Jacqueline Wilson: the grande dame of girlhood
Jacqueline Wilson is adored by her readers for her understanding of the problems they face. But, she wonders, are children today too used to being the centre of attention
Creative writing as literary ‘intervention’
Vanessa Thorpe: Private schools can easily access inspiring authors and encourage creative writing, but what about everyone else? A new project plans to tap talent from neglected areas
Tom Stoppard in warning over decline of ‘printed page’ in education
Dramatist expresses fears that the 'moving image' and 'world of technology' are eclipsing the call of literature
Niall Ferguson is wrong about the national curriculum
Response: History departments are thriving under a flexible framework, write Sarah Hannam and Jane Cavanagh
Live Q&A: Fred Pearce on the hacked climate science emails
Fred Pearce will be online between 12-1pm on Thursday 17 June to answer questions on his new book about the climate emails
Theresa May halts ‘draconian’ child worker vetting scheme
Child protection measures are disproportionate and will be scaled back to 'common sense' proportions, home secretary says
Hail the 21st-century Enlightenment. Ideas don’t come much bigger
Madeleine Bunting: We need to live very differently, argues a bold new text. And that calls for nothing less than a revolution of the mind
Dictionary definition of ‘siphon’ has been wrong for nearly a century
A schoolboy error in the Oxford English Dictionary's definition of 'siphon' has come to light after nearly 100 years in print
Mary Beard: A classicist in a class of her own
Profile: Mary Beard. The delightful don, whose lively blog is read by thousands, is to host a TV series about Pompeii
Antony Flew obituary
Humean philosopher and atheist who ultimately came to believe in intelligent design
Footballers pick books for boys
Boys lag behind girls at school – and one reason is their resistance to reading. But Premier League footballers are coming to their rescue…
University conference sinks its teeth into vampire fiction
A university lecturer hopes the undead can liven up English literature for the Twilight generation
Stories from the book of life
A new scheme aims to boost learning among older people by persuading them to write their memoirs
Melvyn Bragg gives archive of life’s work to Leeds University
Material saved from attic reveals a prolific, driven and organised writer, says head of special collections at Brotherton Library
Fifty books to change the world
From Rachel Caron's Silent Spring, to provocative books on population, leaders in sustainability reveal their essential reading