Summer is right around the corner and the UK is teaming with literary events and festivals. Whether you’d prefer to forage in the forest with the Gruffalo at Just So festival, or hear Melvin Burgess chat about Junk, there’s something for everyone
Editorial: Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, finds the time to read crime fiction. Good for her: it is through the novel that we learn the real state of things
Arguing against intellectual snobbery, star author says performance returns the artform to ancient days when ‘it was about how well you could communicate’
‘Scotland’s Ulysses’ has been turned into a theatrical epic at the Edinburgh festival. For playwright David Greig and director Graham Eatough, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
The rude, Rabelaisian but very modern tale of a Scottish girls’ school choir on the rampage is simply the funniest novel I’ve ever read – and also transcendent
Want to experience the magic of illustration in motion? Then watch these six-second videos of top children’s illustrators drawing. From Axel Scheffler to Debi Gliori, watch the finest British illustrators doodling beautifully for us
Do characters speak to you when you read – or are you more affected by the author’s voice? In response to a survey investigating what hearing voices means to writers, we asked readers for their experiences. Here are some of your responses