Christopher Hitchens’ wit and warmth remembered as New York pays tribute
Salman Rushdie and Martin Amis among those at Cooper Union to celebrate life and work of 'pioneer at the frontier'"Little Keith" called him a suffering auto-contrarian and likened him to Houdini; Graydon Carter said he was a "bit of a scallywag" but an...
Interview with a vampire millionaire
A couple of years ago, Amanda Hocking needed to raise a few hundred dollars so, in desperation, made her unpublished novel available on the Kindle. She has since sold over 1.5m books and, in the process, changed publishing foreverWhen historians come t...
Sex selection and the rise of Generation XY
A new book explores western involvement in what has become a scourge of the developing world: sex selection of babiesIn 1979 China signed a $50m four-year deal with a UN body designed to help it control its spiralling population through family planning...
Batgirl back on her feet
Fans lament end of paraplegic storyline as DC Comics announces all 52 of its series are to revert to issue number oneHoly broken bones! Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl character paralysed from the waist down in a dastardly deed by the Joker, is to...
Paul Allen: ‘I think Bill Gates was surprised by my book. He’ll want an intense discussion about it’
The Microsoft co-founder and multi-billionaire talks about his autobiography in which describes his bizarre working relationship with Bill Gates – and how it was he, not Gates, who had the visionary ideasPerhaps it's only to be expected, that the co-...
James Frey ignores publishing houses to release new book through art gallery
Bad boy of American letters prints just 10,000 copies of his latest work, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, in time for EasterThese are tough times for the publishing industry, so writers are increasingly turning to unconventional ways to market t...
Vidocq Society – the murder club
Homicide is always on the menu at this exclusive dining society where some of the world's greatest crime specialists gather each month to solve grisly, cold case killings. Ed Pilkington joins themIn a banqueting hall lined with mahogany panels and lit ...
Spider-Man left hanging on Broadway
Despite $65m budget and music by Bono, musical's preview hit by problems including a superhero dangling above the audienceHow do you convert the whizz-bang acrobatics of Spider-Man – easy to draw in a Marvel comic and almost as easy to put on the big...
James Frey forced to defend literary ethics, four years after Oprah attack
Following Oprah reprimand over first book, the controversial US writer is now accused of exploitation for group writing projectJames Frey, the bad boy of American letters who was given a very public dressing-down by Oprah Winfrey over his first book - ...
James Frey forced to defend collective writing project
Four years on from Oprah reprimand, the controversial US writer is now accused of exploitationJames Frey, the bad boy of American letters who was given a very public dressing-down by Oprah Winfrey over his first book - in which he passed off fiction as...
Patti Smith, godmother of punk, wins award for her first book – at 65
Memoir of her bohemian days with artist Robert Mapplethorpe earns acclaimed musician National Book Award in USFor a musician who virtually dropped out of public life for almost two decades, Patti Smith has become remarkably ubiquitous. Barely a month p...
