‘This is not an easy treasure hunt’: puzzle book offers readers chance to win €750,000 golden casket

Clues in The Golden Treasure of the Entente Cordiale could lead readers in the UK and France to a historic treasure presented by Britain to the French president in 1903

From Homer to happy hour: the etymology of ‘nudge’

This week, UK government figures are hoping that restricting entry to pubs to the vaccinated will serve as a ‘nudge’ for young people to get the Covid jab

John le Carré, chronicler of Englishness, died Irish, son reveals

Author was so opposed to Brexit that he took Irish citizenship to remain European

Louis de Bernières reveals ‘extreme cruelty’ he suffered at prep school

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin author says the school, where he boarded from the age of eight, delivered routine violence and abuse to its pupils

Thanks to the pandemic, I’ve spent a year in one place with my mind in two

My family is in Lagos. I’m in London – and there’s no chance of a flight home. Zoom does many things, but it can’t give hugs, says novelist Chibundu Onuzo

The Guardian view on the writing business: readers must ultimately benefit

Editorial: People want stories and that means cultivating a publishing ecosystem where big and small can flourish

How Mary Wortley Montagu’s bold experiment led to smallpox vaccine – 75 years before Jenner

A new book celebrates the trailblazing work of the English aristocrat, who successfully inoculated her daughter

Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo writing memoir about ‘never giving up’

Manifesto will chart the first Black Booker prize winner’s 40-year journey to literary centre-stage and encourage others to pursue creative fulfilment

Rafe Spall to star in West End premiere of To Kill a Mockingbird

Spall will replace Rhys Ifans as Atticus Finch in production opening at the Gielgud theatre in March 2022

‘Dare to believe’: young writers on their dreams of the sea

To mark the UN’s ocean decade, contestants were asked to write imaginatively on ‘10 years in the ocean’

Teacher wins UK poetry prize with poem on dual heritage

Marvin Thompson, of Jamaican heritage, says he wrote it as a gift for his children, ‘to their future selves’

Michael Sheen to star in Under Milk Wood at the National Theatre

Reconfigured Olivier theatre will show Dylan Thomas classic in June reopening with Jack Thorne play set for Dorfman stage

Marcus Rashford vows to reach children who have never owned book

As he awaits publication of practical children’s guide in May, footballer and campaigner promotes reading

Campaign to buy JRR Tolkien’s Oxford home fails

The appeal, backed by Ian McKellen, to raise £4.5m to convert 20 Northmoor Road into a permanent Tolkien centre fell short of its target

Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury issues another profit upgrade

But company says reading boom may end when Covid restrictions are lifted