviews James Brown's Selected Poems, published by Victoria University Press. Audio

Second chances don't come any bigger than a life saving organ transplant. This is the theme in  her latest novel, Tiny Pieces of Us.  Audio

Anna Daniell reviews Queen of Coin and Whispers by Helen Corcoran, published by The O'Brien Press. Audio

Felix von Luckner was a child aristocrat who ran away to sea, he captained the last square-rigged sailing ship ever to serve in combat, he sailed three thousand kilometres across the Pacific in a… Audio

Wellington writer David Coventry's second novel was inspired by the Eighties post-punk hardcore movement - bands like Husker Du, Dead Kennedies and Black Flag. Audio

Craig Brown's new book, 1, 2, 3, 4: The Beatles In Time is not your bog-standard Beatles' bio. Brown has come up with a fresh take on the Fab Four - and a unearthed a few previously unknown gems… Audio

Described by a Guardian reviewer as "superb hate-reading", writer and columnist Anand Giridharadas's latest book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World investigates the hypocrisy of… Audio

The author of Cloud Atlas, Black Swan Green, and number9dream, David Mitchell, has just released a new novel: his first in five years. Utopia Avenue, is a magical, musical story about '...the… Audio

Tilly Lloyd from Unity Books, Wellington, reviews A Place for Everything: the Curious History of Alphabetical Order by Judith Flanders. Published by Picador (hardback). Audio

Gary Larson of The Far Side Fame has released his first new work in 25 years. Robert Kelly pops in to explain why now for Larson. Audio

Lisa Finucane reviews The Shadow Friend by Alex North, published by Penguin Random House. Audio

Kiran Dass of Time Out Bookstore reviews Notes From An Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back by Mark O'Connell. This book is published by Allen & Unwin. Audio

Georgina Landemare, was so important during the war years that she was one of only 11 people deemed crucial to Prime Minister Winston Churchill if he were evacuated from London in the event of… Audio, Gallery

RNZ producer and bookworm Robert Kelly is in to defend genre fiction that follows the rules. Audio