Don’t be smupid: a glossary for the extreme present

Are you suffering from denarration or monophobia? A new book, The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present, helps to define our relationship with the online world

J-Lo sparks quest to find ‘first editions’ of The Iliad

Reference to Greek epic poem in Jennifer Lopez thriller The Boy Next Door propels Homer up AbeBooks’ search rankings

Put arts at the heart of Britain

Dance, drama and design are not luxuries; they are vital components of the UK economy, and investment in them will only boost our national wealth

Sebastian Faulks wants a 9 to 5? Here’s what he’d be good for

After 25 years of going it alone, the Birdsong novelist wants to get a proper day job. We’ve scanned his CV and come up with a few ideas

Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class review – Scott Timberg’s lament for the arts

Scott Timberg mourns a lost golden era for the arts but he should stop looking backwards in search of a healthy cultural life

Dinesh Allirajah obituary

Other lives: Writer, poet and teacher with involvement in many arts projects

The Costa book of the year contender bringing poetry to class

Poet and teacher Jonathan Edwards, up against Ali Smith for the top Costa prize, has no intention of leaving school. It’s where he gets his inspiration, he says

Risk Wise: Nine Everyday Adventures review – required reading for the education secretary

Polly Morland offers acute insights into our dangerous habit of trying to eliminate all risk from our lives, writes Salley Vickers

Rex Russell obituary

Other lives: Teacher who encouraged the study of local history in Lincolnshire

Ethel Lang, the last Victorian, has died but Victorianism lives on

Kate Williams: Much of what our society holds important was shaped in the 19th century – including some of our attitudes

No, we haven’t banned books on pigs – but sensitivity is key in global publishing

Jane Harley: At Oxford University Press we have to balance children’s cultural and learning needs, while retaining some healthy common sense

Pigs won’t fly in textbooks: OUP tells authors not to mention pork

Guidelines for writers have come to light telling them to avoid mention of anything which might offend overseas markets

I love books so why do I hate studying English GCSE?

English had always been my favourite subject at school, but the stifling lack of book choice and boring analysis in the English GSCE has killed it for me

Ivor Grattan-Guinness obituary

Energetic historian of mathematics and logic

William Fishman obituary

Historian of London’s East End, he recorded Jewish immigrants’ struggle out of poverty