Fear of backlash means stories about race, sexuality and neurodiversity increasingly deemed inappropriate for young readers
Continue reading...
Pages
▼
Thursday, March 31, 2022
National Poetry Competition has its youngest ever winner
At 19, Eric Yip scoops the £5,000 prize for his personal and political work, Fricatives. Read his ‘immensely ambitious and beautifully achieved poem’ here
Continue reading...Hannah Gold’s The Last Bear wins Waterstones children’s book prize
‘Triumphant debut’ with environmental theme, illustrated by Levi Pinfold, is awarded £5,000 prize by the chain’s booksellers
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg to publish a ‘go-to source’ book on the climate crisis
The Climate Book will include contributions from scientist Katharine Hayhoe, economist Thomas Piketty and novelist Margaret Atwood
Continue reading...Marvel joins the literary canon in special edition by Penguin Classics
Spider-Man, Black Panther and Captain America in black spine format complete with scholarly introduction
Continue reading...Wednesday, March 30, 2022
‘Surprised and delighted’: poetry dominates Stella prize shortlist after change in rules
Three collections are up for the $50,000 Australian literary prize for women and non-binary writers, alongside a graphic novel, an essay and one novel
Continue reading...Shares in educational publisher Pearson slump as Apollo pulls out
The company, which was on a steady recovery path, was biggest faller on FTSE 100 on Wednesday
Continue reading...Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga among this year’s Windham-Campbell prize winners
Dangarembga, American writer Margo Jefferson and British playwright Winsome Pinnock are among eight recipients of the $165,000 grants, as the award marks its 10th anniversary
Continue reading...Sunday, March 27, 2022
Jane Campion wins best director Oscar for The Power of the Dog
Campion wins her second Oscar, becoming the third female winner of the best director award
• Follow all the action with our liveblog
• The full list of winners
Martha Wainwright: ‘Forget rock excess, life on the road was a juggling act for me’
The Canadian-American singer-songwriter on why she needed to tell a different story in her candid autobiography
Continue reading...Friday, March 25, 2022
‘I would not be free to express my opinion’: Philip Pullman steps down as Society of Authors president
Move comes in the wake of writer’s controversial comments about Kate Clanchy’s book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me
Continue reading...Mr Darcy’s white shirt from lake scene stars in Jane Austen exhibition
Garment worn by Colin Firth in 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to go on show at Jane Austen’s House
Continue reading...Wednesday, March 23, 2022
‘We are back in his company’: le Carré returns in a revealing collection of private letters
The author airs his views in posthumously published exchanges with family, friends and celebrity fans
Continue reading...Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Anne Frank: Dutch publisher recalls book on diarist’s betrayal after critical report
The book named a Jewish notary as a main suspect in exposing the family’s hideout to the Nazis, prompting widespread backlash
Continue reading...Irish novelist Colm Tóibín wins Rathbones Folio prize for The Magician
Fictionalised biography of writer Thomas Mann beats Booker prize-winner Damon Galgut to £30,000 award
Continue reading...Saturday, March 19, 2022
Booker winner Ben Okri rewrites published novel to drive home message on slavery
The author tells why he spent five years on a new draft of his 2008 novel Starbook to give more emphasis to one of its key themes
Continue reading...Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Carnegie medal shortlist spotlights real-life stories of friendship in challenging times
The UK’s most prestigious children’s books prize and its sister award for illustration the Kate Greenaway medal highlight books that can help young readers
Continue reading...Monday, March 14, 2022
‘Nothing was stolen’: New Zealanders carry on borrowing from closed, unstaffed library
Door security error meant one of country’s largest city libraries was left open for hours, allowing hundreds to browse shelves
Continue reading...Books world auction for Ukraine offers more than 350 lots
With bidding still open, fundraiser whose lots include the chance to appear in books by Lenny Henry and Peter James and lunch with Jeremy Bowen has raised £37,000
Continue reading...Sunday, March 13, 2022
Saturday, March 12, 2022
Museum visits do not improve GCSE results, study reveals
Report finds no correlation between better exam grades and exposure to ‘middle-class’ outings
Continue reading...Hoard of the rings: ‘lost’ scripts for BBC Tolkien drama discovered
Original manuscripts show how author rewrote scenes for 1950s adaptation of his Middle-earth epic Lord of the Rings
Friday, March 11, 2022
In Somerset did Kubla Khan: Coleridge manuscript returns to poem’s source
Taunton welcomes handwritten version of work poet said came to him after drug-induced reverie in nearby farmhouse
Continue reading...Trump told former Ukrainian president ‘Crimea was Russian’
In her new book, then US ambassador to Ukraine, reveals Trumps ‘obsequiousness toward Putin was a cause for concern’
Continue reading...Ukrainian children’s book to be published in UK as charity fundraiser
Author Larysa Denysenko wrote introduction to Maya and Her Friends while sheltering from missiles in Kyiv
Continue reading...Poet laureate Simon Armitage writes Ukraine war poem Resistance
Armitage calls his piece a ‘refracted version of what is coming at us in obscene images through the news’
Continue reading...Thursday, March 10, 2022
International Booker prize announces longlist ‘tracing ring around the world’
The 13 books in contention for the £50,000 prize include Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, the first book translated from Hindi to be nominated
Continue reading...Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Catholic church bans visit by gay author to London school
Simon James Green had been due to appear at John Fisher boys’ school in Purley, but the archdiocese of Southwark said the event could not be permitted
Continue reading...AI could decipher gaps in ancient Greek texts, say researchers
From imperial decrees to Sappho’s poems, Ithaca system can find word patterns and suggest age of text
Continue reading...Bob Dylan essay collection celebrating art of songwriting to be published
Publisher Simon & Schuster says The Philosophy of Modern Song ‘resembles an epic poem’
Continue reading...Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Cormac McCarthy: two new novels coming in 2022, 16 years after The Road
The Passenger and Stella Maris will be published in October and November, marking McCarthy’s long awaited return to publishing
Continue reading...Five debut novels make Women’s prize for fiction longlist
Judges praise the ‘fantastically diverse list’ which includes debut novelists Violet Kupersmith and Dawnie Walton
Continue reading...Monday, March 7, 2022
William Barr: Trump is full of bull – but I’ll vote for him
Barr’s book reveals he told Trump he was ‘like a bull in a bull ring’ – in return, Trump calls his former attorney general a ‘horse’
Continue reading...Sunday, March 6, 2022
Harry Potter star Jessie Cave in hospital after catching Covid while pregnant
The actor, best known for her role as Lavender Brown, says her symptoms have lasted for weeks
Continue reading...Fantasy fans crowdfund record £17m for author Brandon Sanderson’s new novels
Bestselling writer insists he won’t forsake his publishers after dramatic overnight success on Kickstarter
Continue reading...Saturday, March 5, 2022
Eminent writers urge Russian speakers to tell truth of war in Ukraine
Use ‘all possible means of communication’ to directly contact Russian citizens, 17 signatories say
Continue reading...Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Bid by Kazakh mining company to sue journalist is dismissed by judge
Libel claim against Financial Times writer Tom Burgis had been brought to court in London by ENRC
Continue reading...New books inspired by Dr Seuss to feature work of diverse writers and artists
The new titles will include unpublished sketches by the author along with original stories and art
Continue reading...Eighty-year-old study of British slave trade is back in the bestsellers list
Capitalism and Slavery, by the future first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams, argues that the abolition of slavery was motivated by economic, not moral, concerns
Continue reading...Shirley Hughes, children's author and illustrator, dies aged 94
Beloved English author and illustrator behind more than 60 books, including Dogger and the Alfie series, was voted the most popular Kate Greenaway winner in 50 years
Continue reading...Tuesday, March 1, 2022
‘A really good sign’: New Zealand book prize nominees distinguished by diversity
Māori women are represented in every category and two Māori writers are among the four shortlisted for the fiction prize
Continue reading...Barr book reveals Trump’s secret to a ‘good tweet’: ‘just the right amount of crazy’
Ex-president made remark to his attorney general, according to William Barr’s forthcoming memoir
Continue reading...