Tag: Writers
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World Book Day celebrates pure joy of reading
To quote Jane Austen, “there is no enjoyment like reading!” It is one of life’s purest delights, and it comes with health benefits too. But should you read for pleasure or self-improvement?
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Million-dollar author caught in web of lies
Dan Mallory, writer of the bestselling thriller The Woman in the Window, has admitted to lying about having brain cancer — one of many deceptions he used to boost his career.
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The superhero whose comics took over the world
What did Stan Lee teach us about life? The mastermind behind Marvel’s success has died aged 95. From Spider-Man to the Hulk, he helped to create many of the world’s most beloved superheroes.
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‘No one has ever read anything like this before’
Are book prizes bad for writing? Milkman, a challenging work about sexual harassment in Northern Ireland, has won the Man Booker Prize. Some writers say the award is...
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‘Let me live, love, and say it well...’
Is poetry more vital than ever? A survey has declared Sylvia Plath the most popular poet of all time among teenagers — ahead of William Shakespeare. Meanwhile, poetry readership is surging.
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Booker Prize holds a mirror to our dark times
Can fiction change the world? Racism, injustice, ecological destruction — the Man Booker Prize shortlist has been unveiled, and the new novels paint a bleak picture of modern society.
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Avo, bougie and rando: the new words for 2018
Is the English language getting out of hand? Merriam-Webster has added more than 800 new words to its dictionary, including “TL;DR”. Our language has been constantly changing for centuries.
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The surprising philosophy of Winnie-the-Pooh
Should we all live like Pooh? As Christopher Robin hits cinemas, the friendly bear has been hailed “a philosopher to rival Plato and Confucius”....
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‘Love Island teaches you more than Jane Austen’
Surely not? The TV show is smashing records. Some scorn it as low-grade trash. But others say its stories of relationships, courtship and rejection have more wisdom than the classics.
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Giant of American fiction Philip Roth dies
Do great writers offer great wisdom? Legendary American novelist Philip Roth has died aged 85. Love, death, sex, faith: his era-defining prose left no side of human life unexamined.
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Anne Frank’s secret ‘dirty jokes’ discovered
Should we all keep a diary? From jokes about sex, to musings on puberty and prostitutes — all are among the lines experts have recently found concealed in secret pages of Anne Frank’s diary.
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Now Kanye West wants to be the new Socrates
Is Kanye West wise or idiotic? The rapper is making headlines with a remarkable series of tweets which express his opinions on a range of subjects. He describes it as his “philosophy book”.
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A Wrinkle In Time: a lovely, messy, warm, flop
Does it matter what film critics think? A Wrinkle In Time adapts a beloved American fantasy novel. Some reviewers praise the film as revolutionary...
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Spring: ‘a spirit of youth in every thing’
Is there anything better than British springtime? Tomorrow marks the official beginning of the new season. It is a time of renewal that has inspired poets and artists for centuries…
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Canadian leader coins new word: ‘peoplekind’
Should English be made gender-neutral? When Canada’s prime minister said “peoplekind” instead of “mankind”, many laughed. But efforts to banish gender bias from the language are common…