Fidel Castro launches memoirs in Havana
Former Cuban president makes rare appearance to present 1,000-page book, Guerrilla of Time, charting his rise to powerFidel Castro has made a rare public appearance to launch his memoirs.The increasingly reclusive former Cuban president spent six hours...
Gandhi clan scours India’s largest state for votes among Muslims and outcast
The Congress party of Nehru and Indira Gandhi is accused of sacrificing free speech to make a comeback in India's most populous stateYou can find the Islamic Centre of India in the Aishbagh neighbourhood of the north-eastern city of Lucknow, flanked by...
Paul Auster hits back at Turkish PM
After Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the novelist 'ignorant', Auster reiterates protest against country's free speech prohibitionsAmerican novelist Paul Auster has hit back after the Turkish prime minister described him as "an ignorant man".Auster, author...
Unlikely animal friendships – in pictures
From a monkey cuddling a dove to a sheep spending time with an elephant, a new book shows the remarkable friendships that can exist between wildly different animals
Wisława Szymborska 1923-2012
Nobel prizewinner who viewed the world through poetryWhen Wisława Szymborska, who has died aged 88, received the Nobel prize for literature in 1996, the Swedish Academy stated the following in its citation: "Her poetry … with ironic precision, ...
Dorothea Tanning obituary
Painter, sculptor and poet with a vivid, dreamlike styleThe American artist Dorothea Tanning, who has died aged 101, was a talented painter whose reputation was confounded by her long marriage to the great surrealist Max Ernst. He figures prominently i...
Turkish PM criticises US writer Paul Auster over human rights comments
Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacks Auster, who said he would not visit Turkey in protest at its jailing of journalistsTurkey's prime minister has hit back at American writer Paul Auster, who was quoted as saying that he would not visit the country in protest...
Whoopensocker dictionary of American dialect completed after 50 years
Collecting regional English from across the US, final volume of 60,000-entry dictionary will be published next monthFrom whoopensocker to upscuddle, strubbly to swivet, 50 years after it was first conceived the Dictionary of American Regional English i...
In praise of … Alain de Botton
The philosopher's plan for secular temples may be a flop, but there is space for creative conversation about the purpose of religionReligion without faith may seem about as pointless as non-alcoholic beer, but Alain de Botton's latest project to build ...
Theodore Enslin 1925-2011
Avant-garde American poet whose lines were inspired by musical compositionAs he made his debut in the literary magazine Origin, edited by Cid Corman, Theodore Enslin, who has died aged 86, was often associated with the Black Mountain school of poetry. ...
Literary heavyweights that need to lighten up | Open thread
As Ivanhoe has its word-count slashed to aid popularity, which books would you like to see cut back in length?As literary epics go it's probably not the most exciting, but Sir Walter Scott's 544-page Ivanhoe is still getting a 21st-century makeover cou...
Alain de Botton’s atheist temple is a nice idea, but a defunct one | John Gray