Jean Baudrillard

Philosopher and sociologist who blurred the boundaries between reality and simulation.

Julia Casterton

Obituary: Poet, reviewer, writer and teacher at the City Lit in London.

Arthur Schlesinger

Obituary: Pulitzer-prizewinning historian active in Kennedy's White House whose Camelot myth he promoted

Escape to Bronte

Oli de Botton: What we teach in the classroom should be a glorious release from what some youngsters face - and the study of classic novels can provide this.

Reed Elsevier to sell off education arm

11.30am: Publishing group, which takes in titles from Farmers Weekly to the Lancet, is to sell off its underperforming education arm in a move that could raise more than £2bn. By Fiona Walsh.

Students, meet your new tutor: Amis, the enfant terrible, turns professor

To those who seek a career as a writer, Martin Amis has some well chosen words of advice: "Well, it is a sort of sedentary, carpet slippers, self-inspecting, nose-picking, arse-scratching kind of job, just you in your study and there is absolutely no way round that. So, anyone who is in it for worldly gains and razzmatazz I don't think will get very far at all."

Malcolm Bowie

Obituary: Brilliant scholar whose searing eye analysed French literature anew.

Books for pleasure

Roy Hattersley: The school English syllabus should above all aim to instill a sense of the joy of reading.

Want to write a book? Just join the wiki queue

Penguin Books, in collaboration with students at De Montfort University in Leicester, plan to create the world's first 'wiki' novel, concocted online by millions of contributors across the globe.