Len Deighton, spy novelist and author of The Ipcress File, dies aged 97
British writer brought wit, realism and class consciousness to cold war espionage fiction, reshaping the genre in the 1960s
Solidarity by Rowan Williams review – what does it really mean to stand by someone?
The former archbishop delves deep into a word that is easy to use on social media, but hard to follow through on
The Delusions by Jenni Fagan review – an afterlife of queues and bureaucracy
A witty metaphysical satire about what happens when the processes that help souls pass on begin to fail
Better than Wuthering Heights? The Brontës’ novels – ranked!
As Emerald Fennell’s film sparks debate, we celebrate the pioneering brilliance of the siblings’ work
London book fair roundup: Idris Elba’s thriller deal, the rise of romcom, and fights against censorship
The actor led the starry book deals, while publishers assessed whether US-style bans are spreading to the UK
Margareta Magnusson, Swedish ‘death cleaning’ author, dies age 92
Magnusson’s 2017 bestseller The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning turned the Scandinavian decluttering practice into a global phenomenon
Howl by Howard Jacobson review – a tragicomic portrait of a Jewish man’s despair
A suburban headteacher navigates antisemitism in Gaza-outraged London in Jacobson’s latest novel
The Infinity Machine by Sebastian Mallaby review – the story of the man who changed the world
A journalist charts the progress of AI pioneer Demis Hassabis from child chess prodigy to Nobel prize winner
‘Orwell went off to fight. I thought I’d have to do the same’: Raoul Peck on his intimate connection with the writer
The Haitian director was given unprecedented access to George Orwell’s archives – and found a fellow crusader for truth. His extraordinary new film highlights the sinister links between Big Brother, Trump and Putin
Jessie Buckley becomes first Irish winner of best actress Oscar for Hamnet
Buckley, who plays Shakespeare’s wife Agnes in adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, was favourite to win after victories in all preceding ceremonies
Paul Thomas Anderson wins first ever Oscar as One Battle After Another takes best adapted screenplay
Director won the Oscar for his critically acclaimed film based loosely on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland
Salman Rushdie says he is tired of being ‘free speech Barbie’ after 2022 attack
Author says he doesn’t ‘feel symbolic’ and hopes to steer narrative to his books after surviving assassination attempt
Jürgen Habermas obituary
Philosopher and social theorist who advocated a new direction for German thought after the horrors of Nazi rule
Readers reply: which are more like life, novels or films?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions considers what’s ‘realistic’ in what we read v what we watch …
Shahrnush Parsipur: ‘The women of Iran will cause the fall of the Islamic Republic’
As her banned 1989 novella, Women Without Men, is published for the first time in the UK, the Iranian author looks back on a life of resistance and repression