Why food is the real star of my new novel
From James Bond’s breakfasts to the kimchi fried rice in Crying in H Mart, a book’s food can often linger longer in our memories than its characters or storylines
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans review – immensely enjoyable return of the epistolary novel
This moving work about an irascible woman in her 70s who conducts her most intimate relationships through letters has been shortlisted for the Women’s prize
‘Stunned and shocked’: Ingrid Horrocks wins top prize at New Zealand’s Ockham awards for her fiction debut
All Her Lives is only the fifth short story collection to win the prestigious NZ$65,000 prize in 58 years
#MeToo-themed novel wins inaugural reader-led award worth £50,000
British author Donna Fisher has won the Libraro prize for the unpublished manuscript of her ‘provocative and timely’ book, Sheep’s Clothing
Uprising by Tahmima Anam review – a fiery novel of female rebellion
Radical hope and rage combine in this tale of ecological precarity and resistance among sex workers on a brothel island
High and Low by Amanda Craig review – will Britain boil over?
A north London cafe is under siege in a state-of-the-nation satire that brings together the haves and have-nots
John of John by Douglas Stuart review – will a father and son come out to each other?
The Booker winner’s epic tale of gay love and loneliness in the Hebrides charts an uneasy homecoming against a backdrop of repression
‘I don’t know what could top that’: debut author Jem Calder on being discovered by Sally Rooney
His first story collection, Reward System, was a cult hit. Now comes a novel that’s a bleakly funny appraisal of millennial relationships, technology and ennui. He talks about love, precarity and being called the ‘voice of a generation’
The rise of the literary nepo baby? The children of famous novelists on following in their parents’ footsteps
From Naomi Ishiguro to Jess Atwood Gibson, more children of high profile writers are becoming authors themselves. Parents and their literary offspring discuss the pressures of measuring up
The Guardian view on writers’ retirements: the sense of an ending
Editorial: Michael Frayn and Julian Barnes have announced that they won’t be writing any more books. It is a hard habit to kick
The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup
The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed; The Rainshadow Orphans by Naomi Ishiguro; No Ghosts by Max Lury; Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler; Moon Over Brendle by Jeff Noon
Goodbye, My Love by Yumna Kassab review – biting reflections on the dissolution of a marriage
This novel told in vignettes and poetic fragments follows a woman who discovers that choice does not always equate to agency
The Pretender by Jo Harkin audiobook review – sprightly historical political skulduggery
This 15th-century royal romp of intrigue and courtly conspiracy is given extra charismatic verve by John Hollingworth’s rambunctious narration
Solace House by Will Maclean review – immensely fun gothic horror with a psychedelic twist
A dead poet’s cluttered mansion is the setting for a heady brew of magic, mystery and mushrooms
Best Australian books out in May: Robert Forster’s crime caper, a ‘superb’ new novel and Periodic Bitch
Each month Guardian Australia editors and critics pick the upcoming titles they have devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on