Losing the ground beneath their feet

Climate change means that millions of people now face the risk of catastrophic flooding, but few more so than the char-dwellers of Bangladesh, clinging to tiny impermanent islands of sand in the Jamuna river Tahmima Anam returns to see what the future might hold for her homeland

Hideous kinky Kafka

Emily Hill: So what if Franz enjoyed porn and was middle class – other authors have far better peccadilloes. Isn't it about the writing?

Tumbling the author myth

James Hawes: Why such anger about my revelations of Kafka's interest in pornography? His legacy could stand a little debunking

Leaders who seek readers

Mark Lawson:JFK did it. Brown does it. And now every aspirant puts out a book. But the psychology is very odd

Glen Balfour-Paul

Obituary: Diplomat, chronicler of the British in the Arab world - and poet

My first language

Novelist Eva Hoffman explores the complex relationship between music and literature - and how they have both shaped her life