Jane Austen banknote unveiled – with strange choice of quotation Bank of England launches new £10 note featuring a line about reading – said by a character who doesn’t care for books The new £10 note featuring Jane Austen has been unveiled on the 200th anniversary of the author’s death, complete with a quote…
Minister of religion and writer who was a significant figure in the foundation of the religious right in the US Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind series sold at least 70m copies. Photograph: David Howells/Corbis via Getty Images Stephen Bates Thursday 28 July 2016 16.50 BSTLast modified on Thursday 28 July 201616.53 BST The American Baptist fundamentalist Tim LaHaye,…
Margaret Forster obituary Writer best known for the novel Georgy Girl, Hidden Lives, a moving memoir about her own family, and her revealing biography of Daphne du Maurier Margaret Forster in 1973. Photograph: E Hamilton West for the Guardian Ruth Gorb Monday 8 February 2016 16.41 GMT Last modified on Monday 8 February 2016 22.00 GMT…
Christian Lorentzen talks to the legendary editor in an extract from a forthcoming issue of the Paris Review I’m not a writer. I’ve no stake in my being thought of as a writer’ … Gordon Lish It’s the custom for editors to keep a low profile and to underplay any changes they may make to…
RE4DINGS The best way to get acquainted with a book is to hear it read aloud by its author. Not everyone can find the time to attend bookshop events and literary festivals, so we decided to bring you closer to our authors with our video series RE4DINGS. Inspired by the German website Zehnseiten, the series invites our authors to read…
Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, 67, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The chair of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, said her polyphonic writings were “a monument to suffering and courage in our time.” Alexievich is recognised for her work chronicalling the lives and experiences of her fellow citizens in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine, documenting events such as the the Chernobyl disaster and the…
Welcome to the 125th anniversary of Dame Agatha Christie, author of over 80 novels and short stories, writer of the world’s longest running stage play, mastermind behind countless murders, creator of world-famous detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. READ MORE BBC Radio 4 Extra – Agatha Christie BBC Archive – Agatha Christie And Then There…
National Archives photo of Doris Lessing. Photograph: PA The Guardian MI5 spied on Doris Lessing for 20 years, declassified documents reveal The Independent Doris Lessing: Acclaimed novelist was kept under MI5 observation for 18 years, newly released papers show The Telegraph MI5 spied on novelist Doris Lessing for decades, files disclose BBC Doris…
South Africa and South African authors feature quite prominently this month, with three titles in the BOOKS (United Kingdom) August list. To find out more, click here and look for titles from Alastair Bruce, Justin Cartwright and Deon Meyer.
To Kill a Mockingbird still shines a sharp light on southern society, but its power comes as much from its narrative mastery as its understanding of racism Eleanor Worthington-Cox (Scout) in the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. Photograph: Tristram Kenton It’s easy to get distracted from To Kill a…