Poetry’s battleground
How the governor of New Jersey appointed a radical poet laureate - and immediately wished he hadn't.
Solzhenitsyn breaks last taboo of the revolution
Nobel laureate under fire for new book on the role of Jews in Soviet-era repression.
Woolf in chic clothing
Virginia Woolf was a difficult novelist with a reputation for battiness and bad dress sense - a heroine for many, but hardly an obvious Hollywood star. Until now, that is. Maria Alvarez tracks a remarkable transformation.
Precious Ramotswe and me
How did a Scottish professor of medical law come to write novels about a Botswanan private eye? Alexander McCall Smith talks to Marcel Berlins.
The devil and Yuri Luzhkov
A row is brewing in Moscow over the mayor's plans to erect sculptures illustrating Mikhail Bulgakov's satirical masterpiece, Master and Margarita, in the leafy enclave where it was written.
Poet laureate joins doubters over Iraq
Motion queries motives behind possible attack in new poem.
Liberal interpretation: Jenkins the biographer
The late founder of the SDP wrote lives that very much reflected his own political development, says Tristram Hunt.
No dignity in denial
A religious leader rewrites history.
Green light for new cigarette names
Smokers will have to order cigarettes by colour, with words such as 'blue' and 'gold' distinguishing different ranges when a European edict bans the terms 'light' and 'mild'. By Andrew Clark.
‘Brand name’ novel loses its appeal
Market force of America's women readers spells the end for blockbusters.
‘It’s time to take risks’
In 1971, former marine Daniel Ellsberg leaked documents that exposed US government lies and helped end the Vietnam war. He tells Duncan Campbell why he did it.