Schools in England sidelining dressing-up for World Book Day, MPs hear
Literacy experts say move comes over cost concerns and fears costumes can detract from reading for pleasure
The National Year of Reading celebrates the ‘joy’ of books. But let’s not forget they can also be deeply troubling, too
Encounters with great art can be absorbing, unsettling and even painful. How has this been tamed into ‘reading for pleasure’, asks Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer
Witches, Nazi collaborators and banned books: International Booker prize announces 2026 longlist
Thirteen books make this year’s longlist for translated fiction, which awards a first prize of £50,000
Only 10% of boys aged 14-16 read daily for pleasure, National Literacy Trust finds
Exclusive: Report says British teenagers’ time for books is being crowded out by schoolwork, screens and sports
‘Immensely heartened’: Sally Rooney hails Palestine Action high court ruling as victory for UK civil liberties
Exclusive: Irish author, who feared her books being withdrawn from UK, says proscription had been ‘extreme assault’ on rights and freedoms
Floaters: the coming-of-age novel inspired by the UK’s sewage crisis
C M Taylor’s book, which will raise funds for charity, follows teenagers whose favourite swim spot is contaminated
Reform-run council says free library scheme for refugees ‘is not value for money’
Party withdraws all Lancashire libraries from City of Sanctuary UK programme that supports new arrivals to UK
The BBC’s Lord of the Flies shows why diverse casting doesn’t always work
William Golding’s classic tale is about civilisation, ‘savagery’ and empire – can a colour-blind cast do that justice, asks writer and academic Darren Chetty
‘Summer is coming!’: Royal Shakespeare Company to stage epic Game of Thrones prequel
Novelist George RR Martin says RSC is ‘obvious choice’ to put on new play The Mad King, which will open after spring
‘Bored by all the sex and violins’: readers on Wuthering Heights film
Reaction to Emerald Fennell’s movie adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi
Wuthering slights: why are film-makers afraid of casting Yorkshire actors as Cathy Earnshaw?
Wuthering Heights is inseparable from its landscape – but northern actors seldom get the lead role, instead are pigeonholed as stereotypical or supporting characters. This Bradford-born actor objects
Every generation gets the Wuthering Heights it deserves. And Emerald Fennell’s is for the always-online
Packed cinemas testify to the allure of Emily Brontë’s tale, even if this latest retelling is not to everyone’s taste, says Guardian arts and culture correspondent Nadia Khomami
Senior Reform UK figures attend launch of How to Launder Money book
Co-author George Cottrell is close aide to party leader Nigel Farage and served several months in US prison
‘Handmaid’s Tale future’: Reform’s Matt Goodwin sparks outcry with fertility comments
Byelection candidate accused of indulging ‘alt right fantasy’ by suggesting women need ‘biological reality’ check
Arundhati Roy is right, not Wim Wenders – here are eight films that have changed politics
From ‘honour’ killings to nuclear war, some screen works have led directly legislative action – despite what jury head Wenders suggested at the Berlin film festival