One in five shortlisted authors for top UK literary prizes in 2020 were black
Racial diversity has gradually increased, after no black authors were shortlisted in four of the years between 1996 and 2009
Chief of Staff: Notes from Downing Street by Gavin Barwell review – sympathy for Theresa May
In his inside account of May’s time in No 10, Barwell depicts her as a well-meaning victim of Brexit extremists and vicious politics – but lets her off the hook
‘The woke’ are just the latest faux enemies of Englishness conjured up by the right
The myth of a silenced English majority betrayed by a liberal metropolitan elite goes back decades, says author and broadcaster Patrick Wright
The big idea: should scientists run the country?
Covid has put academics like Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance at the heart of government, but smart politicians are essential too
‘I have these stories to tell’: the authors trying to diversify children’s books
Schemes provide mentors and funding to help aspiring writers on low incomes enter market dominated by white celebrities
My Secret Brexit Diary by Michel Barnier review – a British roasting
The EU’s chief negotiator found his UK counterparts bizarrely unfocused during the long haul to fix a Brexit deal – and believes they still don’t know what they’ve done
Netflix acquires works of Roald Dahl as it escalates streaming wars
Content deal over author of children’s classics such as Matilda and The BFG is firm’s biggest to date
Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Why are Nadine Dorries’ novels so full of Irish cliches?
Good women are beautiful. Bad women aren’t. And men will do anything for a Guinness and a potato. Our writer loses herself in the blarney-filled world of the new culture secretary’s oeuvre
Nadifa Mohamed is sole British writer to make Booker prize shortlist
The author of The Fortune Men will now compete with five other novelists from South Africa, Sri Lanka and the US for the 2021 award
Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You tops UK book charts
In its first week on sale, Rooney’s new novel has outsold Jamie Oliver and beaten day-one sales of her previous book Normal People by 1,200% at Waterstones
The spy writer who held a grudge against Le Carré comes in from the cold
Willem Frederik Hermans thought the Briton’s famous book was based on his. Now one of his best works is coming out in the UK
Broken Heartlands by Sebastian Payne review – a tour of the red wall’s ruins
The Gateshead-born journalist toured former left strongholds, talking to politicians and local people, to write this illuminating study of a seismic shift in British politics
Malorie Blackman: ‘Hope is the spark’
Malorie Blackman, the former children’s laureate, talks to Sian Cain about finishing her Noughts & Crosses series after 20 years, being namechecked by Stormzy and what inspired her to keep going through years of rejection
Britain’s imperial legacy in spotlight of Baillie Gifford non-fiction prize
Longlist for 2021 prize includes Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera and Alex Renton’s Blood Legacy alongside 11 other titles
Women’s prize for fiction goes to Susanna Clarke’s ‘mind-bending’ Piranesi
Clarke’s follow-up to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was praised by judges as ‘a truly original, unexpected flight of fancy’