Pages & Proofs

The shortlist for the 2013 Samuel Johnson Prize, the UK’s top award for non-fiction books, has been announced and the subject matter ranges from Mrs Thatcher to Afghanistan and bees. David Crane for Empires of the Dead William Dalrymple for Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan Dave Goulson for A Sting in the […]

Looking for a book that will make your eyes hurt? Thames and Hudson has just published The Magic of MC Escher. The artist (1898-1972) is famous for deceiving the mind’s eye. Escher’s works – woodcuts, lithographs, and drawings – are arranged to form a cinematic look at his achievements. There are 380 puzzling but fascinating […]

She’s one of the front-runners for the 2013 Man Booker Prize. She splits her time between New York and British Columbia. She wrote an acclaimed novel about a woman living on Cortes Island, British Columbia, in a remote area known as Desolation Sound. She’s currently one of the most talked about authors in the book […]

Over at The Guardian, Horrid Henry author Francesca Simon offers 10 tips to make bedtime reading fun for children. In brief, they are… 1. Start early (as in early in life) 2. You are not too busy to read to your child 3. Get your child a library card 4. Think of all those great books […]

Our latest video breaks down the murky world of book banning – an unfortunate phenomenon that is remarkably common and yet rarely works.

The boy who lived continues to refuse to die. Two Harry Potter-themed stories today. Firstly, JK Rowling is to make her screenwriting debut by penning a new Harry Potter-themed spin-off movie series, reports the BBC. The first film will be called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Newt Scamander – the fictional author of […]

The world has seen many talented wordsmiths in literature, but few can hold a candle to the skill of Charles Dickens (1812-1870), especially when it comes to bleakness, hardship and injustice. After all, how many famous figures can boast that their name became an adjective (in this case ‘Dickensian’) meaning squalid, grim and poverty-stricken? That’s […]

Thunderbirds are go. Well, not exactly but something is go. The family of Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson, who died last year, have announced a new series of books will be published based on a story he had started before his death. The story concerns a secret organisation called Gemini Force One (GF1). MG Harris, the […]

American author Elmore Leonard was a generous signer of books and many people decided to mark his passing by buying a signed copy. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki continues to be immensely popular and must be considered a contender for the 2013 Booker Prize. 1) A Tale for the Time Being […]

Frederik Pohl, one of science fiction’s most revered authors, has died at the age of 93. Born in 1919, Pohl was first published in 1937, a poem called Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna, in Amazing Stories magazine under the pseudonym of Elton Andrews. He won the Hugo Award for his 1977 novel Gateway, an […]