Norway launches Jon Fosse prize for literary translators

The award will be the biggest of its kind in Europe and aims to celebrate the work of an overlooked and underpaid profession facing an existential threat from AI

Novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford dies aged 91

Author described as ‘the grande dame of blockbusters’ wrote 40 novels, selling more than 91m copies

‘I am nothing if not persistent’: Lesley Imgart, winner of our graphic short story prize 2024

It was fifth time lucky for Imgart in this year’s Observer/Faber award for emerging cartoonists, with her spellbinding tale about the life of a young witch

The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze by William Saroyan review – vividly crafted Depression-era tales

The US author’s debut collection from 1934 focuses on impoverished individuals in precarious times using language that is punchy and full of compassion

‘We recognise it in this very primal way’: Stephen Fry, Brie Larson, Chris Ofili and more on why we can’t get enough of Greek mythology

Love, death, grief, power, revenge: Greek tragedies get to the essence of the human experience. Here, writers and artists select their favourite plays, music and films inspired by ancient classics, from The Hunger Games to a Santana hit

In brief: Boy from the Valleys; The Wood at Midwinter; A Bird in Winter – review

Actor Luke Evans’s affecting childhood memoir; a haunting illustrated novella by Susanna Clarke; and a riveting female-centred spy thriller

David Nicholls: ‘I’m genuinely deathly at a dinner party’

The bestselling author on why he finds it easier to be funny on the page, being inspired by Sue Townsend and Victoria Wood, and his struggle with the ending of You Are Here

Haruki Murakami: ‘My books have been criticised so much over the years, I don’t pay much attention’

As his new novel is published, the acclaimed author discusses complexity, writing female characters and meeting his fans

Surrealism, cafes and lots (and lots) of cats: why Japanese fiction is booming

From tales of alienation to comforting novels set in bookshops, Japanese authors have written nearly half of this year’s bestselling translated novels in the UK. What’s their secret?

Shortlisted 4thWrite prize stories reveal ‘desire to connect’

The six entries in the running for the short story prize for unpublished writers of colour, share a common interest in ‘exploring interiority and the nature of human existence’

You Are Here by David Nicholls audiobook review – a rain-soaked rural romcom

Narrators Lydia Leonard and Lee Ingleby capture the wit and wisdom at the heart of the One Day author’s story of a hike in the Lake District

Tracy Chevalier: ‘Woolf’s The Waves will be like medicine – I won’t like it, but it will do me good’

The novelist on the comfort of Dodie Smith, how Anne Tyler made her want to be a writer – and why she doesn’t reread books

Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley review – folk horror spans the centuries

The chill of the supernatural pervades these unsettling tales, following a settlement’s history from the deep past to the near future

Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser review – what should a novel look like?

The Miles Franklin winner’s most experimental book yet opens as fiction interrupted by a narrator who starts picking apart her life and feelings about writing

Duets review – co-written stories that sing

From the horrifying to the hilarious, this collection of collaborative tales is endlessly inventive