Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes to promote Brexit Britain in 2017

A year celebrating England’s literary heroes is part of a campaign to attract overseas visitors cashing in on weak pound

Harry Potter will lead the charge, accompanied by an author who still inspires devotion from her fans two centuries after her death, and the Baker Street detective who has enjoyed a renaissance on both the small and big screens.

As Brexit Britain prepares to promote itself to the world, the government is pushing a global “GREAT” Britain campaign to showcase what the nation has to offer visitors. A central theme will be the diversity of British tourism as Wales promotes a Year of Legends, which will pay tribute to the country’s epic myths, and Scotland celebrates a Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.

Related: Sharp rise in cost of holidays abroad leads to staycation boom

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A case of identity: Cumberbatch and Sherlock Holmes author are cousins

Ancestry sleuths find Arthur Conan Doyle and the Sherlock actor are 16th cousins, twice removed – both descended from John of Gaunt, who died in 1399

Researchers have discovered that Benedict Cumberbatch is distantly related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author who created Sherlock Holmes, a role the actor has recently made his own.

Related: Sherlock's future in doubt as stars' Hollywood schedules fill

Related: The return of Sherlock: ‘Being a hero isn’t about being bigger, richer, more powerful'

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‘It’s a miracle’: from begging in Paris to bestselling author

Jean-Marie Roughol reveals how a chance encounter with a former government minister led him to write about living rough – and to turn his life around

For the best part of three decades, Jean-Marie Roughol lived as a down-and-out in Paris. Begging in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe, he was a familiar figure to the wealthy and famous who frequented the designer boutiques and luxury convenience stores of the Champs Élysées.

Some ignored his polite appeals, scurrying past and looking the other way; others stumped up a coin or two – or even a note; and one couple offered him walk-on parts in their movies.

Related: Marais: the chic Paris district where rats outnumber residents

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Readers’ books of the year 2016

Writers and critics have had their say, now readers pick their books of the year – from Brexit to bohemians, emperors to existentialists

Of the many books that have engaged me this year, three stand out: James shows in a brutally honest memoir how someone can be saved, and The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota (Picador) depicts a life that many of us choose to ignore. More recently I have been transported to Cumbria by Sarah Hall’s The Wolf Border (Faber), which has all the ingredients to keep you reading and wondering if it might actually come true.
Sarah Akhtar, Stoke-on-Trent

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Simon & Schuster stands by Milo Yiannopoulos book despite backlash

Pre-orders push Dangerous to top of Amazon’s bestseller list as publisher asks readers to ‘withhold judgment until they have had a chance to read’ the book

Despite heavy criticism, publisher Simon & Schuster is moving forward with plans to release a 2017 book by the conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, which it says will be about free speech.

Related: Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos claims lucrative deal struck for autobiography

Related: Milo Yiannopoulos: Twitter banning one man won’t undo his poisonous legacy

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Jane Austen £5 note found in Christmas card in Scottish Borders

Thought to be worth tens of thousands of pounds, second of only four notes with micro portrait of novelist is discovered

It is the fiver that could earn you tens of thousands of pounds: one of four Jane Austen £5 notes has been found in a Christmas card in the Scottish Borders.

The ultra-rare notes, engraved with a tiny portrait of the novelist, were released secretly around the UK earlier this month.

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'They throw you into a hole': celebrated Turkish novelist reveals detention ordeal

Asli Erdoğan bursts into tears as she describes spending 132 days in an Istanbul prison on account of her links to pro-Kurdish newspaper

Asli Erdoğan, one of Turkey’s most celebrated novelists, was released from jail Thursday, looking exhausted after 132 days of pre-trial detention, declaring that she could barely believe she was free.

The writer has been in prison on charges of terror propaganda on account of her links to a pro-Kurdish newspaper, in a case that has caused an international outcry over freedom of expression.

Related: Cafeteria manager jailed for insulting Turkish president, lawyer says

Related: Turks and Kurds are trapped in a spiral that suits the hardliners | Elif Shafak

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Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos claims lucrative deal struck for autobiography

“Alt-right” figure says he will write for Simon & Schuster’s conservative imprint, though previous book announcements have not materialised

Milo Yiannopoulos, a prominent Donald Trump supporter and member of the so-called “alt-right” movement, has reportedly been offered US$250,000 for his first book.

The book is due to be published by the Threshold Editions imprint of Simon & Schuster and would be autobiographical, reported the Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.

Related: My night out in Cleveland with the worst men on the internet

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Wordsworth's last known descendent joins fight against Lake District pylons

Although National Grid has agreed to use underground cables within the national park, it plans to place pylons just 10 metres outside park boundry

Joined by the last known descendent of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, middle England will go on the march this new year to “save the Lake District from pylons”.

Where Wordsworth wandered alone among the clouds others may not be able to follow with plans for 90 pylons the height of Nelson’s Column across an estuary in the area of outstanding natural beauty.

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James Joyce book's centenary marked with map project

Irish author’s first novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was published 100 years ago

A father and son acting duo, literary academics and computer scientists have teamed up on a project to mark the centenary of James Joyce’s first novel.

A map of locations from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man offers a chance to follow the journey of the book’s hero, Stephen Dedalus, around Dublin.

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In Hong Kong's book industry, 'everybody is scared'

Hong Kong used to be a place of relatively free speech in China, but that was before Xi Jinping’s crackdown. Now everybody from writers to booksellers, publishers and printers fear they will be next to ‘disappear’

Just over a year after five publishers and booksellers disappeared from Hong Kong in mysterious circumstances, the Chinese territory’s book industry has been shaken to the core.

Bookshops have closed. Publishers have left. Authors have stopped writing. Books have been pulped. Printers are refusing political works. Translators have grown weary of being associated with certain topics. Readers have stopped buying. And the whole industry is wondering if hard-hitting books on Chinese politics still have a future in the former British colony.

Related: Hong Kong protesters march over abducted booksellers

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Hilarious realist: Carrie Fisher was the person everyone would want to sit next to at a wedding | Hadley Freeman

The actor and writer was extraordinary: a woman the same onscreen as off, who could turn addiction and self-loathing into cynical, life-affirming gold

• Obituary: Carrie Fisher, 1956-2016
  

During the later decades of her life, Carrie Fisher became better known for her persona than her actual achievements, although she would probably argue that the shaping of this persona was an achievement in itself, and she would be right. The broken but not bowed survivor, the rehab graduate with black wit, the former Hollywood wild child who tells it like it is: those were the roles Fisher played, perfectly, to the day she died. I saw her perform live only once, when she monologued her life story, titled Wishful Drinking, on the New York stage – in the former Studio 54, appropriately enough, as quite a few of her life stories happened on that dance floor.

Related: Star writer: Carrie Fisher shines brightest in her books

Related: Carrie Fisher on Harrison Ford: ‘I love him. I'll always feel something for him’

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Watership Down author Richard Adams dies aged 96

Writer, who did not begin writing until he was 52, won Carnegie medal and Guardian children’s prize for novel about group of rabbits

Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down, has died aged 96, his daughter has said.

a statement on the book’s official website has said.
He “passed away peacefully” at 10pm on Christmas Eve.
The statement, issued on Tuesday, said: “Richard’s much-loved family announce with sadness that their dear father, grandfather, and great-grandfather passed away peacefully at 10pm on Christmas Eve.”

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'Only skeletons, not people': diaries shed new light on siege of Leningrad

Academic says contemporaneous accounts of suffering are notably different to stories survivors now tell of triumphant resistance

The discovery of a huge number of unpublished diaries has given an extraordinary insight into one of the most notorious and brutal military sieges in history.

The siege of Leningrad by German and Finnish forces lasted 872 days, from September 1941 to 27 January 1944. Up to 2 million lives were lost, including around 800,000 civilians or 40% of the population of the city now called St Petersburg.

Related: Translation Tuesday: Poems written during the Siege of Leningrad

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The Song of Seven by Tonke Dragt review – a playful Dutch classic

A self-doubting teacher becomes a fantasy hero in a seductively spiralling story from the author of Letter to the King

There are many reasons why The Song of Seven should not work as a book for children. The most significant is that it lacks a child protagonist; although there is a 10-year-old boy at the centre of the story, its hero is a young schoolteacher, Frans van der Steg. Add in a labyrinthine conspiracy, some metafictional comment on reality, identity and storytelling, a delayed central plot-strand and several matter‑of-fact references to corporal punishment, and it seems certain that disaster will result. Yet, somehow, in a hurdy-gurdy way, it hangs together. It does not boast the breakneck pace of The Letter for the King, Tonke Dragt’s world-renowned 1962 heroic fantasy, a big success for Pushkin when it was translated into English in 2013; rather, it draws the reader seductively along its spiralling paths.

Its author, now an elderly Dutch national treasure, wrote her first book at the age of 12, in a Japanese internment camp in Jakarta. She went on to study art at The Hague, and illustrated both her own work and that of others, including E Nesbit and Alan Garner. Her stories occupy a similar space to theirs, straddling the divide between mundane life and fantasy. Translator Laura Watkinson has faithfully served Dragt’s work: the language of all three of her books published by Pushkin is beautifully lucid, with a clear sense of playfulness and urgency.

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JK Rowling reveals she's working on two new novels

The Harry Potter author revealed to fans on Twitter that she has two books in the pipeline, one under her own name and one as Robert Galbraith

JK Rowling has delivered an early Christmas present to fans, announcing on social media that she is at work on two novels. Asked on Twitter if there would be a new novel soon, the Harry Potter author replied on Wednesday night: “I’m working on it (literally).”

Though she gave no details about the books, she did confirm that one would be under her own name and another in the Robert Galbraith detective series. She wrote: “One of each, but I’m not sure which will come out first. I’ll let you know as soon as I do!”

I'm working on it (literally). And thank you! https://t.co/vA6CZcVhRW

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Turkish author Aslı Erdoğan's detention 'breaches convention on human rights'

The novelist’s pre-trial imprisonment on terror charges has been condemned by lawyers and academics, who say there are no grounds for this extreme measure

The imprisonment of celebrated novelist Aslı Erdoğan breaches both Turkey’s constitution and the European convention on human rights, according to prominent lawyers and human rights activists.

The 18 experts, who include judges and academics, said the pre-trial detention of the writer was an extreme measure, seemingly imposed with the intent of reducing political opposition to, and criticism of, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s regime.

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Colin Thubron and Tom Phillips join 2017 Man Booker jury

The two will join Sarah Hall, Lila Azam Zanganeh and chair Baroness Young to judge the UK’s premier literary prize, to be awarded in October 2017

Travel writer and novelist Colin Thubron and artist Tom Phillips are to join the five-strong panel that will judge the 2017 Man Booker prize, it was announced on Tuesday.

Both are Commanders of the British Empire, making this the most highly decorated Booker jury for many years. It will be chaired by the crossbench peer Baroness Lola Young.

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Ahmed Naji to be freed from jail, but will face court again in January

The Egyptian novelist convicted of ‘violating public modesty’ has had his sentence suspended, pending another hearing next month

Egyptian author Ahmed Naji is to be released from prison, after Egypt’s highest appeals court suspended his two-year sentence for “violating public modesty” with his novel The Use of Life.

Naji was charged in 2015 after an excerpt of the book was published in the state-owned magazine Akhbar al-Adab. The passage contained references to sex and drug use, and a complainant alleged that reading the passage gave them “heart palpitations, sickness, and a drop in blood pressure”.

Naji's lawyer Mahmoud Osman - the paperwork is through, Naji should be out tomorrow. #FreeNaji #Enough https://t.co/roxvCV12iP

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Wonder Woman writer and artist dropped by DC over 'challenging relationship'

Comics giant says that the company was concerned by criticism by husband-and-wife team Ray Dillon and Renae De Liz of other creatives

The critically acclaimed, Eisner-nominated comic series The Legend of Wonder Woman has been cancelled by DC Comics, because of what a spokesperson for DC called “a challenging relationship” with the husband and wife team behind the series.

Artist Ray Dillon and writer Renae De Liz had created nine issues of The Legend of Wonder Woman, telling the story of the Amazonian from her origins on the planet Themyscira to arriving on Earth to become a superhero. A digital-first series, a collected edition was released in hardback on 13 December.

I am very grateful to DC for the opportunity to work with such an iconic character over the last few years, that was a joy like none other

Related: Wonder Woman has empowered me since I was four. She was a great UN ambassador | Nicola Scott

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Clean room, no beetles wanted: how a young Kafka hoped to write budget travel guides

Before writing his best-known works, Franz Kafka hoped to make millions with a series of “on the cheap” guides to European travel

Years before penning Metamorphosis, considered by some to be the greatest short story ever written, Franz Kafka hoped to make his fortune writing a series of budget European travel guides.

Kafka conceived a business plan for the books, dubbed “on the cheap”, while travelling across the continent with his friend Max Brod in the summer of 1911. This detail was revealed in volume three of Reiner Stach’s biography, Kafka: The Early Years, published in translation (by Shelley Frisch) last month.

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Cheaper books would save Australians $25m a year, says Productivity Commission

Authors and publishers condemn push to repeal parallel import restrictions and say there will be fewer Australian titles

The federal government should move to make books cheaper in the next year and save Australians about $25m annually, the Productivity Commission believes, but the move is fiercely resisted by authors and some publishers who say it will mean fewer Australian titles will be available.

The recommendation to repeal parallel import restrictions – made for the eighth time – is part of its latest report to government on intellectual property arrangements, made public on Tuesday.

Related: Be under no illusion: Malcolm Turnbull wants to destroy Australian literature | Richard Flanagan

Related: Flooding Australia with imported books would be an assault on our literary culture | Michael Heyward

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Public library loans show dramatic fall in last two years

Almost 16m fewer books have been loaned in England and Wales since 2014, reinforcing a bleak picture of widespread budget cuts and branch closures

Latest figures show that library book loans slumped by almost 16m in the last two years, with library campaigners calling the news “a clarion call to put books back at the centre of what libraries do” in a sector that has seen record closures and budget cuts.

Library book loans continued a downward trend in 2016, with figures obtained by the Guardian revealing that loans for the year to 10 December fell on average by 14%, with loans to adults worst hit at 15% down. Loans of children’s books fell by just over 12%. However, this comes at a time when book sales in both sectors have continued to climb.

Related: Library closures 'will double unless immediate action is taken'

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More than 140 authors call on Penguin Random House to reinstate union recognition

Open letter from writers including David Almond, Michael Rosen and Meg Rosoff calls on publisher to ‘reverse its decision to derecognise unions’

Children’s authors David Almond, Michael Rosen and Meg Rosoff are among more than 140 writers, booksellers and librarians who have signed a letter calling on Penguin Random House to reinstate relations with two trade unions after talks broke down last week.

Related: Redundancy fears as Penguin Random House derecognises staff unions

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'Surreal' trumps 'fascism' as Merriam-Webster's 2016 word of the year

• Dictionary publisher had appealed for readers to stop rise of ‘fascism’
• Editor: ‘Surreal is one of the words most searched after tragedy’

Merriam-Webster has succeeded in its attempt to stop “fascism” being named its word of the year: the dictionary publisher’s word of 2016 is “surreal”.

Related: Stop 'fascism' becoming word of the year, urges US dictionary

Top lookups right now: noel, fascism, and sex. In that order. https://t.co/WLABnFY5dn

Related: Top 10 dictionaries

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Redundancy fears as Penguin Random House derecognises staff unions

Workers from Unite and NUJ fear move heralds industrial strife at company that publishes one in four books sold globally

Penguin Random House, the publisher of hits including The Girl on the Train, Fifty Shades of Grey and Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks, has terminated its collective agreement with unions after talks aimed at protecting staff redundancy terms broke down.

The world’s biggest book publisher, formed in a £2.4bn mega-merger between the UK’s Penguin and German-owned Random House four years ago, informed staff it was ending its collective agreement with Unite and the National Union of Journalists on Friday.

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Andreï Makine uses Académie française induction to attack 'ignorant' Hollande

While receiving France’s highest literary honour, Russian novelist rounds on the ‘arrogant ignoramus’ running the country – who authorised his prize

Russian novelist Andreï Makine has criticised the last three French presidents as “arrogant ignoramuses” and lamented that “once, French presidents not only read novels but knew how to write them”, while receiving France’s highest literary honour.

The Siberian-born novelist made the comments in a speech as he was inducted into the prestigious Académie française.

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UK's first major Moomins exhibition set to open in London

The creatures of author Tove Jansson’s books are famous in their native Finland, and are building an international following

On one level it is travelling through the magical caves, beaches and forests inhabited by lovable, strange creatures which resemble tiny hippoes. On another it is an existential journey touching on some of the biggest subjects including gender, sexuality, tolerance and freedom.

The first major UK exhibition dedicated to the Moomins and the life of their Finnish creator Tove Jansson will open to the public on Friday.

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Isaac Newton masterwork becomes most expensive science book sold

First edition of Principia Mathematica, which was published in 1687 and sets out Newton’s laws of motion, raises £3m at auction

A first edition of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica has become the most expensive printed scientific book ever sold at auction after a winning bid of $3.7m (£3m), the auction house Christie’s has announced.

The edition of Newton’s 1687 work, described by Albert Einstein as “perhaps the greatest intellectual stride that it has ever been granted to any man to make”, went for nearly two and a half times its highest estimate.

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Brexit, YouTuber and Bama among new words in Oxford English Dictionary

Politics, business and social media coin 2016’s official additions to the English language – and, naturally, Beyoncé has a hand in it too

Brexit may mean Brexit to Theresa May, but the Oxford English Dictionary has come to the aid of those who wish for a less opaque definition. The word is among 1,500 new words added to the dictionary this week.

OED editors steered clear of political controversy by defining the process of Brexit rather than its consequences or implementation. The definition reads: “The (proposed) withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, and the political process associated with it. Sometimes used specifically with reference to the referendum held in the UK on 23 June 2016, in which a majority of voters favoured withdrawal from the EU.”

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Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger to be subject of biopic

Film based on Ellen Feldman’s novel about birth control pioneer to be masterminded by Jennifer Lawrence’s production partner

A biopic of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger is in the works after Jennifer Lawrence’s production partner Justine Ciarrocchi acquired the rights to Terrible Virtue, the 2016 novel about Sanger’s life by Ellen Feldman.

Sanger, who died in 1966, remains a celebrated figure in the reproductive rights movement after she became a pioneer of contraception distribution and opened the US’s first birth control clinic in 1916. After being convicted on charges of “distributing obscene materials”, Sanger co-founded the American Birth Control League in 1921; the organisation, by then a national concern, changed its name in 1942 to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Related: Jennifer Lawrence defends charity against anti-abortion campaigners

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HMRC changes decision over VAT for adult colouring books

The popular colouring books will now remain VAT-free unless they are specifically marketed towards adults

HMRC has announced that it will not impose VAT on most colouring and dot-to-dot books for adults – reversing its plans from earlier this year that were greeted with dismay by fans and publishers alike.

Colouring books aimed at adults have been a publishing hit in the last three years, with titles such as Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden topping the Amazon bestseller lists. The intricate patterns and designs featured in many of the titles are credited with soothing anxiety in people who are stressed.

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Nassim Nicholas Taleb hits out at Chinese printers’ censorship of his book

Author protests after proofs of Afterlife returned with marks indicating that Taiwan should be referred to as part of China

The writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb has blasted Chinese printers with accusations of censorship, after the manuscript for a US edition of his 2012 book Antifragile was returned with the instruction to replace mentions of Taiwan with “China, Taiwan”.

The Lebanese-American author of bestseller The Black Swan, which predicted the 2008 global economic crash, posted on Twitter: “Printer of ‪#Antifragile in China asked me to replace ‘Taiwan’ w/‘China, Taiwan’. I (angrily) said ‘No censorship!’”

Printer of #Antifragile in China asked me to replace "Taiwan" w/"China, Taiwan".
I (angrily) said "No censorship!" http://pic.twitter.com/CDqcBV4fnW

Related: Antifragile: How to Live in a World We Don't Understand by Nassim Nicholas Taleb – review

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To Sir, With Love author ER Braithwaite dies aged 104

Author whose autobiographical novel dramatising his time as a black teacher in east London in the 50s had a career that took in social work and diplomacy as well as writing

ER Braithwaite, the Guyanese author of To Sir, With Love, has died at his home in Maryland at the age of 104.

Born in Guyana on 27 June 1912, Eustace Edward Ricardo Braithwaite was the child of privileged parents, both graduates of Oxford University. His father was a diamond miner while his mother raised the family. During the second world war, he joined the Royal Air Force to fight as a pilot before going on to Cambridge to read physics. He later said that he experienced no racial prejudice within the RAF.

Related: Caryl Phillips on the enduring appeal of ER Braithwaite

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'People hope my book will be China's Star Wars': Liu Cixin on China's exploding sci-fi scene

The author of The Three-Body Problem explains how science fiction emerged from the Cultural Revolution’s shadow, with the potential to speak across cultures

When he was a schoolboy, Liu Cixin’s favourite book was Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne. This might seem like a fairly standard introduction to science fiction, but Liu read it under exceptional circumstances; this was at the height of the Cultural Revolution, in his native China, and all western literature was strictly forbidden.

Now 53, Liu (western publishers present him as Cixin Liu to make it easier for readers to find his family name on the shelves) is a science-fiction writer of some renown, both in China and in the English-speaking world. His novel The Three-Body Problem won a Hugo award in 2015 and is currently being adapted into a movie, due in 2017. His sequel, The Dark Forest, was published in English in 2015, and the third book Death’s End, has just been translated and released in the UK.

Technological and social changes that took centuries in the west have been come in two generations in China

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Shirley Hazzard, internationally acclaimed Australian author, dies at 85

Novelist, who has died in New York, wrote The Transit of Venus and The Great Fire, and won the Miles Franklin prize and the National Book award

Shirley Hazzard, the Australian-born author whose 1980 book The Transit of Venus brought her international acclaim has died at the age of 85.

According to a report in the New York Times, Hazzard’s death at her home in Manhattan followed a struggle with dementia. The news comes in a sad week for Australian literary world, with the death of writer and broadcaster Anne Deveson on Monday, and her daughter, Georgia Blain, on Friday.

Related: Interview: Shirley Hazzard

Related: Anne Deveson, writer and broadcaster, dies days after daughter, novelist Georgia Blain

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Democracy sausage: it's Australia's word of 2016, says national dictionary centre

The barbecued snag, bought at a polling booth on election day, beat ‘smashed avo’ and ‘census fail’ to define the year

Oxford gave us “post-truth”; Merriam-Webster’s is set to be “fascism”; in Australia, the word of 2016 is “democracy sausage”.

The barbecued snag, bought at a polling booth sausage sizzle on election day, beat out “smashed avo” and “census fail” to define the year, following a mammoth eight-week election campaign.

Related: When I hear the words 'smashed avocado', I reach for my Adler 110 | First Dog on the Moon

Related: Census 2016: the political game has changed and Coalition failed its first test | Katharine Murphy

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Suicide Squad director joins Margot Robbie for female DC villains movie

The actor will reprise Harley Quinn for film-maker David Ayer in Gotham City Sirens, inspired by recent comic on murderous women from Batman’s past

Margot Robbie is set to reprise her role of Harley Quinn for an all-female DC villains movie.

Related: Batfleck to the rescue! DC desperately needs a super smash to stop the bad buzz

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Rare edition of JK Rowling's Beedle the Bard sells for £368,750

Jewelled book was Harry Potter author’s thank you gift to publisher ‘who thought an overlong novel about a boy wizard in glasses might just sell’

A handwritten and jewelled edition of JK Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard gifted to her publisher has sold for £368,750 at auction.

Rowling handwrote seven copies of her collection of fairytales set in the Harry Potter universe and gave six as presents to “those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books”. The seventh copy, made by Rowling to raise money for her charity Lumos, was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in 2007 for £1.95m.

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Pensioner presents every MP with collection of refugee stories

Campaigner Michaela Fryson has given 650 copies of the anthology A Country of Refuge to UK politicians in a bid to soften the hostile tone of public debate

An October excursion to a local bookshop by a pensioner and human rights activist has this week ended in MPs receiving a Christmas gift she hopes will challenge the rhetoric surrounding refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

At the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, Michaela Fyson from Staffordshire handed over copies – one for each MP – of A Country of Refuge, with help from the book’s editor, Lucy Popescu. The event was attended by MPs, members of the Lords, writers and refugees.

@FreefromTorture Full complement of MPs and literary stars at Parliament for the launch of @lucyjpop's 'A Country of Refuge' in Parliament. http://pic.twitter.com/VObLDQf1Ju

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Library closures 'will double unless immediate action is taken'

A further 340 closures are likely in the next five years, says librarians’ body, without government intervention to protect funding

A further 340 public libraries could close in the next five years if the government does not act urgently to halt drastic funding cuts, the head of a leading library organisation has warned, which would equal the number of closures witnessed by the sector over the past eight years.

Nick Poole, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals (Cilip) said: “We have already lost 340 libraries over the past eight years and we think that unless immediate action is taken, we stand to lose the same number over the next five years.”

Related: Is your library under threat? Share your experiences with us

Related: UK library closures and the fights to save them

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Sara Baume's 'irresistible' debut novel wins Geoffrey Faber Memorial prize

Spill Simmer Falter Wither takes award seen as a bellwether of future achievement for ‘tender and uncompromising’ debut novel

Artist and writer Sara Baume has won the 2015 Geoffrey Faber Memorial prize for fiction for her debut novel Spill Simmer Falter Wither.

Related: Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume review – a deft and moving debut

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On my radar: Carrie Brownstein’s cultural highlights

The Sleater-Kinney riot grrrl and Portlandia creator on sci-fi, Steve Gunn’s guitar-playing and the joy of simple curry

Born in Seattle, Carrie Brownstein studied sociolinguistics at Olympia College in Washington, centre of riot grrrl, the feminist art movement. There she founded rock band Sleater-Kinney in 1994 with Corin Tucker. They worked with several drummers before finding Janet Weiss in 1996, and released their third, breakthrough album, Dig Me Out, in 1997. Following 2005’s The Woods, the band took a backseat while Brownstein wrote music criticism for NPR, co-fronted punk band Wild Flag, and conceived Emmy-winning sketch show Portlandia with Fred Armisen. In 2015, Sleater-Kinney reunited to make No Cities to Love, and Brownstein released her memoir, Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl. The book is out now in paperback (Virago £7.99).

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‘Nervous’ Patti Smith sings for Bob Dylan at Nobel prize ceremony – video

A nervous Patti Smith sings ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ in Stockholm on Saturday, in a performance given to mark Bob Dylan’s Nobel prize for literature. Dylan, whose speech was read out by US ambassador to Sweden Azita Raji, says the prize was ‘something I never could have imagined or seen coming’

• Bob Dylan Nobel prize speech: this is ‘truly beyond words’
  

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Bob Dylan Nobel prize speech: this is 'truly beyond words'

Songwriter sends a speech and Patti Smith to the Nobel awards dinner in Sweden rather than attending in person

Bob Dylan admitted he was stunned and surprised when he was told he had won a Nobel prize because he had never stopped to consider whether his songs were literature.

Dylan, whose speech was read out by the US ambassador to Sweden at the annual awards dinner, said the prize was “something I never could have imagined or seen coming”.

Related: Patti Smith struggles through Stockholm tribute to absent Bob Dylan

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Salman Rushdie leads World Human Rights Day protest for Chinese writers

Author joins 120 others including JM Coetzee, Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman denouncing ‘the enforced silence of these friends and colleagues’

Letter: Time for China to release writers, journalists and activists

Salman Rushdie, JM Coetzee, Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman are among more than 120 authors and activists calling on Chinese president Xi Jinping to reverse his government’s fierce crackdown on writers and dissidents.

The number of detained and imprisoned writers in China is among the highest in the world. In an open letter released by freedom of speech group PEN International, and published in the Guardian on World Human Rights Day, the signatories condemn the constriction of freedom of expression by Chinese authorities and say they “cannot stand by as more and more of our friends and colleagues are silenced”.

Related: Gui Minhai: the strange disappearance of a publisher who riled China's elite

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Publishers rush out Trump and Brexit books to traumatised readers

Industry push for titles responding to this year’s shocking votes in the US and UK prompts raft of comedies and sober analyses

Publishers are rushing out a raft of titles to meet demand among readers traumatised by the election of Donald Trump and the aftermath of the Brexit referendum. Titles range from humour to protest packs aimed at reinvigorating the left as it faces four years of the former TV star in the White House.

The books are being turned around in time for Trump’s inauguration as US president on 20 January. American writer Gene Stone will publish The Trump Survival Guide on both sides of the Atlantic 10 days before the inauguration. Billed as “everything you need to know about living through what you hoped would never happen”, the book will be a serious call to action for Trump dissenters across the political spectrum, said publisher Dey Street Press, a division of HarperCollins. The author’s earlier books include a satirical guide to surviving George W Bush’s presidency.

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Max Porter's 'joyful linguistic invention' wins him young writer of the year award

Author of Grief Is the Thing With Feathers praised by judges of as ‘bursting with originality’

Max Porter, a novelist “bursting with originality” who was inspired by memories of childhood loss and the work of Ted Hughes, has been named young writer of the year.

Related: Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter review – words take flight

Related: Max Porter: ‘The experience of the boys in the novel is based on my dad dying when I was six’

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Labor defends import protection for Australia's book publishers

Opposition announces it will oppose moves to lift parallel import restrictions on books to protect future of Australian works

Labor has announced it will oppose moves to lift the parallel importation restrictions on books to maintain protection for the Australian publishing industry.

The publishing industry welcomed the announcement, and said that removing the rules would have a direct negative impact on Australian culture and jobs with no tangible consumer benefit.

Related: Books on the Rail: the guerrilla library infiltrating Melbourne's Metro

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Philippe Sands uses book prize to raise £60,000 for charity

After the winner of the 2016 Baillie Gifford award announced plans to give away £30,000 award, other parties have more than matched it

A month after Baillie Gifford winner Philippe Sands announced he would donate his £30,000 prize money to charity, the writer has revealed Médecins Sans Frontières, SOS Méditerranée and Women for Refugee Women will receive more than £20,000 each after his donation was matched by other parties.

Related: Philippe Sands: 'Alarm bells are ringing in this country'

Related: ‘We’re on a xenophobic path – someone needs to press pause’: Philippe Sands in conversation with Hisham Matar

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Stephen King attacks Bob Dylan's Nobel prize knockers

Guitar-playing horror legend speaks out against literary authors such as Gary Shteyngart and Irvine Welsh who have scorned the singer’s award

Stephen King has come to the defence of Bob Dylan’s Nobel prize for literature, accusing those who oppose the award of sour grapes.

According to King, no other musician has had such an impact on popular culture or remained so influential for so long as Dylan. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the horror writer defended the songwriter against his detractors, particularly the authors who had rubbished Dylan’s win: “People complaining about his Nobel either don’t understand or it’s just a plain old case of sour grapes.”

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Hatchimals scheme 'ruins' novelist Sara Gruen and angers Christmas shoppers

The Water for Elephants novelist wanted to resell a huge purchase of the must-have toy but cannot do so, leaving frustrated buyers furious

Never cross parents of young children on the hunt for the Christmas must-have toy. It is a rule novelist Sara Gruen failed to heed when she snapped up $23,000 (£18,000) worth of this year’s answer to Cabbage Patch Dolls and Furbies to resell. Now her pursuit of a fast profit could ruin her financially, as well as destroy her reputation among irate parents.

The Water for Elephants author has been accused of being a Grinch stealing Christmas after she spent $23,595.31 on eBay for 156 Hatchimals toys with a view to selling them on at a profit. The auction website restricts sales of toys likely to pull in counterfeiters.

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School library book returned more than 120 years late – with no fine

Title given back to school in Hereford by granddaughter of ex-pupil Arthur Boycott, who became a distinguished pathologist

A school library book on the subject of The Microscope and its Revelations that was borrowed in the 1890s and has been missing ever since has been returned after more than 120 years – with no fine to pay.

The small black volume was borrowed from the library at Hereford Cathedral school (HCS) by former pupil Arthur Boycott, whose interest was undoubtedly triggered by his childhood passion for natural history, in particular conchology – the study and collection of mollusc shells.

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Oscar Wilde’s prison cell key goes up for auction

Iron key was used to lock Reading jail cell C.3.3 where writer was imprisoned for homosexual offences

The plain iron key to Oscar Wilde’s cell door at Reading jail, a macabre souvenir of the period that broke his health and spirit, is to be sold at a Sotheby’s auction.

One of his most famous poems, the Ballad of Reading Gaol, recounting the sulphurous atmosphere in the prison in the weeks before a man was hanged, was originally published in 1898 under the pseudonym C.3.3, the number of his cell – cell block C, landing 3, cell 3 – where he was locked up after being sentenced to two years’ hard labour for homosexual offences in 1895.

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Martin Amis working on novel about Christopher Hitchens, Saul Bellow and Philip Larkin

Theme of the autobiographical fiction about his three friends, who all died after he had begun writing it, will be death

Martin Amis has disclosed that he is writing an autobiographical novel about three other writers: poet Philip Larkin, novelist Saul Bellow and public intellectual Christopher Hitchens. All three, who were friends and inspirations to Amis, died after he had started writing it, and the governing theme of the book will be death, he told the livemint.com website.

Amis, who wrote about all three men in his memoir Experience, did not confirm when the novel would appear appear. He did not reveal its title, but said: “It’s not so much about me, it’s about [the] three other writers … and since I started trying to write it, Larkin died in 1985, Bellow died in 2005, and Hitch died in 2011, and that gives me a theme – death – and a bit more freedom, and fiction is freedom.” He added: “It’s hard going but the one benefit is that I have the freedom to invent things. I don’t have them looking over my shoulder any more.”

Related: Is Martin Amis right? Or will Jeremy Corbyn have the last laugh?

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Rebecca Solnit's Hope in the Dark sells out after Trump victory

Feminist activist’s manifesto for ‘an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists’, originally published in Bush years, sees huge rise in sales

Rebecca Solnit’s political manifesto, published to encourage activists while George W Bush waged war in Iraq, has enjoyed a huge resurgence in sales since the election of Donald Trump as the next US president.

Hope in the Dark by activist and writer Solnit was published in 2004, but an updated third edition published earlier this year sold out in the US after the poll result, and digital downloads have topped 33,000, reports Publishers Weekly.

Related: ‘Hope is a​n embrace of the unknown​’: Rebecca Solnit on living in dark times

Related: Books to give you hope: The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit

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Authors, rock stars and one Doctor Who among artists in illustration auction

Classic works by Quentin Blake and images from Eric Clapton, Brian Eno and Peter Capaldi are among 40 works being sold to raise money for London gallery

Autobiographical drawings by Brian Eno, Eric Clapton and Peter Capaldi will join work by more traditional artists including Chris Riddell and Helen Oxenbury in a sale of more than 40 original illustrations aimed at raising thousands for a public gallery founded by former children’s laureate Quentin Blake.

As well as the musicians and Doctor Who star (all three of whom studied at art school), the designer Paul Smith and artists David Shrigley and Peter Blake will have works on sale at Sotheby’s in London on 13 December. Money raised will be used to support the House of Illustration. Based near King’s Cross in London, the House is the UK’s only public gallery dedicated to the artform and seeks to discover and nurture new illustrating talent.

Related: JK Rowling's hand-drawn Tales of Beedle the Bard go up for auction

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Fidel Castro worked on Gabriel García Márquez's manuscripts

The Nobel laureate sent the Cuban dictator all of his books and received his factual and grammatical notes before submitting them to his publisher

Feted as a revolutionary hero and demonised as an enemy of the free world, Fidel Castro also played an unexpected role in global literature. The Cuban president, who died on 25 November, acted as unofficial copy editor for the acclaimed novelist Gabriel García Márquez, providing line-by-line corrections for the writer after the two struck up a close friendship in the late 1970s.

Dr Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla, lecturer in Latin American studies at Aston University, told the Guardian: “The president was an avid reader. When they met in 1977, they had several conversations about literature and eventually Fidel offered to read his manuscripts, because he had a good eye for detail.”

Related: Gabriel García Márquez: 'What a kind and always funny man he was'

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Bad Little Children's Books satire pulled following racism accusations

Collection of pastiche illustrations, which declares itself ‘shamelessly offensive’, has been withdrawn from sale after Twitter storm

The author of a parody collection of children’s book covers from “more innocent times”, has asked for his book to be pulled after a storm of complaints on Twitter accused the titles of crossing the line from satire into racism and Islamophobia.

Pseudonymous author Arthur C Gackley has instructed his publisher, Abrams Books to take Bad Little Children’s Books off sale after floods of complaints were posted online. Covers featured in the book include an illustration of a First Nation family with the title The Anti-Vaccine Kid and the Gift of the Navajo Blanket Riddled With Smallpox. Under the title Happy Burkaday Timmy! a girl in a hijab, ticking bomb in hand, chases a white boy. Other parodies feature children killing babies, vomiting and being propositioned by predatory uncles.

When a publisher simultaneously "supports diverse books" but then publishes harmful dreck, you know it's all words & no meaning.

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Jailed Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji's appeal delayed

The author was given a two-year prison sentence in February for ‘violating public modesty’ amid crackdown on free expression by President Fatah al-Sisi

An appeal hearing against a two-year prison sentence imposed on novelist Ahmed Naji for publishing a “sexually explicit” article in an Egyptian newspaper has been delayed.

The writer was jailed in February for “violating public modesty”. He was convicted after the state-owned Akhbar al-Adab published extracts from his 2014 novel The Use of Life. The prosecution followed a reader’s complaint that the extract had caused him to “experience heart palpitations and an extreme feeling of sickness along with a sharp drop in blood pressure”. The newspaper editor was fined the equivalent of £430 for running the extract.

Related: Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji’s crime isn't what he wrote – it is that he is alive

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To Kill a Mockingbird removed from Virginia schools for racist language

Accomack County has suspended Harper Lee’s novel, as well as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from classrooms and libraries after parent’s complaint

To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have been suspended from the curriculum in some Virginia schools, after a parent complained about the use of racial slurs.

Harper Lee and Mark Twain’s literary classics were removed from classrooms in Accomack County, in Virginia after a formal complaint was made by the mother of a biracial teenager. At the centre of the complaint was the use of the N-word, which appears frequently in both titles.

Related: The Bible makes most challenged books list in US for first time

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Kafka's sexual terrors were 'absolutely normal', says biographer

Reiner Stach, author of a three-volume life of The Trial’s author, says his ‘anti-sensual’ fears were shared with millions of middle-class peers who dreaded STDs

It is a tantalising mystery that has fascinated historians and fans alike for decades, but a biographer who gained access to one of the author’s closest friends’ diaries has revealed a new theory about Franz Kafka’s sexuality.

Kafka’s intense attraction to women but clear aversion to physical contact and sex has been a subject for discussion for years. Theories on his possible asexuality or repressed homosexuality contributed to the mythology around the author. Max Brod, writer and eventual inheritor of Kafka’s estate, once described his close friend as being “tortured by his sexual desires”. Kafka himself described his fear of intimacy in a letter to Brod in January 1921:

“Like a person who cannot resist the temptation to swim out into the sea, and is blissful to be carried away – ‘now you are a man, you are a great swimmer’ – and suddenly, with little reason, he raises himself up and sees only the sky and the sea, and on the waves is only his own little head and he is seized by a horrible fear and nothing else matters, he must get back to the shore, even if his lungs burst. That is how it is.”

Related: Franz Kafka's virtual romance: a love affair by letters as unreal as online dating

Related: Franz Kafka literary legal battle ends as Israel's high court rules in favor of library

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First edition of Isaac Newton's Principia set to fetch $1m at auction

Rare European copy of key mathematics text is going under hammer at Christie’s in New York with record guide price

A first edition of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica could become the most expensive print sold of the revolutionary text when it goes under the hammer with a guide price of at least $1m (£790,000) this month.

The extremely rare continental copy being sold by auction house Christie’s in New York is one of a handful of texts thought to have been destined for Europe and has minor differences from those distributed in England by Newton and the book’s editor, Edmond Halley.

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Rachel Cooke’s best graphic books of 2016

From dazzling biographies to fantastic fantasy and wry observation, the year’s graphic books would make great Christmas presents

When I began writing about graphic novels a decade ago, I remember worrying slightly about the supply line: would I really be able to find a good one to review every month? And it was tricky, sometimes. But what a difference 10 years has made. I’m now in the awful business of running a beauty pageant: I have too many darlings, not too few. This year, especially, has been a bumper one. Memoirs, novels, biographies, reissued classics: if there isn’t something to suit everyone on the bulging list that follows, I’ll eat my copy of Persepolis.

First, memoir. It seems sometimes to be taking over, and this is as true in the world of graphic books as elsewhere in literature. Regular readers will know that I was waiting anxiously for the second volume of The Arab of the Future (Two Roads £18.99), Riad Sattouf’s series of comics about his childhood in France and the Middle East, and when it arrived, it did not disappoint. But aAnyway, a reminder: it’s truly great. Picking up the story in 1984, when Riad is six, the Sattoufs are now back in Ter Maaleh, Syria, a situation that seems not to be making any of them very happy. Funny, dark and occasionally revelatory, this and its predecessor are my graphic memoirs of the year.

Hot Dog Taste Test is a ribald skewering of foodie culture, funny, weird and definitely not for the clean-eating brigade

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via Science fiction | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2gUKovP

Amy Schumer set for title role in Barbie movie

Comedy star in late-stage talks to rewrite and then take lead in big-screen debut for Mattel’s iconic doll

The Barbie movie has unveiled what might appear to be an unlikely star. Amy Schumer, the standup comedian known for her frank discussions of casual sex and politics, and who found big-screen success with the bawdy comedy Trainwreck, is lined up for the lead in Mattel’s debut movie outing for its ambitiously proportioned plastic bestseller.

The film, to be released in summer 2018, is an Enchanted-style mix of animation and live action which sees Schumer evicted from Barbieland for eccentricities.

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Authors stamp new library strategy 'too little, too late'

Val McDermid, Joanna Trollope and Francesca Simon among writers and campaigners questioning what the £4m Libraries Deliver plans will provide

Writers including Val McDermid, Joanna Trollope and Francesca Simon have lined up to brand the strategy for public libraries in England announced by the government this week “too little, too late”.

Related: Libraries receive £4m fund as part of strategy to help secure their future

It is great to talk about community hubs but in the end books are at the heart of libraries

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Publisher apologises for 'sexist' wording on cover of Elena Garro book

Ad on front of new edition of work by the late Mexican novelist criticised for focusing on her relationships with male writers

A Spanish publisher has apologised for promoting a novel by the late Mexican writer Elena Garro on the basis of her relationships with some of the most famous male Latin American writers of the 20th century rather than as an author celebrated in her own right.

The Madrid-based Drácena recently published Garro’s 1982 novel Reencuentro de Personajes (Character Reunion) to mark the centenary of her birth. But its choice of wording on a band around the new edition has been criticised for being “hyper-sexist”, misogynist and offensive.

Vergonzosa manera de presentar a Elena Garro, definida por los hombres de su vida y no por su obra. http://pic.twitter.com/CVDhJ5K0Bw

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Harper Lee's hometown entertains grand plans for Mockingbird tourism

Local businesses led by the late novelist’s lawyer reveal ‘bigger vision’ for Monroeville, including building some of the houses in the story

Harper Lee’s hometown of Monroeville plans to create a major tourist attraction for fans of the To Kill a Mockingbird author. The attraction, which is backed by a coalition of local business people led by the late author’s lawyer Tonja Carter, is expected to open in March, say reports in the Alabama press.

The creation of the Harper Lee Trail is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of fans of the reclusive novelist who died earlier this year. At the centre of the scheme is the 1909 bank building where Lee’s father – the model for Atticus Finch – kept a law office. This will be refurbished and turned into a dedicated museum in the Alabama town that was the model for Maycomb in the book.

Related: Harper Lee – a life in pictures

Related: Harper Lee obituary

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Philip Larkin memorial to join literary greats in Westminster Abbey

Purbeck stone inscribed with lines from one of poet’s most loved works will be unveiled on 31st anniversary of his death

A memorial stone to the poet Philip Larkin, inscribed with lines from one of his most famous works – “our almost instinct almost true/What will survive of us is love” – will be unveiled in Westminster Abbey on Friday evening, the 31st anniversary of his death.

Related: Larkin belongs in Westminster Abbey – but plenty of other writers do too

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Not as good as P&P: Jane Austen mother's verdict on Mansfield Park

British Library to put on display Austen’s notes of what friends, family and correspondents thought of her third novel

Many novelists studiously avoid hearing opinions about their writing, but Jane Austen not only encouraged it, she meticulously compiled them in thorough, sometimes hilarious notes.

Next month the British Library will put on display Austen’s handwritten notes of what friends, family and correspondents thought of her third novel, Mansfield Park.

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Libraries receive £4m fund as part of strategy to secure their future

Cash for community projects comes as report calls for sector to be more innovative and raise awareness of the services on offer

A new national strategy to help England’s hard-pressed libraries is to include a £4m innovation fund for projects that help disadvantaged communities.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has published a five-year strategy for libraries, which it said would help them improve and thrive in the 21st century.

Related: 'There’s nowhere else for children': Walsall locals react to library closure plans

Related: John Bird slams absence of library funding in autumn statement

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