Books News
Novelist reveals what life is like for a teenage girl under the hijab
Published: 08 May 2006
Most novels aimed at teenage girls deal with first kisses, friendship and problems with parents.
Reader tip-off writes last chapter in story of the teenage plagiarist
Published: 04 May 2006
The publishers of a book written by the acclaimed teenage novelist Kaavya Viswanathan were already nervous after she confessed to "unconsciously internalising" another author's work.
Norwegian author wins 'Independent' prize
Published: 03 May 2006
This year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize has been won by the Norwegian writer Per Petterson for his novel Out Stealing Horses. Petterson, who shares the £10,000 award with his translator Anne Born, received Britain's most valuable annual award for fiction in translation at a ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery last night.
Twin towers attack drove executive to a new life - and hope of the Orange Prize
Published: 03 May 2006
Naomi Alderman was working in a New York law firm a mile from the World Trade Centre when she gazed out of the window to witness the collapse of the twin towers on 11 September.
Children's Laureate tells parents to remember bedtime reading
Published: 29 April 2006
Children are missing out on bedtime stories because busy parents believe they are old enough to read to themselves, according to the award-winning author Jacqueline Wilson.
Zadie and Ali Smith do battle in Orange shortlist
Published: 26 April 2006
A Richard and Judy bestseller will battle it out against four books by British authors and a first novel from Australia for the Orange Prize for Fiction.
Gravity boots helped me with 'Da Vinci Code', Brown reveals
Published: 25 April 2006
The recent proceedings at the High Court offered the first clues as to how Dan Brown produced the publishing sensation that is The Da Vinci Code.
Fifth-time lucky for James as Italian romance wins top prize
Published: 21 April 2006
She has been nominated four times before but Erica James finally overcame the opposition to clinch the £10,000 award for Romantic Novel of the Year.
Muriel Spark, giant of literature, dies
Published: 16 April 2006
Amis flies into fresh controversy with story of 9/11 hijacker
Published: 14 April 2006
Whether it be his teeth, his relationships or his writing, he has a seemingly endless capacity to provoke controversy.
Angst ridden stories dominate list of books that changed men's lives
Published: 07 April 2006
If ever a survey proved that men were from Mars and women from Venus, this is probably it.
New short story prize attracts a long list of entries
Published: 04 April 2006
A £15,000 competition designed to rejuvenate interest in the short story has generated more than 1,400 entries and produced a shortlist headed by the 77-year-old literary knight William Trevor.
Through her Labyrinth, Mosse wins read of the year
Published: 30 March 2006
The day after her blockbuster Labyrinth was featured on Richard & Judy's book club, an extra 60,000 copies flew off booksellers' shelves. Last night, Kate Mosse's success was sealed when her book was named Best Read of the Year at the British Book Awards.
Anonymous Iraqi blogger in the running for Samuel Johnson prize
Published: 27 March 2006
An anonymous Iraqi woman has been nominated for one of the Britain's most prestigious literary prizes, after writing a blog charting "three years of occupation and bloodshed" in Baghdad.
Anne Frank or Des Lynam? Footballers pick their top reads
Published: 21 March 2006
For the Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy it was the moving story of Anne Frank's incarceration in war-torn Amsterdam. Chelsea's Eidur Gudjohnsen, on the other hand, decided to show solidarity with his author team-mate John Terry.
Trials and tribulations of sex in print
Published: 19 March 2006
Lady Chatterley's Lover was first published in 1928 and almost immediately banned on account of the bravura shagging that outraged protective class distinctions. Penguin's 1960 re-issue became the first big prosecution made under the Obscene Publications Act (1959), legislation intended to protect Shakespeare's heirs from depravity. Never mind that Mr WS used language that was far more graphic, obscenity threatened national morals as certainly as Soviet missiles threatened national security.
Truss takes comma campaign to young audience
Published: 18 March 2006
She became the queen of the comma, the saviour of the semi-colon. Now, after encouraging dinner parties to discuss the full-stop, Lynne Truss is adapting her bestseller Eats, Shoots & Leaves for children.
Football managers demonstrate a nice touch in the library
Published: 09 March 2006
With their dislike of adverbs and habit of using phrases such as "game of two halves" and "the lads done well", football managers and the English language have often enjoyed a fraught relationship.
Women's literature: The next chapter
Published: 08 March 2006
Smith vs Smith: Battle rejoined, this time for the Orange Prize
Published: 07 March 2006
Ali Smith and Zadie Smith, who were both shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, are reprising their battle for literary honours after making the long-list for the Orange Prize for fiction.
Electronic pen allows Atwood to reach the world from home
Published: 06 March 2006
For many authors, book- signing tours to promote their latest work can be an arduous task - a tedious slog around the less glamorous parts of Britain or America, an exhausting round of airplanes and anonymous hotel rooms.
The other tragic woman in the life of Ted Hughes
Published: 06 March 2006
She was the dark lady in the life and work of the poet Ted Hughes. And her eventual suicide in 1969 was almost a carbon copy of that of his first wife, Sylvia Plath, six years earlier - except that she also took the life of their four-year-old daughter.
East European books vie for £10,000 prize
Published: 03 March 2006
Interest in east European literature seems to have surged according to the shortlist for Britain's most lucrative fiction prize for foreign literature translated to English.
Clarkson vs Morgan: rivals go head to head for book prize
Published: 23 February 2006
The last time that the former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan and the motoring correspondent Jeremy Clarkson were at the same ceremony, the delicate subject of the reporting of the latter's personal life provoked a punch-up.
Booker winner's robot brainwave may spell the end of the book tour
Published: 19 February 2006
