Miss Austen: the TV show about the Georgian writer’s life embraces her love of fiction: At the heart of the BBC’s new series Miss Austen is a fictional Cassandra Austen (played by Keeley Hawes). Reviews have stressed that the real life Cassandra’s destruction of her sister Jane Austen’s letters has been considered one of the …
How A.S. Byatt’s northern identity and anger over climate change informed her fiction: A.S. Byatt’s highbrow fiction has a vast, international appeal. The writer, who died in November, was known for her voracious appetite for knowledge and her insatiable curiosity. Inspiration for her work draws from as diverse sources as Elizabeth I, Norse mythology, Amazonian …
Holly by Stephen King: a timely work of crime fiction about not judging a book but its cover: At the age of 76, with nearly 70 novels and short story collections behind him, American author Stephen King shows few signs of slowing down. His latest novel Holly, hefty in scale and elaborate in plotting, is …
Edwardian local press invented the ‘middlebrow’ with a lively mix of local news, reviews and fiction: Our First Tiff by Robert Walker Macbeth (1878). Walker Art Gallery As the provincial press has declined in Britain, so too has local arts and cultural criticism. In the 19th and early 20th century, regional newspapers regularly published reviews …
Six must-read summer fiction books – reviewed by our experts: Granata68/Shutterstock. Summer is here and many people have more time to read. Whether you’re looking for a steamy read for the beach, a twisty mystery to pass the time on a long train journey or an engrossing work of historical fiction to accompany you to …
Amma Darko uses fiction to portray the real plight of women and street children in Ghana: Detail from the cover of an edition of Amma Darko's novel Faceless. Sub-Saharan Publishers Amma Darko is one of Ghana’s leading novelists, known for exploring gritty social issues and the lives of women. There is much to be unearthed …
How governments are using science fiction to predict potential threats: Tithi Luadthong/Shuttertsock From high-tech fighting machines to supercomputers and killer robots, science fiction has a lot to say about war. You might be surprised to learn that some governments (including the UK and France) are now turning their attention to these fantastical stories as a …
How science fiction predicted recent high-tech developments in chemistry: Chemists are often the unsung heroes of scientific breakthroughs that change our lives Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock Real-world technology is often foretold by science fiction. In 1927, characters in the film Metropolis made video calls to each other. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry hung flat-screen colour monitors on …
The five best fiction books of 2022: In 2022, we saw Annie Ernaux win the Nobel prize for literature for her uncompromising writing about her experiences. Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker prize for his darkly comic Sri Lankan political satire, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. There were also a series of screen adaptations and …
The best fiction of 2022: Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s When We Were Birds – an exquisite exploration of love and legacy: Ayanna Lloyd Banwo c Penguin Books USE Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s debut novel When We Were Birds is a spellbinding, beautifully told blend of love story and magical realism ghost story. When We Were Birds book …
The best fiction of 2022: NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory found new ways to write about violence and peace: NoViolet Bulawayo, author of Glory. NyeLynTho A young woman learning to love, the children inspired by her, and the collective voice of a village community recovering from violence and corruption assemble a powerful message of resistance. The hope …
The best fiction of 2022: Zoe Gilbert’s Mischief Acts and reclaiming the myths of the natural world: Sophie Davidson Every culture, by and large, has its myths of the natural world. There are myths of the forests, myths of the seas and rivers, myths of the deserts, mountains and jungles. Some of these myths, like …
The best fiction of 2022: death and life in Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger: Album/Alamy In his book On Late Style, published posthumously in 2006, the Palestinian American critic Edward Said identifies a striking characteristic of some writers as they near the end of their lives. Rather than going gently into that good night, to borrow …
The best fiction of 2022: Alan Garner’s Treacle Walker and writing outside the constraints of time: Robert Gilhooly/Alamy When Treacle Walker was announced as a nominee for the 2022 Booker Prize, 87-year-old Alan Garner was highlighted as the oldest-ever shortlisted author. He is now 88. That said, Treacle Walker, begins with a quote from Italian …
Joan Didion for sale: the auction of the author’s belongings reveals the grand fiction of her image: Joan Didion and her family in a production still from The Center Will Not Hold Julian Wasser There are few writers as visually distinctive as Joan Didion. We have glimpses of her as a young reporter with her …
How to win the Booker prize: is there a formula for ‘the finest in fiction’?: Flickr/The Booker Prizes They say that everyone has a book in them. But how about a Booker prize? That’s probably what the six shortlisted authors of the Booker prize 2022 will be wondering as they count down the days to …
Hilary Mantel was one of the great voices of historical fiction – and so much more: PA Images / Alamy Dame Hilary Mantel was a writer of immense skill and originality, and her death represents an incalculable loss to British literature. She will be chiefly remembered for her trilogy on the life of the Tudor politician …
Good historical fiction is not just about factual accuracy, but the details of human experience too: Malta's capital Valletta. Kavalenkava Volha/Alamy How do you begin the process of researching a novel? In the case of my latest book, Man at Sea, the task seemed straightforward if a little daunting. The novel is partly set during …