Blindness set for first sight at Cannes
Fernando Meirelles' adaptation of Jose Saramago's bestselling mystery looks set to open the Cannes international film festival on May 14.
Roll up for Alt.Fiction
Tomorrow's festival celebrates many of our best-selling writers. But don't bother coming if you want to get all 'literary'
In search of the world’s favourite book
An online poll seeks to establish the planet's top reads. Marketing opportunity or innovative research? You decide
Corporate efforts to ‘get down with the kids’ keep backfiring. When will they learn?
Vanessa Walters: Is it me or do teenagers dictate everything these days? The programmes we watch, the goods we buy, the culture on offer
Amsterdam: literature’s capital city
Amsterdam has a rich history as a literary haven - a tradition which continues today as the city is crowned World Book Capital 2008
Translated from Arabic
The literary world is discovering a raft of fantastic authors writing in Arabic - but will the rage for translated works really take hold?
What a riot
Psychedelic flooring, a high-wire balancing act and magic carpets - Glasgow's art festival is bursting with energy. Adrian Searle has a ball
Why London needs another literary festival
The UK doesn't read enough in translation. At International PEN, we think books from other cultures can shift the way we look at the world
Thomas biopic to headline Edinburgh film festival
The Edge of Love, a film about the life and loves of the poet Dylan Thomas, has been selected as the opening night gala for this year's Edinburgh international film festival
There’s more to sci-fi fandom than Star Trek
Open-minded, curious and polite: the science fiction community should be emulated, not lampooned
A year of reading
Gordon Brown launches a truly inclusive initiative for all readers
Meet the writer?
Seeing authors in the flesh is always a very weird experience. So why bother?
Let children choose books for themselves
Giving them books is obviously a good idea, but not as good as letting them take their pick
McEwan finishes farcical libretto
Francesca Martin: The writer Ian McEwan has finished work on the libretto to For You, a new opera about an ageing conductor-composer, with music by Michael Berkeley
The storyteller
From Scottish folk tales to Icelandic sagas, Judith Weir takes literary inspiration from around the world. A festival of the composer's work celebrates her range and inventiveness