Literature

2 days ago

Country singer Dolly Parton, wearing a rhinestone-encrusted white suit, and playing a bejewelled guitar, on stage.

Dolly Parton's gift of reading to 1,000 Manx kids

More than 1,000 Manx children still receive free books through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

2 days ago

Dolly Parton, holding a microphone and stood in front of a giant book, is stood next to a giant sized book which says The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Impact of Dolly Parton's UK children's book scheme praised

A former Reading MP says he believes the town was the second place in the UK to receive the books.

2 days ago

The book covers of John of John, Land, and Cool Machine (Credit: Macmillan/ Penguin Random House)

14 of the best books of 2026 so far

From a dizzyingly brilliant heist to a devastating tale of generational loss, here are the year's most acclaimed works of fiction so far.

2 days ago

3 days ago

A man with brown hair and a moustache wearing a white shirt in front of a man and woman reading a yellow strained manuscript

Manuscripts 'hidden in plain sight' reveals medieval history

Archival assistant Callum Tostevin-Hall found manuscripts showing Guernsey's medieval past

3 days ago

A man and woman hold up an ancient sheet of yellowed text with holes and stains around its edges.

Hidden manuscripts reveal medieval reading habits

Archivists discover 17 manuscript fragments from medieval times were repurposed as book covers.

3 days ago

5 days ago

A metal statue of Victor Hugo - an old man with a beard in a three-piece suit, reading a book. He is sitting on a bench, with space for one person to sit next to him, with the back and side made out of a copper-blue octopus and its tentacles. Behind him is a granite town square and an old church, with benches and railings. A man in a bucket hat and T shirt sits on one of the benches.

'Exciting' new Victor Hugo Centre plans approved

The plans would be an "immersive celebration" of a "global icon" who wrote his best-known works while exiled from France.

5 days ago

20 Aug 2026

An illustration of Captain Ahab and his men attacking the whale Moby Dick in the ocean (Credit: Getty Images)

Novel Moby Dick challenged our fear of the whale

Now 175 years old, US author Herman Melville's classic is the ultimate tale of man v whale – but in fact, it questions why humans have been so terrified of these great sea creatures.

20 Aug 2026

17 Aug 2026

Luis Gnecco in brown suit and Fionn Whitehead in dark duffel coat are having a picnic, sitting on a rug in a field. The lower legs of two donkeys can be seen in the background.

Borges and Me: New film tells story of writer's 1970s tour of Scotland

A film about the great Argentinian author's trip around Scotland in 1971 has premiered in Edinburgh.

17 Aug 2026

13 Aug 2026

A composite image of three people: Jacqueline Wilson, Simon Armitage and Kate Atkinson

Simon Armitage among literature festival line up

Jacqueline Wilson, Judy Murray and Kate Atkinson are also on the festival's programme.

13 Aug 2026