Emily St John Mandel: ‘When half the electorate disagrees on basic reality, how do you come back from that?’

Her hit novel Station Eleven seemed to predict the pandemic, now the novelist is tackling the future of the US. She talks about chance, world-building and experiencing a ‘tiny bit’ of clairvoyance

Julia Donaldson: ‘Am I the Gruffalo Granny? Not really. I’m the mouse’

As she introduces the latest member of her Gruffalo family, Julia Donaldson talks about storytelling, loss and the worries that come with being Britain’s all-time bestselling author

Drawn Together review – preposterous romance with all the erotic charge of leaf mulch

The latest adaptation of Culpable trilogy author Mercedes Ron, about a ballet dancer and her security guard, has more holes than plot and chemistry that barely generates a spark

A Thought Without Collision by Adrian Duncan review – a brilliant interrogation of philosophy and wonder

With a character inspired by Wittgenstein, this exploration of the mysteries of the universe draws on multiple philosophical traditions

Taipei Story by Rebecca F Kuang review – the torture and hilarity of learning Chinese

An American Chinese student studies Mandarin in Taiwan, in this heartfelt journey of self-discovery and family secrets

Gone Guru by Nadine Browne review – a clever and funny metafictional caper

This debut novel follows a 38-year-old whose flatmate goes missing at the same time as her memoir manuscript is being torn apart by her classmates

Prime Minister’s Literary awards 2026: ‘profound’ novel based on Yolngu oral history wins $80,000

Judges praised A Piece of Red Cloth as a ‘landmark achievement in fiction’, with Kate Wild, Zana Fraillon and Rohan Howitt also winning in their categories

Péter Nádas obituary

Hungarian author who explored memory and history in his fiction and was nominated for a Nobel prize

The Newer World by Sebastian Barry review – a near-miracle of storytelling

The third in a loose American trilogy follows the epic journey of a formerly enslaved man in the aftermath of the civil war

Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson review – quirky postwar nostalgia from the Life After Life author

There are glimpses of Atkinson’s subtle brilliance in this gentle noirish mystery set around the Festival of Britain

‘I’m amazed a human being could do so much’: Gloria Steinem celebrated by Margaret Atwood, Dua Lipa, Lynda Carter and more

Authors, activists and admirers pay tribute to the feminist icon who died this week at the age of 92

Kevin Powers: ‘I was ready to abandon Infinite Jest a thousand times’

The American author on falling in love with The Great Gatsby, being inspired by Dylan Thomas – and the memoir of a canoe trip in Texas he comes back to

The Golden Hours by Louisa Young review – this continuation of the Cazalet Chronicles is a total delight

Elizabeth Jane Howard’s niece has picked up the thread of her much-loved family saga series, taking the story into the 1960s

People With Money by Jess Ho review – race, class and gender collide in this outlandish but overcooked satire

In their debut novel following their memoir Raised by Wolves, Ho’s signature sarcasm is present throughout but some characters border on caricature

The Bridge by Colm Tóibín review – betrayal and survival in the High Pyrenees

Deep sorrow mingles with illicit desire in this potent novella, the follow-up to a 2006 story about an isolated family in the Catalan mountains