Popping his cork

The National's frontman Matt Berninger on his need for close audience interaction, and the gravitational pull of Taylor Swift

Truth will out

Compelling stories of those who are determined to defy the Communist Party line to expose tyranny and suffering.

Wheels coming off

First-time novelist takes readers along with four young expats on a satisfying if tense Italian road trip.

The one who stayed behind

Kiwi expat delivers a multilayered, literary-minded debut novel inspired by an Australian icon.

Art in high places

In the Queensberry Hills between Cromwell and Wänaka, the Poison Creek Sculpture Project is enriching Central Otago's cultural scene.

The pain that remains

Former MasterChef contestant Alice Taylor says finally putting a name to the cause of her agony was just a beginning.

Hold the line, caller

Fifty years on, RNZ National listeners need have no fear that the station's signature bird call faces extermination.

What's the wAlt?

NZ needs to act as the talk of the technology world quickly becomes a key tool of business and government.

Entreaties of Waitangi

In its short time in office, the government has set the scene for a fiery commemoration of New Zealand's national day.

Boarding school bluff

In bygone days, harassed parents used to threaten their offspring with boarding school as the ultimate Dickensian punishment for persistent misbehaviour.

Tractors at the gates

The halls are decked with flowers and loops of sausages and salami hang from the rafters.

An autumn of ordinariness?

It's been a summer of discontent for the coalition government but it will be hoping for calmer times ahead.

Out of gas

The barriers to electric vehicle uptake in NZ go further than range anxiety.

Acting on impulse

Theft is more common when the economy is down but shoplifting can signal a serious disorder.

Dairy dilemmas

Dairy milk has been shown to be a cause of excess mucus production in some people, but now the finger is being pointed at processed foods.

Warming to the idea

Adaptation to climate change is focus of NZ-made nature series with global reach.

It's from Hōne to Heke

Tāmati Rīmene-Sproat's Waitangi Day special isn't the treaty treatise he'd planned. But it's still an illuminating look back at our national day.

Emotions to the fore

Sleater-Kinney make a grief-stained return and the debut by London's Folly Group suggests they are going post-punk places.

Tainui uprising

He taught a mate to dance in a beer ad and portrayed Billy T James on television, but actor-playwright Tainui Tukiwaho's heart is in the creative possibilities of theatre and three new shows he has on the go.

Listen up

An exploration of noise that will open your mind to the world of sounds in nature and beyond.

Vital acts

Patricia Grace's late-life story collection weaves together myth and contemporary tales.

University blues

Come and Get It is an intricate campus novel that intersects class, race, desire and indiscretion.

First impressions

What does the year hold for fiction? Mark Broatch checks out five promising titles from first-time novelists.

Hell in high waters

A year ago, Auckland flooded. Since then, many residents have been living in limbo with glacial progress on repairs.

Past & present tensions

Contested histories - including treaty interpretations - stem from individual memories and experiences, historian Rowan Light suggests.

Turtle recall

Red-eared slider turtles have gone from pets to pests. Until now, it's been too cold for them to breed here but global warming could change that, putting our native species further at risk.

Tour of terror

After one of the most explosive encounters involving NZ soldiers since Vietnam, traumatised soldiers returned home from Iraq - to silence.

Child's play

Ann Packer surveys some summery reads for young ones.

Fighting back

The hell that was slavery is relayed in all its horror in award-winning writer’s first historical novel.

Charting the abyss

Real-life adventure story reveals the daring efforts being made to map vast tracts of the world's unexplored seabed.