David Cameron’s ‘chillaxing’ hobbies revealed in new biography
Prime minister spends weekends playing with a tennis machine called 'the Clegger' and singing karaoke, according to book
The battle of the book reviews
Lionel Shriver: Professional critics are no more reliable than Amazon ratings, a study shows. So do we really need them?
Prestwich Book Festival aims to challenge the dominance of south Manchester
The festival has been set up to celebrate the authors and independent businesses that are thriving
Harry Potter and the order of the 60 scholars gets mixed initial reception
A St Andrews conference on the Harry Potter series as literary texts has not met with universal approval in the academic world
Kensal Rise library campaigners gain another day
Brent council backs off from emptying shelves, as protesters complain offer to run service with volunteers was ignored
Jeanette Winterson to take up writing professorship at Manchester University
Novelist best known for Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit will teach undergraduates and MA students in city of her birth
The beguiling power of mystery that can make us forget a family’s pain
Henry Porter: Our desire for life to be dramatic can lead us to merge real-life stories such as the death of Gareth Williams into fiction
Taliban poetry book denounced by former British commander
Anthology of war, love and nature poetry called 'self-justifying propaganda' but publishers say it reveals universal experiences
Rivals launch a printing revolution that could be as significant as Gutenberg
Landa and Xeikon to unveil new inkjet and toner technology at drupa exhibition in Düsseldorf. By Mark Piesing
Mary Beard: the classicist with the common touch
Profile: Her current TV series on the Romans has occasioned unkind remarks about her appearance, when, in fact, we should be celebrating her erudition and ability to animate her subject
Dial M for Murdoch by Tom Watson and Martin Hickman – review
Will the phone-hacking scandal be bigger than Watergate? Peter Wilby on a gobsmacking account of the problems engulfing News International
On her majesty’s silver service: expats dust off tuxedos for BritWeek in LA
Britons famous, once famous and perhaps to be famous again are beating the drum for the UK in Hollywood this week
Deny the British empire’s crimes? No, we ignore them
George Monbiot: New evidence of British colonial atrocities has not changed our national ability to disregard it
The north embraces World Book Night
A series of events are taking place to celebrate the second occasion in which books are being shared and distributed to encourage reading
World Book Night: Stephen Fry joins million giveaway
Writer among 20,000 volunteers handing out a million free copies of chosen books as part of annual reading event
Lord Ashley of Stoke obituary
Labour politician who made his deafness no obstacle to his tireless championing of disadvantaged people
Edmund de Waal turns Amber Eyes towards Waddesdon
The ceramic artist and author of The Hare with Amber Eyes has been tasked with embellishing one of England's grandest houses
Dial M for Murdoch sets scene for media mogul’s Leveson appearance
Analysis: Pacy account of the phone hacking scandal that has revived Labour MP Tom Watson's political career
How a book about fish nearly sank Isaac Newton’s Principia
Poor sales of lavishly illustrated book forced Royal Society to go back on promise to finance publication of Newton's Principia
London Book Fair: publishing world struggles to adapt to new lines
The partying goes on at Earl's Court, but new formats and self-publishing are changing the industry
Orange prize 2012: Cynthia Ozick installed as favourite to win
Author celebrating her 84th birthday joins previous winner Ann Patchett and Booker winner Anne Enright on six-strong shortlist
Dr Jekyll and a not so wicked Mr Hyde: how a portrait of evil was toned down
Robert Louis Stevenson deleted "certain appetites" to make his creation Mr Hyde less sinister, an edited draft of his novella to be displayed at the British Library reveals
The British Council brings more shame on us
Nick Cohen: All authors are welcome to the London Book Fair… as long as they don't upset the Chinese
Digested read: The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
John Crace: He wanted excitement. He wanted to prove he wasn't just a child prodigy who had got a bit lucky with his magic wand
Vatican and Bodleian libraries to offer rare collections online
Greek manuscripts and earliest surviving Hebrew codex among 1.5m pages to be digitised for both scholars and public to peruse
Miss Read obituary
Bestselling author whose tales of a rural idyll were based on her own life
Heathcliff and Cathy, out on the wild, windfarmed moors
Lucy Mangan: Plans for a Banks Renewables windfarm in Brontë country are advancing. In the light of this, a re-imagining of Wuthering Heights
Wind mast to be built on moors that inspired Wuthering Heights
Campaigners fear move paves way for wind turbines that will deface landscape of historical and cultural significance
Booker winner attacks bid to ban Israeli national theatre company from Globe
Stars of theatre and literature split over invitation to Israeli company to stage Merchant of Venice in London
Community-run libraries are part of the degradation of the service
Sophia Deboick: Volunteers can bring much to libraries, but the fact they are replacing paid staff shows how much de-skilling has taken place
High court stalls council’s attempt to introduce volunteer-run libraries
Plans to replace paid staff with volunteers failed to account for equality issues, but Surrey says proposals will still go ahead
Angela Carter’s teenage poetry unearthed at old school
Author of The Company of Wolves explored myth and legend in work published in south London school magazine in 1950s
John Arden obituary
Playwright whose work combined poetry, politics and passion
Glenn Patterson’s top 10 Belfast books
Glenn Patterson's latest novel, The Mill for Grinding Old People Young, is a tale of 19th-century Belfast. He picks the 10 titles that shaped his understanding of his city