Carlo Ginzburg obituary

Italian academic and author who challenged traditional approaches with his pursuit of microhistory

Dave Eggers: ‘Once you have a machine think and write for you, you’re cooked as a species’

As his new novel is published, the US author talks about nurturing the next generation of creatives, debating Sam Altman – and why he writes on a boat in San Francisco Bay

Teenage boys in UK ‘stuck’ reading primary-level books while girls’ tastes expand

Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series accounts for eight of the 10 most read books by 11- to 14-year-old boys, while girls the same age enjoy a wider range of authors and genres

Piglet, it’s a purple, psychedelic shapeshifter! The wild new creature prowling Winnie-the-Pooh’s wood

Is it an alien? A dinosaur? Is it going to kill us all? Our writer hits Ashdown Forest for the Big One Hundred celebrations – and finds its magic enchanting new generations

Anna Ritchie obituary

Archaeologist whose excavations in Orkney included Knap of Howar, with domestic buildings more than 5,000 years old

Children’s reading should prioritise pleasure over learning, says laureate

Frank Cottrell-Boyce tells MPs to focus on early-years reading, with more support for parents and nursery workers

Michael Thompson obituary

Anthropologist who studied the values that society applies in making decisions and climber in the first party to ascend the south-west face of Everest

Malcolm Budd obituary

Philosopher of aesthetics who had exceptionally high standards and was kind to students and colleagues

Dame Averil Cameron obituary

Historian whose sparky, innovative Byzantines challenged the stereotype of a stagnant society with nothing new to offer

Clare Gittings obituary

Other lives: Learning manager who made visiting schoolchildren feel welcome at the National Portrait Gallery

Peter Messent obituary

Other lives: Professor of American studies at Nottingham University and an authority on the writer Mark Twain

‘It’s like a giant book club’: how schools are getting children excited about reading again

In the National Year of Reading, teachers say a culture of enthusiasm, from dress-up days, story time and book clubs, can reverse a national decline

Extra stress or a bit of fun? Teachers and parents discuss World Book Day

As children dress up in UK and Ireland on Thursday, not everyone is on the same page over event’s pros and cons

Schools in England sidelining dressing-up for World Book Day, MPs hear

Literacy experts say move comes over cost concerns and fears costumes can detract from reading for pleasure

The National Year of Reading celebrates the ‘joy’ of books. But let’s not forget they can also be deeply troubling, too

Encounters with great art can be absorbing, unsettling and even painful. How has this been tamed into ‘reading for pleasure’, asks Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer