Oscars diary: And the award for grumbling …
Oliver Burkeman: More baffling criticism of Slumdog Millionaire, this time from Salman Rushdie
Bread, fish but probably no swans in holy cookbook
Leaders of 10 denominations, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, will share their favourite meals
The sordid legacy of the end of empire
Nick Cohen: The on-field drama in Antigua couldn't hope to match the exposure of Stanford's rotten regime
Freed writer back home
Harry Nicolaides, who was jailed in Thailand for insulting the country's monarchy in his novel, granted royal pardon
Words of warning: 2,500 languages under threat worldwide as migrants head for city
Unesco unveils its first comprehensive database of endangered tongues in bid to protect them
In praise of … small languages
Editorial: Big languages are bullies, while small ones are underdogs that deserve our fullest support
British Library buys Futurists’ metal manifesto
The Tin Book, Italian Futurist art movement tome which called for destruction of libraries, bought for £83,000
Hot dates and headscarves
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed was tired of seeing miserable books about Muslim women's lives, so she decided to write her own story - a chick-lit memoir of her arranged marriage. She speaks to Laura Barton
Students need to know Bible’s ‘great stories’, poet laureate says
Bible is an 'essential piece of cultural luggage' for school children, says poet laureate Andrew Motion
Ousted by a gay sheikh
Brian Whitaker: An author whose book touched on the sexual hangups of the local establishment has been disinvited from a Dubai literary festival
As powerful in death as in life
Review: Khomeini's Ghost: Iran Since 1979 by Con CoughlinDominic Sandbrook enjoys a revealing biography of an unlikely icon of modern history
Obama’s shock doctrine
David Boaz: On the economy, Obama is trying to scare the American people in order to ram through a progressive agenda
In praise of … Kolkata’s boi mela
Editorial: It is not only people who gain unjust reputations; cities do too
Updike’s women
Anna Shapiro: Was John Updike really a misogynist? On the evidence of the women in his fiction, yes