Universal buys rights to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles book series
Film studio invests in vampire series as part of its larger plan to resurrect monster movie genre
Brother in the Land told me (at 10) why I wouldn’t survive nuclear war
Owen Jones: A book that changed me: The horror of Gaza has made me reflect again on Robert Swindells’ despairing fiction – and the terrifying truth of all modern warfare
Carrie Brownstein to complete Nora Ephron’s Lost in Austen script
Portlandia star to take on the late Ephron's unfinished tale of a woman transported back in time to Jane Austen's England
Pro-gun picture book for children aims to reassure kids about parents’ weapons
My Parents Open Carry aims to explain 'the right to bear arms and the growing practice of the open carry of a handgun'
When Paris Went Dark review – Ronald Rosbottom’s flawed account of life in Vichy Paris
Excellent passages on day-to-day realities, youth culture and the Jewish community propel an otherwise weak look at Nazi occupation, says Ben Shephard
Elle Fanning to play Mary Shelley for Wadjda director Haifaa al-Mansour
Pioneering Saudi film-maker has cast the young Maleficent actor as the Frankenstein author in A Storm in the Stars, writes Ben Child
Why girls need imperfect role models
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett: Hurrah for the ‘death of Little Miss Perfect’ campaign. Women afflicted by perfection anxiety need to hear this message loud and clear
Fifty Shades of Grey trailer most viewed of 2014
Promo for Sam Taylor-Johnson's film of EL James's erotic novel has notched up 36.4m views on YouTube so far, writes Ben Child
In praise of… Tove Jansson
Editorial: One of the finest of European writers, the creator of the Moomin books is being honoured with a commemorative euro coin
Locals in Leonardo Sciascia’s Sicily town fight planned sale of his house
Italian writer, who died 25 years ago, lived in Racalmuto, where residents are campaigning for his former house to be saved
Haunting 1914 poem inspires composer of Westminster Abbey’s war vigil anthem
Abbey choir commissions David Matthews, whose grandfather died weeks before armistice
Writers unite in campaign against ‘thuggish’ Amazon
Nearly 900 authors across world back criticism of online retailer's business tactics in ebooks dispute with US publisher Hachette
First world war veterans in Devon pub led to Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse
Author reveals that fireside conversations at the Duke of York in Iddesleigh inspired him to write his bestselling novel
The Narrow Road to the Deep North review – Richard Flanagan’s powerful second world war novel
Flanagan's story of Australian PoWs forced by the Japanese to work on the Burma Railway is complex and masterful, writes Alex Preston