Fiona Farrell has been awarded the $100,000 Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer's Fellowship to research and write twin books, one fiction and one non-fiction, inspired by her experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes and the rebuilding of the city.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, says he is confident that Fletchers is vigilant about fraud and is doing what it can to prevent it in the Christchurch rebuild after accusations from New Zealand First.
It now seems unlikely that engineers involved in the most serious building collapse of the Christchurch earthquake will face any external action, with the profession's administrators telling the Government there's nothing more they can do.
Overlapping claims and general confusion are delaying money payable to New Zealand for damage from the Canterbury earthquakes. The money involved is payable through reinsurance schemes taken out by insurance companies in this country, with firms overseas.
Nearly two years' after Christchurch's February earthquake and almost 6 months after the blueprint for the city centre was revealed, many questions remain about how much it will cost and who will pay for it.
It's emerged that engineers involved in the most serious building collapse of the Christchurch earthquake are unlikely to face any external action, with the profession's two top bodies telling the Government their hands are tied.
Experts trying to restore Christchurch's busted sewerage system have faced up to concerned residents about what happened when raw sewage was allowed to flow directly into the sea in the months after the February earthquake.
Conversations between one-time residents of an historic riverside community - in the 1970s the late Elsie Locke and Rod Donald helped to create one of Christchurch's strongest riverside communities. The Avon Loop now subject to post earthquake re-classifation and demolition.
It's been revealed earthquake damage was only one factor considered by the Ministry of Education when it decided to close schools in Christchurch and that it was just as much to do with reducing the overall number of schools in the city.
Since the Christchurch earthquakes propelled Paul Fleming from his Chancery Lane shop in central Christchurch, he has begun a business called 'Happy Tours' featuring an immaculate Austin Seven called Myrtle. Myrtle takes Spectrum's Deborah Nation into Christchurch's central city Red Zone. Christchurch poet Helen Jacobs also tours in Myrtle.
Specially designed sleeping boxes originally made to keep babies safe during the Christchurch earthquakes are now being used for vulnerable infants in South Auckland. The little beds are called "Pepi-Pods" and they're being given to families with babies that might be susceptible to cot death.
The debt stricken state-owned enterprise Solid energy is in crisis talks with the Treasury and its banks, two years after the Christchurch earthquakes, insurance companies are blamed for delays in the rebuild, and in dateline pacific Papua New Guinea is building up its military to build roads.
Phil Holdstock, a homeowner; Leanne Curtis, relationships manager for the Canterbury Communities' Earthquake Recovery Network, a network of residents association and community group representatives from the earthquake-affected neighbourhoods of Canterbury; and Jeremy Johnson, insurance partner at Wynn Williams in Christchurch.
Provincial towns and rural communities around the country say they will be financially ruined under proposals to strengthen buildings following the Christchurch earthquakes. Dale Williams is Mayor of Otorohanga, Dave Cull is Mayor of Dunedin and Lawrence Yule is Mayor of Hastings and president of Local Government NZ.
Some Canterbury homeowners say their houses have dropped in value because the damage to their properties was inadequately assessed by the Earthquake Commission after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Independent land surveyor, Adrian Cowie, and a Burwood homeowner affected by the quakes, Selwyn Stafford, talk about the issues facing them.
With Adrian Regnault, the General Manager of Building Systems Performance at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; Stefano Pampanin, an Associate Professor in Structural Engineering at Canterbury University and the President of the NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering and John Finnegan - structural engineer, Aurecon.
Ethics in the engineering profession is under scrutiny following the Christchurch earthquakes and Pike River disaster. We hear from Professor John Uff, an international arbitrator specialising in professional negligence. He has led many public inquiries including the Southall Rail Crash in London which killed 7 people and injured 150.
Christchurch is home to many diverse ethnic groups whose voices have sometimes gone unheard in the aftermath of the earthquakes and the city's rebuild plans. Katy Gosset visits a gathering in Christchurch's battered eastern suburbs to hear their thoughts on post-quake life and the future of their adopted home.
Maddie Leach and Jem Noble, collaborators on I was using six watts when you Received me... The broadcast of sounds that are special to the city but were lost after the earthquakes are part of the SCAPE Public Art Biennial which starts in Christchurch this Friday.
Earthquakes are one of the few natural disasters Australia seldom experiences. We find out from curator Felicity Milburn how our neighbours have responded to an exhibition of earthquake related art direct from Christchurch. Tomorrow will be the same (but not as this is), on show in Mandurah in Western Australia.
The latest news and updates on last night's earthquake; a former resident of a Christchurch complex, where a woman was found dead over the weekend, says altercations are common; NZ says law change on asylum seekers justified; doubts Kiwisaver tweaks would help first home buyers; and veterans want answers about exposure to radiation.
Katy Gosset meets one of Christchurch's top tailors. Mark van Roosmalen may have lost his premises in the earthquake but he's busier than ever, turning out bespoke garments for the city's style-conscious. Katy finds that amidst the high-viz vests of Christchurch there's still plenty of room for a sharp suit.
Male mammals don't stay monogamous to produce fitter offspring, instead they do it for love and to protect their partner; Edward Snowden granted temporary asylum in Russia; Parking companies in central Wellington increase fees after earthquakes; and tours of Christchurch's Red Zone started this week.
University of Canterbury geologist Mark Quigley has earned a reputation for being a great science communicator on the subject of earthquakes. But when he's not in the media spotlight, he's out and about around Canterbury building a picture of the region's tectonic history, and trying to understand what might happen in the future.
A villa built on the Sumner Esplanade in Christchurch early last century has been saved from demolition and given a new lease of life. A Queenstown couple couldn't bear to see the beautiful home demolished after the earthquakes, so they bought it, had it cut into two pieces and trucked the 500-kilometres south to the Gibbston Valley near Queenstown.
Topics - The Mayor of Christchurch says he's confident the city council will speed up the processing of building consents and won't lose its authority to grant them. Are Christchurch's frustrations with the Earthquake Commission a result of some kind of misunderstanding. Media hype's being blamed for skyrocketing house prices in parts of Auckland.
A couple of Christchurch men are collecting letterboxes from the city's red-zoned suburbs, to create sculptures to tell the stories of the homes which have been demolished since the February 2011 earthquake. One of the men is Evan Smith - who co-chairs a group called the Avon-Otakaro Network. It's working toward creating a riverside park along the Avon, where the houses once stood.
The Earthquake Commission (EQC) criticised for misleading and inadequate measurements on housing foundations when assessing damage to Canterbury homes; Wellington historic building champions vow to save heritage structure in the capital; the spread of didymo in Fiordland; Defence Force sentencing today after drowning last year; the censorship of Maniac, arty audiences only please, and; the PM changes tack on working with NZ First.
A new exhibition is simply called " 37". The show is by the photographer Doc Ross, features 37 Christchurch people captured on film using a 37 second exposure. The aim: to reflect the length of time their city shook during February 2011's devastating earthquake. Katy Gosset hears some of the stories behind the exhibition and hits the streets to record her own take on the 37 second concept.
Exactly 75 years ago today, Superman made his debut in "Action Comics" No. 1. Campaigners for the restoration of the Christchurch Cathedral are "thrilled" that rebuilding the earthquake-damaged church remains on the table. The Press reports Christchurch's hotel shortage is so critical that at times visitor centre staff have had to put tourists up in their own homes.