David Johnson writes: She admitted, without being boastful, that she had read Proust twice
November 2023
Where to start with
Where to start with: AS Byatt
AS Byatt: a life defined by literature
AS Byatt obituary
AS Byatt, author and critic, dies aged 87
September 2022
Peter Bradshaw's film of the week
Three Thousand Years of Longing review – heartfelt Aladdinesque adventure for grownups
Idris Elba is longing to tell his story and grant Tilda Swinton the statutory three wishes in George Miller’s heartfelt fantasy
May 2022
Film about a genie starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton is partly true, says director at Cannes
George Miller reveals the inside story of his big-screen premiere, Three Thousand Years of Longing, based on an AS Byatt story
October 2021
From the royals to the Roys, why do siblings fall out so seriously?
It can be the most toxic of family relationships, as told in Shakespeare or Succession. What really lies at the heart of this age-old struggle
April 2021
Books that made me
Edmund de Waal: ‘If I need to forget everything, I read Lee Child. Honestly’
The artist, potter and author on his middle-of-the-night anxiety reading, wanting to be a poet, and the Japanese classic he wishes he had read
September 2020
Top 10s
Top 10 goddesses in fiction
In ancient myth – and novels by authors from Neil Gaiman to Toni Morrison – these ambiguous figures are sometimes repressive, sometimes inspiring
June 2019
The Guardian view on book prizes: the more the merrier
Editorial: The Booker prize may have lost some of its prestige, but that allows other awards – and different books – to shine
November 2018
Top 10s
Top 10 modern Victorian novels
Narrative tricks minted in the 19th century are still working in contemporary fiction by authors from Margaret Atwood to Sarah Waters
May 2018
Bonnie Wright: from Harry Potter to a menopause movie
Playing Ginny Weasley aged nine was Wright’s first job. Now in her late 20s, she talks about directing her Potter peers and her new AS Byatt adaptation
April 2018
Book clinic
Book clinic: which current authors produce the most magical prose?
The supernatural, witchcraft or sex can be spellbinding, while others conjure gold from the everyday human struggle
April 2017
Rebecca Swift obituary
Meet the author
Francesca Segal: ‘I think there are multiple awkward ages’
March 2017
Top 10s
Top 10 stories of obsession
From Stephen King’s avid fan in Misery to Nabokov’s disturbing tale of preteen Lolita, fixation is a powerful pull for authors – especially when it overlaps with desire
January 2017
Desert Island Discs: 75 defining moments from 75 years of castaways
The show’s first guest was marooned three quarters of a century ago this month. Here are the moments that made Desert Island Discs a radio classic
December 2016
AS Byatt: Beatrix Potter and the beginnings of my need to be a writer
This year’s Erasmus prize winner celebrates the transcendent use of language by Beatrix Potter, Magritte and Shakespeare
November 2016
Top 10s
Top 10 books about postwar Britain
From George Orwell to John Wyndham, novelist Linda Grant finds compelling reading about the ‘strange interregnum’ that followed the defeat of Nazi Germany