Marina Lewycka, British-Ukrainian author, dies aged 79
The writer, who was born in a refugee camp in Germany after the war, won the Wodehouse prize for comic writing for her debut A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
‘A girl of genius’: archives unsealed of Amy Levy, queer Jewish writer admired by Oscar Wilde
Levy’s work was ‘ahead of her time’ and speaks to current debate around feminism, LGBTQ+ literature and Jewish identity, say researchers
The Silver Book by Olivia Laing review – a thin line of beauty
The world of 1970s Italian cinema is the glossy backdrop for an elegantly wrought but shallow novel
King Sorrow by Joe Hill review – dragon-fired horror epic is a tour de force
This sprawling tale of college kids who summon evil with lifelong consequences is a fantastic read
Hilary Mantel story imagining Margaret Thatcher’s assassination to be staged in Liverpool
Short story set in 1983, and published a year after the former prime minister’s death, considers ‘what happens when people feel they don’t have a voice’ says director John Young
Should I care what Sarah Jessica Parker thinks about books?
She swept all before her at the Booker prize ceremony, but I’m running out of patience with celebrity influence in publishing, says Guardian columnist Emma Brockes
Loren Ipsum by Andrew Gallix review – chronically funny satire of the literary scene
Full of word games, in-jokes and grisly murders, this debut pours gleeful scorn on the pretensions of contemporary literary life
‘It’s notoriously hard to write about sex’: David Szalay on Flesh, his astounding Booker prize-winner
The novel’s protagonist is violent, libidinous and so inarticulate he says ‘OK’ some 500 times. So how did the author turn his story into a tragic masterpiece?
Vaim by Jon Fosse review – the Nobel laureate performs a strange miracle
In the Norwegian master’s latest example of ‘mystical realism’, one man makes a dreamlike, hypnotic voyage through life
David Szalay wins 2025 Booker prize for ‘dark’ Flesh
The judges ‘had never read anything quite like it’, says panel chair Roddy Doyle, announcing the Hungarian-British author’s novel as the winner of the £50,000 award
The risky strategy of Booker winner Flesh pays off
The protagonist’s inner life is hidden from the reader in this highly original novel
Andrew Miller is bookies’ favourite to win 2025 Booker prize
The Land in Winter has shortest odds of victory, ahead of Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Love The Traitors and Only Murders in the Building? Visit The Mousetrap, says bold new director of West End perennial
Ola Ince, who has refreshed Agatha Christie’s record-breaking mystery, suggests ‘we all fancy ourselves as detectives’
Readers reply: Who is the most evil villain in fiction?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
In Love With Love by Ella Risbridger review – a sexy celebration of romantic fiction
From Pride and Prejudice to Fifty Shades, a writer’s paean to the literature of desire