Desert songs
The Coptic monasteries of Egypt were plundered by the Victorians for their priceless early manuscripts. Now the texts are being restored and reunited - as a virtual collection. Stuart Jeffries is entranced by their timeless beauty
Library buys record of Greene bust-up
The inscription in the British Library's newly bought archive conceals an explosive quarrel between author Graham Greene and performer Sir Ralph Richardson.
Aldous and his women
Aldous Huxley's tangled sexual relations still prove an irresistible draw in Nicholas Murray's biography
You wait 10 years for one biography of Primo Levi…
...and then two come along at once. But what makes Ian Thomson's biography of Primo Levi stand out?
God bless the republican who saved America
When researching his novel on the American revolution, Patrick McGrath was inspired by republican hero Thomas Paine.
Last of the old-style liberals
An adviser to US presidents from Roosevelt to Kennedy and Johnson, this Canadian-born economist has long been recognised as America's leading public intellectual. Now, Jonathan Steele reports, his ideas are being taken up by the anti-globalisation movement.
A slave woman writes
Last year an American professor stumbled upon a book written by a female slave in the 1850s. Could it possibly be authentic? If so, it would be the earliest known novel by a black woman. In the week it is finally published, Esther Addley and Oliver Burkeman unravel an astonishing literary detective story.
Writers’ flock
Students in many disciplines benefit from the help of established writers, thanks to a Royal Literary Fund scheme.
The hymns were hers
How Victorian women gave the Anglican church its greatest hits. By Valentine Cunningham
Cash offer to save images of Alice
A grant of £100,000 was yesterday offered to two British museums by the Art Fund to try to save an outstanding collection of photographs by Lewis Carroll of Alice Liddell (the original Alice in Wonderland) and her family.
Lender politics
More books are borrowed from libraries than bought in shops and that means authors are short-changed. Isn't it time for a new system?
The sum of a man
On Sunday John Nash basked in adulation as A Beautiful Mind, the film based on his life, collected the Oscar for best picture. But his reputation has recently taken a battering: he's been called an anti-semite, an adulterer and a lousy father. So what is the truth about the mathematical genius who recovered from decades of schizophrenia to win a Nobel prize? Sylvia Nasar, his biographer, knows better than most.
Victor West
The ordinary soldiers' poet, painter and chronicler.
Harry Wingfield
Children's book illustrator whose wholesome pictures of Peter and Jane helped millions learn to read.
Paper chase
Nicholson Baker didn't expect librarians to act like barbarians - but then he learned they were destroying or dumping millions of books and newspapers. He tells Oliver Burkeman why he had to take a stand.