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Poisonous mushrooms put 'Horse Whisperer' author in hospital

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Nicholas Evans, the author of The Horse Whisperer, is in hospital in Aberdeen after eating a rare species of poisonous mushroom while on holiday with his wife in the Highlands.

Poisonous mushrooms put 'Horse Whisperer' author in hospital

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Nicholas Evans, the author of The Horse Whisperer, is in hospital in Aberdeen after eating a rare species of poisonous mushroom while on holiday with his wife in the Highlands.

Author poisoned by mushrooms

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:25:08 GMT

The author of best-selling book The Horse Whisperer was today said to be in a "positive frame of mind" after falling ill from eating poisonous mushrooms.

Is this the real Mr Toad?

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Generations of children and adults have been enchanted by the exploits of Ratty, Mole and Badger in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, yet it is the adventures of the book's over-zealous anti-hero, Toad of Toad Hall, that have proved the most enduringly popular.

How to find love, literally

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

The majority of classic romantic novels end with either marriage or heartbreak. Now, book lovers around the world will have the chance to plot and develop their own real-life romantic stories as a major publisher launches the first online dating site aimed purely at literary enthusiasts.

Apology for Rushdie over book lies

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:09:02 GMT

Author Sir Salman Rushdie came to the High Court in London today to hear apologies from the writers and publishers of a book which they admitted contained falsehoods about his time under police protection.

Famous Five return to solve last case

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

New Enid Blyton stories featuring original characters from some of her most famous books are to return in a series of novels, her estate said yesterday.

Sex and politics: The case of the crime writer's mystery lover

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Ruth Rendell may be the mistress of the crime mystery, but there is one case that even her celebrated creation, Inspector Wexford, would be unlikely to solve: The Case of the Mystery Writer's Secret Political Lover.

New Bond book set in Sixties 'too much of a period piece to be filmed'

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Fans of the recent James Bond book, Devil May Care, thought it would soon be on the big screen, presumably arriving to the sound of gunshots and a powerful soul number. It emerged yesterday, however, that the novel was considered too old-fashioned to film.

Blyton more popular than Shakespeare, says survey

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

The Children's authors Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl have been named as the nation's best-loved writers – over Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, according to a poll of 2,000 people.

Mills & Boon becomes totally 'Shameless'

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Its published authors include such greats as P G Wodehouse and Jack London. Helen Fielding, author of the hugely successful Bridget Jones novels, was rejected for not being good enough. Now, in celebration of its 100th anniversary, the Mills & Boon imprint is launching itself on the television-viewing public.

Rushdie attacks censorship – while trying to stifle criticism of himself

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Sir Salman Rushdie has accused his publisher of censorship at the same time as trying to prevent the release of a book that criticises him. The novelist, who spent nearly a decade under a fatwa from the Iranian government after the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988, attacked Random House for pulping a historical novel about the Prophet Mohamed for fear of offending Muslims.

Burns is 'king of sentimental doggerel', says Paxman

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Jeremy Paxman may have wept on television when he discovered his poverty-stricken roots in a Glasgow tenement block, but if the Scots thought this would spare them the famous snarling disdain of the BBC's grand inquisitor-in-chief, they were in for a rude awakening.

Burns is 'king of sentimental doggerel', says Paxman

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Appeals court reverses Steinbeck copyrights ruling

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:58:51 GMT

A federal appeals court Wednesday reversed a ruling that awarded one of John Steinbeck's sons and a granddaughter publishing rights to 10 of the author's early works, including "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men."

Slough launches charm offensive to prove 'it's fit for humans now'

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Slough's image as a concrete wasteland made it the butt of jokes for years. Poets have used its name as a byword for blandness and mediocrity. Now, after 71 years of slurs about its lack of joie de vivre, the beleaguered Berkshire town fights back.

Secret diary of Dylan Thomas' marriage up for sale

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:38:47 GMT

A diary offering a rare insight into both sides of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas's infamously rocky marriage is up for sale.

The 'next Satanic Verses' shelved for fear of stirring up Islamic extremists

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

A novel about the child bride of the Prophet Mohamed has been withdrawn by Random House, which said it feared that publication of the book could "incite acts of violence". Critics, however, have accused the publisher of abandoning the principle of free speech and caving into pressure from extreme Islamist elements.

Solzhenitsyn, Russia's last conscience, is laid to rest

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

The air was thick with the scent of incense and freshly cut flowers, as more than a dozen white-robed Orthodox priests sang hymns and recited prayers in a three-hour service at the funeral of Alexander Solzhenitsyn in Moscow.

Military guard of honour watches over Solzhenitsyn as Russians bid farewell

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Hundreds of Russians braved driving rain in Moscow to bid farewell to the writer and Soviet-era dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, whose body lay in an open coffin at Russia's leading scientific institute.

Solzhenitsyn: a life of dissent

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:22:07 GMT

When Alexander Solzhenitsyn's 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' appeared in the thick monthly literary magazine Novy Mir back in November of 1962, taboos were shattered. Buried secrets were unearthed. And the Soviet Union was shaken to its foundations.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, scourge of the Soviet Union, dies aged 89

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a towering figure in Soviet Russia whose Gulag Archipelago and other works revealed the full extent of Stalin's labour camp network, has died at the age of 89.

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction longlist

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:00:26 GMT

Lost dogs and enchantresses make for a strong Booker list, but where is Kelman?

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Let's get the annual squall of outrage over first. Kieron Smith, Boy by James Kelman deserved at least a shortlist place in this year's Man Booker contest. Indeed, the beautifully observed, deeply affecting first-person portrait of a Glasgow childhood outshines Roddy Doyle's Dublin equivalent, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha – which won the prize in 1993.

Love Letters of Great Men – for real

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

There is scene in the film Sex and the City that has sent its mostly female fans crowding into bookshops, only to emerge empty-handed. Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, is lying in bed next to her lover, Mr Big (Chris Noth), reading extracts from an interesting-looking book called Love Letters of Great Men.