Features
Does Philip Hoare's Samuel Johnson Prize victory confirm that formal biography is now a dying art?
In spring 2001, Philip Hoare published Spike Island, an eerie and evocative history of a military hospital near his Southampton home and the sad secrets that it harboured.
Inside Features
One Minute With: Lesley Lokko
Friday, 3 July 2009
The Word On: Chris Anderson
Friday, 3 July 2009
"It will be interesting to see if the author gives his book (entitled Free) away for free. It seems to work pretty well for Cory Doctorow for his great sci-fi novels. A book like Free is probably even more appropriate for this model since having the author come to speak about the concepts behind the book and getting onto speaking panels is a substantial market opportunity, especially in an economic downturn."
The 20 best audiobooks
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
A panel of experts select their faourite 20 audiobooks published in the last 12 months.
Sign of the rhymes: People's poet Roger McGough tackles death and ageing but doesn't ditch the comedy
Sunday, 28 June 2009
A riddle dances through my mind as I walk through the tranquil, tree-lined, sunlit streets of Barnes in south-west London, towards Roger McGough's house. "Try this for size:/ Figure out or forfeit the prize/ And here's the clue:/ Not a red herring, but a passe-partout/ In leisurely pursuit, Holmes excels/ Hercule exercises those little grey cells..." It is a typically playful poem from McGough's latest collection, That Awkward Age. All week I have been trying to solve it, and now, only a few doors away from his house, I confess myself defeated.
Ditch the doublet: A fresher form of historical fiction is reclaiming lost stories
Friday, 26 June 2009
Sarah Dunant reveals the secrets of making the past live
One Minute With: Marina Lewycka
Friday, 26 June 2009
Chris Schuler: So you think you know how to read?
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
If you’re reading this, you presumably don’t have to think much about it: you simply open a book, a newspaper or, increasingly these days, a document or web page on screen, and off you go, silently absorbing the meaning behind these little squiggles we know so well.
David Simon: 'I just tell it like it is'
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Drugs, homicide, institutional failings... it may seem as if David Simon, creator of 'The Wire', is crusading for change. In fact, he just wants to get the story straight
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