Coincidence or conspiracy? Rivals launch books on same day
The author of The Da Vinci Code and one of the men he has been facing in court found themselves locked in a new battle yesterday, with rival US book launches on the same day.
Iraqi woman’s Baghdad blog in the running for £30,000 book prize
An anonymous Iraqi woman has become the first blog author to be in the running for a big literary prize for a book published between hard covers. By John Ezard.
Plus ça change
Chirac's tantrum this week was the latest in a long line of cross-Channel teeth baring. Who better to plot that history of venom than Anglo-French couple Robert and Isabelle Tombs? Interview by Stuart Jeffries.
Lord of the Rings musical opens
The curtain rose in Toronto last night on an epic musical adaptation of the Lord of the Rings that has taken four years to produce, features 55 actors, 500 pieces of armour and 17 elevators, and cost about $27m (£15.5m).
A crude conspiracy theory
David Hirsh: We must discredit the claim that the "Israel Lobby" controls US foreign policy. But defend the right to publish it.
Double agent
Norah Vincent spent 18 months disguised as a man. She relives the boys nights out, the bad dates - and what happened when she ended up in bed with another woman.
Thirst for war
Cameron Duodu: The Kenyan drought could be fixed if the west preferred to save lives rather than end them.
Behind every great male writer …
This week Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, revealed that his wife Blythe helps him write his bestsellers. It puts him in good company, writes Hadley Freeman.
Shackleton’s Aurora could fetch £20,000
A book published by Ernest Shackleton while he was in the Antarctic has been found in stables in Northumberland.
Atwood sign of the times draws blank
Around 40 people had turned up to the McNally-Robinson bookstore on Prince Street in downtown Manhattan to witness Margaret Atwood signing books in New York despite the fact she was in London with her new invention, the LongPen. Unfortunately, a technical hitch meant they went home disappointed.
Life on the front line
Linda Grant's The People on the Street should be obligatory reading on both sides of the Israel-Palestine divide, says Ian Black.