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.

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.

Charlie Sheen says this is the true face of addiction.

The historic former headquarters of lingerie company Berlei, standing in the way of the $500 million-plus SkyCity International Convention Centre, will be gutted and only its facade will remain.

The winning sculpture at a New Zealand outdoor art exhibition is among a number of works vandalised in the opening weekend of the free public event.

This is your star sign as you've never seen it before. Artist and illustrator Damon Hellandbrand has reimagined every sign of the zodiac as a monster.

The first evening concert of Te Uru Waitakere's Black Rainbow festival augured well for the gallery's enterprising cultural mix.

See what happens when the boss turns his back in the fantasy world of BLAM! says Dionne Christian.