Jane Lovering wins romantic novel of the year with first book
Alison Flood: Please Don't Stop The Music, offering an 'unexpected hero from a fresh new voice', pips The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas
Aharon Appelfeld scoops Independent foreign fiction prize
Israeli author's dark tale of a Jewish boy taken in by a prostitute during the second world war 'glows on the page', said judges
Locating the books with the strongest sense of place
The Ondaatje prize shortlist includes novels from Rahul Bhattacharya and Teju Cole, but which are your favourite books which evoke 'the spirit of a place'?
Terry Pratchett and John Lanchester compete for Wodehouse prize
Post-crash tale of London life takes on Discworld novel in shortlist for books that capture PG Wodehouse's 'comic spirit'
Out in paperback: May fiction
Justine Jordan: Some prize picks appear this month, including Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles, Georgina Harding's Painter of Silence and Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus
Christopher Priest rumpus ensured a vintage year for Arthur C Clarke award
Sam Jordison: Jane Rogers' breakthrough win – and the brouhaha surrounding Priest's attack on the authors and judges – made for a classic
Arthur C Clarke award goes to Jane Rogers
Author's first venture into science fiction, The Testament of Jessie Lamb, beats some of the biggest names in the genre
‘African Booker’ shortlist offers an alternative view of continent
Caine prize judges wade through 'a lot of uninspired prose' to list five stories that 'enlarge our concept of Africa'
Third of Australia’s top prize-winning books out of print
Alison Flood: Twenty of the 53 winners of the Miles Franklin award are no longer in print – is the Booker in similarly rough shape?
Toni Morrison to receive presidential medal of freedom
The Nobel prize-winning author of Beloved will be given the United States' highest civilian honour
James Dawson shortlisted for Queen of Teen crown
Hollow Pike author is first man shortlisted for a prize which celebrates the 'feistiest, frothiest and most fantastic' writers in teen fiction
The sound and fury of book-prize brouhaha leaves literature nowhere
Robert McCrum: As the fuss surrounding the Pulitzer and Orwell prizes shows, book awards are increasingly more about hype than substance
Christopher Hitchens misses out on Orwell prize shortlist
Shortlist for £3,000 prize focuses on books with 'a dark content', from Misha Glenny's Dark Market to Richard Lloyd Parry's People Who Eat Darkness
Should judges always pick a winner?
The Pulitzer prize for fiction will not be awarded this year after the jury couldn't raise a majority for any of the candidates. But is this such a bad thing? Alex Clark and Nick Fraser talk it through
Writer Idol gives books prizes the Simon Cowell treatment
Billy Mills: Move over Booker and Pulitzer prizes ... there's a new talent show coming to the West Cork literary festival. Writers, are you ready to face the judges?
Who says you can’t write a good novel at 80? Cynthia Ozick has
Martin Amis dismissed octogenarian novelists. So did Simone de Beauvoir. But a writer should be judged on their work, not their age
Orange prize 2012: Cynthia Ozick installed as favourite to win
Author celebrating her 84th birthday joins previous winner Ann Patchett and Booker winner Anne Enright on six-strong shortlist
Pulitzer should take a leaf out of the Orange prize’s book
Robert McCrum: A rickety shortlist doomed Pulitzer judges' attempts to award a fiction prize this year – they should see how the Orange prize does it
Pulitzers 2012: prize for fiction withheld for first time in 35 years
None of the entries for the best American novel of the last year could command a majority
Essential reading for science writers: The Big Short by Michael Lewis
Mark Henderson: When it comes to building a compelling narative about a complex subject, Michael Lewis is the best in the business
Orange prize 2012 shortlist puts Ann Patchett in running for second victory
State of Wonder features on list of six contenders for women's fiction prize, with 84-year-old and Booker winner among rivals
The Guardian and Hot Key Books launch new children’s fiction prize
The Guardian and Hot Key Books are on the hunt for the next generation of children's writers – offering two young writers between the ages of 18 and 25 a chance to be published
Back to the Hugos: Dreamsnake by Vonda N McIntyre
Sam Jordison: Rather than relying on the science fiction staples of fighting and force, this determinedly feminine approach uses healing, respect and skill to make a powerful mark
Dave Eggers shuns Günter Grass Foundation prize ceremony
Dave Eggers accepts award but refuses to attend ceremony to collect literary prize in protest over Günter Grass's controversial poem about Israel
Independent foreign fiction prize shortlist announced
Chinese novel about Aids scandal up against Umberto Eco for £10,000 prize
Impac literary prize shortlist revealed
Debut novels on the Vietnam war and intense family resentment are on the shortlist for €100,000 award
Christopher Priest’s The Islanders wins BSFA award for best novel
Priest beats China Miéville's Embassytown to win the British Science Fiction Association's best novel prize
The rise of Eastercon: the SF/fantasy convention with community spirit
David Barnett: A policy of inclusivity has changed the face of the British National Science Fiction Convention, with an equal gender split and a distinct lack of Klingons
Patrick deWitt and Esi Edugyan compete for historical fiction prize
Canadian authors who clashed on Booker shortlist are both in the running for £25,000 Walter Scott prize
I Am Legend is named vampire novel of the century
Richard Matheson's 1954 novel bats off competition from Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire to win one-off Bram Stoker prize
Kevin Barry’s tale of ale enthusiasts wins Sunday Times short story award
Beer Trip to Llandudno nets Irish author £30,000 prize over shortlist featuring Room novelist Emma Donoghue
Lavinia Greenlaw wins Ted Hughes award 2011 for new work in poetry
Greenlaw's winning sound installation, Audio Obscura, movingly captures the spirit of arrival and departure by train
Cooking with Poo wins oddest book title prize
Recipe book derives its title from community chef and author Saiyuud Diwong's nickname, which is Thai for crab
Arthur C Clarke award shortlist ‘dreadful’, says Christopher Priest
SF author attacks 'incompetence' of judges and rubbishes five of six nominated novels before suggesting prize is suspended
Rabee Jaber wins International Prize for Arabic Fiction
At 42, the winner of the 'Arabic Booker' is its youngest recipient, for his novel set in Beirut, Belgrade and the Balkans in the 1860s, writes Alison Flood