Again and again, we are shocked by the treatment of learning-disabled people. Yet we never learn from the past

A landmark book exposes the history of loathing that underpins scandals like Winterbourne View. It has received next to no attention, says Guardian columnist John Harris

A new Irish writer is getting rave reviews – but nobody knows who they are. That gives me hope

Pen names have a long history. Now Liadan Ní Chuinn is shunning publicity in an industry that demands ever more exposure, says Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Digested week: Reeves’s tears and standing room only for Macron’s Westminster speech

Crying in the Commons is not unusual – unless the chancellor is doing it – as attention turns to Trump’s state visit

The Salt Path author defends memoir against fabrication allegations

Raynor Winn describes enduring ‘hardest days’ and publishes clinic letters saying her husband, Moth, has been treated for CBD/S for many years

Whatever the truth of The Salt Path, I know why people wanted to believe it

As questions are asked about the bestselling memoir, is the demand for hope-over-hardship stories outstripping reality, asks Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

‘Like an academic’: private papers reveal John le Carré’s attention to detail

Exclusive: Oxford’s Bodleian libraries to put archive items on display for first time, celebrating spy author’s ‘tradecraft’

Beyond the bonnets: Jane Austen’s working women finally get their place in the spotlight

Exhibition looks at housekeepers, maids and governesses who ‘enable the lives of the heroines and heroes’

Michael Morpurgo to recite Vivaldi-inspired poetry at inaugural Cornwall festival

Author wants to take arts to ‘middle of wonderful nowhere’ in far south-west, often missed by people heading for coast

Reform councillor’s boast about removing ‘trans-ideological’ books from children’s library sections falls flat

Paul Webb said he ensured books and material were pulled from children’s section of Kent libraries, but it emerges they were never there

‘Smoke and confusion’: exhibition points out Jane Austen’s true thoughts on Bath

Georgian city is not shy of milking its links with the author, but actually she was not happy during her time there

‘We need to reclaim these words’: Inside England’s first romance-only bookshop catering to record levels of popularity

Saucy Books in London has become the go-to destination for romance readers – but fans say misogyny is stopping the genre getting the recognition it deserves

‘Intense’ novel about robot abused by her boyfriend/owner wins Arthur C Clarke science fiction award

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer wins £2,025 for ‘compelling tale that, like all good stories about robots, is ultimately about the human condition’

Charles Dickens’s ‘sliding doors’ moment: how a cold turned an aspiring thespian into a writer

An exhibition explores the authors’ love of theatre, highlighting the dramatic impact of his works

The Guardian view on the Women’s prize for nonfiction: shining a light where it’s badly needed

Editorial: Having a separate award was good for female novelists. Now a medical author is blazing a trail with a true story

British Library to reinstate Oscar Wilde’s reader card 130 years after it was revoked

Exclusive: Pass to be presented to playwright’s grandson after original cancelled over conviction for gross indecency