‘Living on the fringes’: why New Zealand novelists are making waves
String of global hits marks rising interest in New Zealand writers while industry voices concern over future arts funding
November 2023
Paul Murray and Fern Brady shortlisted for inaugural Nero awards
The prizes, which have picked up from the abruptly cancelled Costa awards, cover fiction, debut fiction, children’s fiction and non-fiction
March 2023
What we're reading
What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in March
Book of the day
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton review – hippies v billionaires
February 2023
Eleanor Catton: ‘I felt so much doubt after winning the Booker’
In 2013, at 28, Eleanor Catton became the youngest ever Booker winner with The Luminaries. She talks about adapting the novel for screen, being shut out of her native New Zealand and why it has taken 10 years to write a follow-up
June 2020
TV review
The Luminaries review – a compulsively complex novel becomes simply addictive TV
TV tonight
TV tonight: romance gives way to something far darker in The Luminaries
November 2018
Top 10s
Top 10 modern Victorian novels
Narrative tricks minted in the 19th century are still working in contemporary fiction by authors from Margaret Atwood to Sarah Waters
June 2018
Books that made me
Eleanor Catton: ‘The Bostonians sends me to sleep every time I pick it up’
The New Zealand novelist on the crackpot astrological study she’d like to write, and the book she finds ‘dishonest, pious and vengeful’
October 2017
How do you win the Man Booker prize? Move to New York or London
Lucy Diver
The prize used to champion outsiders. But a 2014 rule change has resulted in the neo-colonial dominance of the US and the UK says freelance writer Lucy Diver
March 2017
Eleanor Catton's new novel revealed as a pre-apocalyptic drama set in New Zealand
Birnam Wood, which revolves around a US billionaire who has purchased a bolt-hole, comes after Peter Thiel bought South Island property
December 2015
The big question: are books getting longer?
A new survey of bestsellers and critics’ picks has concluded that the average book is now 25% bigger than 15 years ago. But not everyone reads things this way
May 2015
Books blog
The Guardian first book award: 16 years of talent-spotting
As nominations for 2015 open, it’s a good time to remember that the prize isn’t just the sum of its winners but of all the shortlisted stars of the future
January 2015
Eleanor Catton blasts critics’ ‘jingoistic national tantrum’
Booker prizewinner defends her right to discuss politics after speaking out over culture and power in New Zealand
November 2014
Books blog
Joshua Ferris wins Dylan Thomas prize
Ferris beats favourites Eleanor Catton and Eimear McBride to win the £30,000 prize for his novel, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, writes Nicholas Wroe
September 2014
International Dylan Thomas prize unveils 'extraordinarily strong' shortlist
Eleanor Catton sets up grant to give writers 'time to read'
August 2014
Hard books for hard times: literary experimentation gains popularity
For some authors, a demanding era for publishing calls for complicated stories not cautious and conservative ones – and they're finding readers
July 2014
The week in books
Man Booker prize 2014: why the longlist has bewildered the bookies
