Children’s books show rise in racially minoritised characters, survey finds

Centre for Literacy in Primary Education records a 26% increase since its first report in 2017, but stresses continuing inequities in representation

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‘She got so mad at me’: book on the ‘Squad’ details AOC-Pelosi clashes

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells Ryan Grim life in Congress ‘completely transformed’ after Democratic leader stepped down

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John Nichols, author of The Milagro Beanfield War, dies aged 83

The novel, about the uprising of a fictional Latino community, won widespread recognition for its themes of social justice

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Publishers launch initiative to highlight Palestinian authors and history

The campaign by Publishers for Palestine will offer more than 30 free ebooks of poetry, fiction and nonfiction as ‘an act of solidarity’

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Carol Ann Duffy writes poem paying tribute to England’s female footballers

We See You names pioneers of women’s game as well as Lionesses in ‘team talk’ sonnet

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‘Bait and switch’: Liz Cheney book tears into Mike Johnson over pro-Trump January 6 brief

Oath and Honor, obtained by the Guardian ahead of release, says House speaker snuck baseless claims of electoral fraud past Republican signatories

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Omid Scobie’s book on royal family pulled from Dutch shelves over ‘error’

Book reportedly revealed who expressed ‘concerns’ about what skin colour Harry and Meghan’s son would have

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Almost a million children in the UK do not own a book

National Literacy Trust study also found that children who received free school meals were twice as likely not to have a book of their own at home

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Rory Stewart, Jeanette Winterson and Marlon James announced for Hay festival 2024

The UK literary festival unveils 29 taster events next year and plans to focus on ‘global themes and the impact of issues on the world’

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Free speech groups criticise German ban on Russian journalists’ book

Russian businessman claims book defamed him, while authors say aim is to destroy their reputation

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‘Soul-shattering’ Prophet Song by Paul Lynch wins 2023 Booker prize

The Irish author’s novel set in an imagined Dublin descending into far-right tyranny wins £50,000 prize

• Paul Lynch’s timely Booker winner is a novel written to jolt the reader awake

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Julia Armfield and Jon Ransom win the Polari prizes for LGBTQ+ books

Armfield’s novel Our Wives Under the Sea won the overall prize, while Ransom’s The Whale Tattoo took the first book award

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Bookies make the three Pauls their favourites to win 2023 Booker prize

Paul Harding, Paul Lynch and Paul Murray have been given the best odds of winning the prestigious £50,000 literary prize this weekend

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Restaurateur and author Russell Norman dies aged 57

Founder of London restaurants and award-winning author, who was at forefront of ‘small plates’ movement, died after short illness

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Jane Austen’s own copy of Curiosities of Literature to go up for auction

Described as ‘a remarkable piece of history’, the copy of Isaac D’Israeli’s essays collection is one of 20 books the author is known to have owned, and features her own underlinings and annotations

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Trump called Iowa evangelicals ‘so-called Christians’ and ‘pieces of shit’, book says

Mockery over ‘Two Corinthians’ slip and endorsement battles in 2016 echo in 2024 race as Republican contenders seek first win

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Missouri library will ban porn star book – after 20 people on waiting list read it

St Charles city-county system to remove Bang Like a Porn Star: Sex Tips from the Pros after critics claim it is too sexually explicit

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Personal data stolen in British Library cyber-attack appears for sale online

Ransomware group Rhysida claims responsibility for hack and has posted images from library’s HR files

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Detained Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha released by Israeli forces

A friend of the writer says he was beaten while in Israeli detention and was receiving medical treatment in Gaza

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Canadian writers ask Giller prize to drop charges against pro-Palestinian protesters

More than 1,800 writers and publishers have signed an open letter in support of the pro-Palestinian protest at the prestigious literary award last week

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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

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Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha arrested by Israelis in Gaza, family says

The American Book award winner was said to be heading south for the Rafah crossing when he was picked up at a checkpoint

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Bob Mortimer wins Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for his ‘mischievous’ debut novel

A pig will be named in honour of The Satsuma Complex, this year’s winner of the award for comic fiction

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‘America First’ Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene prints book in Canada

Book, MTG, by far-right Georgia congresswoman and leading supporter of Trump policies will be published in US on Tuesday

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Newly discovered string quartet by Clockwork Orange author Anthony Burgess to have premiere

The Manchester-born author was a frustrated composer who often wrote about music. Now his previously unknown work for strings will find an audience

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‘Incredibly overdue’: Minnesota library book returned more than 100 years later

The book, Famous Composers, was last borrowed in 1919 from the St Paul library; mayor assures that there will be no late fee

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No flatulence, no sex in trees: Victorian children’s sanitised Chaucer to go on display

A new exhibition in Oxford charts the different ways the great Medieval poet has been interpreted by readers down the centuries

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AS Byatt, author and critic, dies aged 87

The acclaimed author of novels including Possession and The Children’s Book, has died, her publisher has confirmed.

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John Vailliant wins Baillie Gifford nonfiction prize with ‘highly relevant’ work on wildfires

Fire Weather, which looks at the blazes that ravaged Canada’s prairies in 2016, is a book that ‘forces you to ask some questions of yourself’, judges said

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National book awards: finalists use ceremony to call for Israel-Hamas ceasefire after sponsors pull out

Twenty of the 25 nominated authors make collective statement after Justin Torres and Ned Blackhawk win major categories

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Prime Minister’s Literary awards 2023: Jessica Au wins for lauded novella Cold Enough for Snow

Melbourne author wins $80,000 fiction prize, while other winners include journalist Sam Vincent in the nonfiction category for memoir My Father and Other Animals

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Marjorie Taylor Greene claims Democrats failed to defend House from Capitol rioters

Extremist Republican says in book ‘not one Democrat was willing to stay to defend the chamber’ but claim rejected as ‘patently false’

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‘Hallucinate’ chosen as Cambridge dictionary’s word of the year

The psychological verb gained an extra meaning in 2023 that ‘gets to the heart of why people are talking about artificial intelligence’

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Salman Rushdie receives award in rare appearance at New York event

Author, who was stabbed at a literary event last year, gets lifetime disturbing the peace award and standing ovation

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‘Just call him a child abuser’: Trump told Walker to use slur against Warnock, book says

ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl reports blunt advice from former president to use debunked claim in US Senate race

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Pro-Palestine protesters disrupt Canadian book prize

Ceremony for the Scotiabank Giller prize, this year won by Booker contender Sarah Bernstein, was interrupted by demonstration against the sponsor’s military investments

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Sadistic and misogynistic? Row erupts over sex claims in book about George Orwell’s marriage

Author of acclaimed biography Wifedom hits back at critics who say book casts Orwell in an unfairly negative light

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Campaigners save Bradford birthplace of Brontë sisters

Crowdfunding and significant donation from Nigel West – who has a family connection to Charlotte’s husband – secure property, with plans to transform it into a cultural and education centre

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Elon Musk biopic to be directed by Black Swan film-maker Darren Aronofsky

The Oscar-nominated director will adapt the recent biography by Walter Isaacson after independent studio A24 won a ‘heated’ bidding war for rights

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John le Carré’s son to write new George Smiley novel

Nicholas Cornwell will return his father’s best-loved spy to the page in a new novel set between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

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John Burnside wins the 2023 David Cohen prize for amazing body of work

‘He casts a spell with language of great beauty, power, lyricism and truthfulness’ said judging chair Hermione Lee of the poet and novelist
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‘A feeling of total freedom’: Valeria Luiselli welcomes chance to lock her fiction away in the Future Library

The Booker-nominated Mexican author will be the next writer to donate a work to the 100-year art project

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Britney Spears memoir helping drive UK book market growth, says WH Smith

Singer’s tell-all book and Richard Osman’s latest crime novel boosting pre-Christmas sales, says retailer

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‘Success stories’: Historic England adds several sites to risk register but removes 203

Hotel that inspired Charles Dickens added to Heritage at Risk Register alongside Gunpowder Plot house

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Tania Branigan’s Red Memory wins 2023 Cundill history prize

The Guardian writer’s book explores the traumatic legacy of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution through those that experienced it

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Benjamin Myers wins 2023 Goldsmiths prize for ‘vital’ novel Cuddy

Award for mould-breaking fiction goes to multi-genre work – ‘part poetry, part electricity’ – retelling the story of Durham Cathedral

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Furious Trump heaped scorn on own lawyer over trial date, book says

‘You are going to cost me the presidency!’ Trump yelled at Todd Blanche after hush-money trial scheduled for primary season

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Jean-Baptiste Andrea wins Prix Goncourt for novel set in fascist Italy

Award is usually seen as elitist but former screenwriter’s Veiller sur elle has strong sales and is a ‘popular’ read

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‘Books keep our minds free’: US prisons ban reading materials at alarming pace

New PEN America data reveals incarcerated persons are being robbed of magazines and even recipe books

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Charlie Chaplin’s son was ‘very cruel’ to me, says Barbra Streisand

In BBC interview on eve of release of memoir, singer and actor tells of problematic encounters with male collaborators

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Dorries claims Tory cabal called the ‘movement’ brought down Johnson

Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove were key figures in group that controlled the Conservatives, says ex-culture secretary

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Dagger awards adds categories for ‘cosy crime’ and psychological thrillers

The annual Crime Writers’ Association awards wanted to acknowledge the changing tastes of readers ‘looking for the next thrill, the next murderous innovation’

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Bannon used Confederate code words to describe Trump speech, book says

Jonathan Karl says far-right ally used phrase ‘Come Retribution’ – linked to plot to assassinate Lincoln – in wake of March speech

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WH Smith launches buy-back scheme for secondhand books

Customers will be able to trade their used books for a voucher to spend in store or online – but industry figures warn the scheme may be ‘too good to be true’

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Liz Cheney calls new House speaker ‘dangerous’ for January 6 role

Mike Johnson, who voiced conspiracy theories and objected to key results, accused of ‘acting in ways that he knew to be wrong’

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