Baillie Gifford prize: six books shortlisted for ‘winner of winners’ award
Finalists for honour spotlighting the best of the non-fiction prize’s 25-year history include studies of the Beatles, Shakespeare and the Treaty of Versailles
‘We’re book nerds’: the female friends opening bookshops together
Growing numbers of women in UK are joining forces with friends to run independent bookshops
Lost letters reveal how ‘desperate’ Shackleton charmed Falklanders to save stranded crew
Explorer hid his torment as he regaled officials in Port Stanley with jokes and stories
The Guardian view on children’s reading: a gift that should be for all
Editorial: With stressed families less likely to have time and money to spare for books, young readers are losing out. It’s time to boost school libraries
Bryant & May novelist Christopher Fowler has died aged 69
Crime writers have paid tribute to the London-born author behind the long-running detective series, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2020
Boris Johnson recites Oompa-Loompas song in defence of Roald Dahl’s books
Ex-PM criticises sensitivity edit of author’s works – and also rejects sending Parthenon marbles to Greece
Spending on British libraries falls 17% as in-person visits soar
Official figures show £9,982 was spent per 1,000 people on libraries by central and local government in England, Scotland and Wales last year, down from £11,970 the year before
Books by female authors studied by just 2% of GCSE pupils, finds study
Campaigners urge exam boards to diversify English literature set texts to challenge rising misogyny
Second John le Carré biography to reveal secrets held back while author was alive
The Secret Life of John le Carré by Adam Sisman, who published an authorised biography in 2015, promises ‘a hidden life of secrecy, passion and betrayal’
Dickens exhibition to look at role of London fog in life and writings
Museum show will seek to illustrate extent and impact of fog then and draw parallels with air pollution now
Charity unveils plan to save barn where Robert Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne
Robert Burns Ellisland Trust proposes to turn Ellisland Farm in Dumfries and Galloway into visitor attraction
On my radar: Joy Crookes’s cultural highlights
The singer-songwriter on the film that reminds her of her dad, artist Rene Matić’s ability to provoke and a documentary that sums up the life of an Arsenal fan
Roald Dahl threatened publisher with ‘enormous crocodile’ if they changed his words
Conversation with Francis Bacon emerges amid the row over updating controversial language in the children’s author’s books
‘Things are definitely opening up’: the rise of older female writers
Unpublished authors in their 60s, 70s and 80s are now at a premium in the book world – with radical, edgy women in high demand
Roald Dahl publisher announces unaltered 16-book ‘classics collection’
Series will be released alongside controversially amended versions to leave readers ‘free to choose which version they prefer’