Geraldine Brooks very nearly missed the inspiration for her latest novel, this month's feature book Caleb's Crossing.

If you haven't already heard quite enough about Rugby World Cup 2011 then this is for you.

Tim Carlsen is an Auckland actor who is performing in Silo Theatre's I Love You Bro, now playing at the Herald Theatre.

Vivienne Plumb's new collection of poetry - beautifully designed by poet and publisher Helen Rickerby - reminds me that poetry books can feel so good in the hand. Plumb's poems have a chance to breathe on the page.

Why, asks Barry Forshaw, are Scandinavian writers winning worldwide acclaim for their crime?

We had the world's politest fight over who got first dibs on the most promising of the new novels on our Fiction Fix hot list this month...

Sarajevo, in Bosnia, was the perfect city for a siege. Nestled in a valley surrounded by hills, the people below became easy targets.

Award-winning Sunday Times columnist Danny Danziger made the inspired decision not to write a book about British soldiers, but to let the soldiers tell their own stories.

Jeffery Deaver tells Stephen Jewell why the new Bond carries an iPhone.

Boston University journalism professor Mitchell Zuckoff was researching a story about World War II when he came across an article in the Chicago Tribune from June 1945. He was stunned.

Kiwi music sensation Ray Columbus recently released his autobiography, The Modfather: life and times of a rock 'n' roll pioneer (Penguin, $42).

Dame Fiona Kidman takes a literary trip through time, writes Nicky Pellegrino.

Though I'm reading non-fiction for this month's book club - and I read a novel based on a true story last month - I prefer pure fiction.

A Middle East-based journalist has penned a book advising travellers how to keep themselves safe in dangerous places.

Lowboy leads us on a dark yet wondrous journey into the strange subterranean world beneath the streets of New York City - and deep inside the chaos of his own unravelling mind.

This haunting, Booker-short-listed novel follows a young South African man identified only as Damon. Yes, just like the author.

The 22 Spanish writers in this entertaining collection were all born in or since 1975, the year General Francisco Franco died after 36 years of repressive rule in Spain.

Once again Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Geraldine Brooks takes a simple, barely known historical fact, fattens out and brings it to life so lyrically you feel transported back in time.

New Zealand writer Nalini Singh tells Stephen Jewell how she began writing as a teen and never looked back.