Director general says it is inappropriate for a journalist who may be covering that issue ‘to be campaigning in that way’
BBC journalists cannot wear T-shirts in the newsroom supporting the anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter, the corporation’s director general Tim Davie has said.
Davie said the BBC stood against racism but it was “not appropriate for a journalist who may be covering that issue to be campaigning in that way.
Continue reading...Stories Matter strategy responds to urgent pressures such as declining reading rates and growing impact of digital media on publishing, minister says
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It is a sector that delivers $1.3bn annually to the New South Wales economy and supports up to 22,000 jobs, yet the average writer earns just $18,200 a year from their creative practice.
To counter this stark disparity, the NSW government is launching the state’s first ever writing and literature strategy, and has committed $3.2m to support and expand the sector.
Continue reading...Nigerian-American author tells Cheltenham literature festival audience having boys made her ‘worry more’
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has said she is terrified that her young boys will “join the manosphere”.
Speaking at Cheltenham literature festival on Saturday, the Nigerian-American author of works including Americanah told an audience that having two sons has made her “worry more” about men and boys.
Continue reading...The author of 18 ‘bonkbuster’ novels including Riders, Rivals and Bella has died following a fall
Jilly Cooper has died at the age of 88, her agent has confirmed.
The author, whose 18 novels include Riders and Rivals, “defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over 50 years ago,” said her agent Felicity Blunt. “You wouldn’t expect books categorised as bonkbusters to have so emphatically stood the test of time but Jilly wrote with acuity and insight about all things – class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility.”
Continue reading...The £10,000 award, whose judges include Mark Haddon and Megan Nolan, recognises ‘mould-breaking’ fiction
Sarah Hall, Charlie Porter and Yrsa Daley-Ward are among the writers shortlisted for this year’s Goldsmiths prize.
The £10,000 award recognises fiction that “breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form”.
Continue reading...His poetry often explored love and relationships and he wrote books for children including Gargling With Jelly
Brian Patten, who made his name in the 1960s as one of the most prominent Liverpool poets, has died, his agent has confirmed. He was 79.
His poetry often featured lyrical explorations of love and relationships and he also wrote books for children.
Continue reading...The Zimbabwean writer – who has been twice nominated for the Booker – won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2011, with her story Hitting Budapest
Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo has won the Best of Caine award, an honorary prize celebrating a story from past winners of the Caine Prize for African Writing, to mark its 25th anniversary. The prize was given for a short story praised by judges for its “powerful language, distinctive tone of voice, and bold, compelling storytelling”.
Hitting Budapest, which won the 2011 Caine prize, follows a group of six children who sneak from their shantytown, Paradise, into an affluent neighbourhood, Budapest, to steal guavas. First published in the Boston Review, it examines poverty, social and economic inequalities, and the dreams of children.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Author challenges assumption monks on Iona created manuscript, instead positing its origins are Pictish
The Book of Kells was likely to have been created 1,200 years ago in Pictish eastern Scotland, rather than on the island of Iona, according to research that challenges long-held assumptions about one of the world’s most famous medieval manuscripts.
The Book of Kells is an intricate, illuminated account of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that was long thought to have been started in the late eighth century at the monastery on Iona before being taken in the 9th century to the monastery of Kells in County Meath, Ireland, after a Viking raid.
The Book of Kells by Victoria Whitworth (Bloomsbury Publishing, £35). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
Continue reading...Court fines publisher after Milo Rau falsely claimed that far-right former chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache sang a song ridiculing the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis
A Swiss theatre director known for re-enacting landmark trials has been told by a judge in Vienna that his publisher must withdraw a book in which he alleged that a far-right Austrian politician sang a song mocking the victims of the Holocaust.
On Thursday, Vienna’s regional court fined independent German publishing house Verbrecher Verlag €1,500 (£1,300) for publishing a book in which Milo Rau alleged that Heinz-Christian Strache, the former leader of the Freedom party (FPÖ), once sang a song with the line: “We’ll manage the seventh million”, a reference to the approximately 6 million European Jews murdered at the hands of the Nazi regime.
Continue reading...The Normal People author can no longer safely enter the UK without potentially facing arrest, according to a statement read out by her publisher at the prize ceremony
Irish author Sally Rooney could not travel to collect a literary prize this week over concerns that she may be arrested if she enters the UK, given her support of banned group Palestine Action.
Rooney won the Sky Arts award for literature for her fourth novel, Intermezzo. At a ceremony on Tuesday, audiences were told that Rooney “couldn’t be here”, before her editor, Faber publisher Alex Bowler, collected the award on her behalf.
Continue reading...Library of Congress, which has been under fire from Trump administration, appoints author and translator, 74
At a time when its leadership is in question and its mission challenged, the Library of Congress has named a new US poet laureate: the much-honored author and translator Arthur Sze.
The library announced on Monday that the 74-year-old Sze had been appointed to a one-year term, starting this fall. The author of 12 poetry collections and recipient last year of a lifetime achievement award from the library, he succeeds Ada Limón, who had served for three years. Previous laureates also include Joy Harjo, Louise Glück and Billy Collins.
Continue reading...Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the past seven days
Continue reading...Exclusive: Governing council ‘retrospectively’ decides the Les Carlyon literary award should go only to first-time authors, ruling out Chris Masters’ book
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The Australian War Memorial has effectively overruled a decision by its appointed judges to award a military history literary prize to a book about the alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith.
War memorial sources and documents seen by Guardian Australia show that an external judging panel chose Chris Masters’ book Flawed Hero: Truth, Lies and War Crimes as the 2024 winner of the Les Carlyon literary award for military history, after a panel comprising memorial employees had included it in a shortlist of six from 59 entries.
Continue reading...Shutting long-running literary journal, which published emerging writers as well as the cream of Australia’s literary talent, described as ‘enormous loss’
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One of Australia’s longest running literary journals has been scrapped, in what has been described as an act of “utter cultural vandalism” on the part of the University of Melbourne.
After 85 years, Meanjin, run by the university’s subsidiary Melbourne University Publishing (MUP), will publish its last edition in December. Although the journal’s editor, Esther Anatolitis, worked her last day at Meanjin on Thursday, the spring and summer quarterly editions of the journal are already at the printers.
Continue reading...Author quipped she wrote ‘suitable’ piece after Alberta school ban included her novel The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood has released a new short story critiquing elected officials for a wide-ranging book ban in the Canadian province of Alberta. The controversial decision to remove books purportedly containing “explicit sexual content” has seen numerous works of literature swept up in the dragnet, including Atwood’s dystopian work The Handmaid’s Tale.
In a social media post, Atwood wrote that since her famed work was no longer permissible in Alberta schools, she had written a “suitable” short work for teens, adding the work was necessary because the province’s minister of education thought students were “stupid babies”.
Continue reading...Culture minister says government will propose ending the 25% rate, the highest in the world, in its budget bill
Denmark is to stop charging VAT on books in an attempt to get more people reading.
At 25%, the country’s tax rate on books is the highest in the world, a policy the government believes is contributing to a growing “reading crisis”.
Continue reading...Nick Croydon, the CEO of QBD Books, has faced criticism for his thriller The Turing Protocol
A novel written by a prominent book industry figure in which persecuted gay man Alan Turing has sex with a woman and fathers a child has been criticised online for its portrayal of the codebreaker.
The Turing Protocol was released in July and was written by Nick Croydon, the CEO of QBD Books, the largest Australian-owned bookshop chain, where the book is being heavily promoted.
Continue reading...The annual event, which promotes literacy, is celebrating 80 years as part of Australian school life
Book Week is in full swing, marking it’s 80th year celebrating all things reading and literacy for Australia’s schoolchildren.
The theme for the week, which runs from Saturday 16 to Saturday 23 August, is “Book an Adventure”, encouraging children to explore new worlds through stories.
Continue reading...Author of Natchez Burning trilogy had battled blood cancer for decades, according to his literary agent
Greg Iles, the Mississippi author of the Natchez Burning trilogy and other works, has died. He was 65.
Iles died on Friday after a decades-long battle with the blood cancer multiple myeloma, his literary agent, Dan Conaway, posted on Saturday on Facebook.
Continue reading...Gender-critical novelist urges writers to re-enter prize they boycotted and may ask judges not to shortlist his novella
The gender-critical Irish novelist John Boyne has said he has been brought “very close to the edge” by the backlash to his inclusion on the longlist for a literary prize for LGBTQ+ authors.
Ten authors and two judges withdrew from the Polari prize and more than 800 writers and publishing industry workers signed a petition calling on Polari to remove Boyne’s novella Earth from its longlist.
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