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The books of my life Hanif Kureishi: ‘Racism makes people mad – it’s necessary to deal with this in fiction’

The writer on Freudian dreams, Tom Sawyer, and what ER Braithwaite taught him about race

Hanif Kureishi: ‘Racism makes people mad – it’s necessary to deal with this in fiction’

Book of the day Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde review – Lagos magic

Michael Donkor

This energetic debut about dreamers, misfits and otherworldly beings creates a queer Nigerian phantasmagoria

Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde review – Lagos magic

History books The Women Who Saved the English Countryside by Matthew Kelly review – nature’s guardians

PD Smith

From the Lake District to Kent – the history of four women and the landscapes they rescued

The Women Who Saved the English Countryside by Matthew Kelly review – nature’s guardians

Music books This Woman’s Work edited by Kim Gordon and Sinéad Gleeson review – ‘Music undoes me’

Fiona Sturges

Life, relationships and art are filtered through sound in 16 essays by brilliant women

This Woman’s Work edited by Kim Gordon and Sinéad Gleeson review – ‘Music undoes me’

News Elmer and Mr Benn author David McKee dies at 87

Author and illustrator of the children’s books including Elmer, Mr Benn and Not Now, Bernard has died following a short illness

Elmer and Mr Benn author David McKee dies at 87

News International Booker prize shortlist delivers ‘awe and exhilaration’

The final contenders for the £50,000 prize for translated fiction – five out of six by women – could see Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk win a second time

International Booker prize shortlist delivers ‘awe and exhilaration’

Fiction Metronome by Tom Watson review – fragile hopes of escape

Nina Allan

Exiled to a remote island, a couple struggle to survive in this atmospheric dystopian debut

Metronome by Tom Watson review – fragile hopes of escape

More Books

What to read

Ukraine Beyond the fog of war: books to help us understand the invasion

From Ukrainian history to Putin’s kleptocracy and Gogol’s stories, author and former Russia correspondent Oliver Bullough chooses the best titles

Beyond the fog of war: books to help us understand the invasion

This month's best paperbacks This month’s best paperbacks: Colm Tóibín, Jhumpa Lahiri and more

Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some enticing new paperbacks, including honest and funny memoirs and fascinating fiction

This month’s best paperbacks: Colm Tóibín, Jhumpa Lahiri and more

100 best novels of all time From The Pilgrim's Progress to True History of the Kelly Gang

From The Pilgrim's Progress to True History of the Kelly Gang

100 best nonfiction books of all time From Naomi Klein to the Bible – the full list

From Naomi Klein to the Bible – the full list

The 100 best books of the 21st century

The 100 best books of the 21st century

Non-fiction reviews

Autobiography and memoir Wayward by Vashti Bunyan review – the adventures of wander woman

Kitty Empire

The 70s folk singer who re-emerged in the early 00s recounts her extraordinary existence on the road – and the sexism of the hippy era – in this spare, riveting memoir

Wayward by Vashti Bunyan review – the adventures of wander woman

Art and design books Modern Buildings in Britain review – a phenomenal work of gathering and observation

Rowan Moore

From a radar station in Fleetwood to the BBC’s Cardiff studios, Owen Hatherley’s generous survey of modernist architecture is insightful and surprising

Modern Buildings in Britain review – a phenomenal work of gathering and observation

Autobiography and memoir Letters to Gwen John by Celia Paul review – a woman in her own image

Rachel Cooke

The painter conveys her spiritual connection with a fellow obsessive and ascetic artist in this fascinating book of imagined correspondence that lays bare the creative process

Letters to Gwen John by Celia Paul review – a woman in her own image

Autobiography and memoir An Autobiography by Angela Y Davis; Abolition. Feminism. Now. by Angela Y Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R Meiners, Beth E Richie – review

Yvonne Roberts

Two books by the radical and scholar – one a reissue of a 1974 memoir; the other a howl of despair at the penal system – reveal her tireless eloquence and rage

An Autobiography by Angela Y Davis; Abolition. Feminism. Now. by Angela Y Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R Meiners, Beth E Richie – review

Autobiography and memoir Soundings by Doreen Cunningham review – a whale of a journey

Edward Posnett

Soundings by Doreen Cunningham review – a whale of a journey

Autobiography and memoir When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope review – how to respond to catastrophe

Fiona Sturges

When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope review – how to respond to catastrophe

Autobiography and memoir Stories I Might Regret Telling You by Martha Wainwright review – a hilariously candid memoir

Caroline Sullivan

Stories I Might Regret Telling You by Martha Wainwright review – a hilariously candid memoir

More Non-fiction reviews

Fiction & poetry reviews

Fiction Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart review – another weepy from a writer on a roll

Alex Preston

The Booker winner’s follow-up to Shuggie Bain – a similarly stirring tale of precarious lives on a Glasgow council estate – proves his debut was no fluke

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart review – another weepy from a writer on a roll

Short stories We Move by Gurnaik Johal review – a colourful tapestry of multicultural lives

John Self

Johal weaves stories of Southall citizens with economy and skill in this compelling debut collection

We Move by Gurnaik Johal review – a colourful tapestry of multicultural lives

Fiction in translation The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga review – extraordinary tribute to motherhood

Lucy Popescu

The author’s account of her early years in exile and her family’s massacre in the Rwandan genocide is a timely reminder of the horrors of war

The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga review – extraordinary tribute to motherhood

Poetry roundup The best recent poetry – review roundup

Kit Fan

Cain Named the Animal by Shane McCrae; Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong; Garden Physic by Sylvia Legris; Panic Response by John McCullough; Tractatus Philosophico-Poeticus by Signe Gjessing

The best recent poetry – review roundup

Short stories We Move by Gurnaik Johal review – virtuosic stories of British-Punjabi life

Sana Goyal

The understated and surprising tales in this debut collection provide multiple perspectives on recurring scenes

We Move by Gurnaik Johal review – virtuosic stories of British-Punjabi life

Graphic novel of the month Two Heads by Uta Frith, Chris Frith, Alex Frith and Daniel Locke – review

Rachel Cooke

With the aid of slapstick jokes and witty footnotes, husband and wife neuroscientists and their son shed light on the workings of the brain in this joyful and fabulously original book

Two Heads by Uta Frith, Chris Frith, Alex Frith and Daniel Locke – review

Fiction Sell Us the Rope by Stephen May review – Stalin in London

Clare Clark

Fictional imaginings ignite the historical facts in this darkly comic tale of political intrigue, with revealing insights into the making of a dictator

Sell Us the Rope by Stephen May review – Stalin in London

More Fiction & poetry reviews

Children's and YA books

Children's books: 8-12 years Fiction for older children reviews – magic and morality, beyond Marvel

Kitty Empire

Norse gods get a fresh incarnation from Louie Stowell and the multiverse offers up a moral dilemma in Ross Welford’s latest

Fiction for older children reviews – magic and morality, beyond Marvel

Children's book roundup The best new picture books and novels

Imogen Russell Williams

Two vivid picture books from noted poets – plus Loki’s secret diary, the return of Mayor Bunny, and the pick of the new middle-grade and YA fiction

The best new picture books and novels

Children's book round-up Picture books for children – reviews

Imogen Carter

A twist on counting, a mysterious glass marble and a subway train journey through Seoul inspire ways of looking at the world

Picture books for children – reviews

More Children's and YA books

Interviews

Douglas Stuart Living with an alcoholic, there wasn’t much I didn’t see

After his autobiographical debut, about a gay boy growing up in 80s Glasgow, comes another tale that draws on his childhood. Could his glittering fashion career ever have kept the Booker-winner from his roots?

Living with an alcoholic, there wasn’t much I didn’t see

Ocean Vuong Queer imagination comes from a need to escape, to create something safe

The poet and novelist’s latest collection is his first book to be published since the death of his mother. He talks about loss, addiction and performing literary drag

Queer imagination comes from a need to escape, to create something safe

David Peace Publishers should be less risk-averse

The novelist on being too literary for crime fiction and too ‘crimey’ for literary fiction, and the mysterious death that concludes his Tokyo trilogy

Publishers should be less risk-averse

Gurnaik Johal I am constantly wondering about the lives of others

The prizewinning author on the Southall riots of the early 80s and his debut collection, inspired by London’s never-ending narratives

I am constantly wondering about the lives of others

NoViolet Bulawayo There’s so much to be gained from a truly intersectional feminist movement

The Booker-shortlisted author talks about Zimbabwe after Mugabe - and drawing on Orwell for her brilliant new political satire

There’s so much to be gained from a truly intersectional feminist movement

Charlotte Philby We visited Kim in Moscow

The spy novelist, whose latest book tells the story of her grandfather Kim Philby and the Soviet agent Edith Tudor-Hart, talks about the perils of writing about family, and why female spies get overlooked

We visited Kim in Moscow

Percival Everett I’d love to write a novel everyone hated

The American novelist on his stereotyping of white characters, the breadth of the black experience in modern literature, and why he always returns to The Way of All Flesh

I’d love to write a novel everyone hated

More Interviews

Regulars

The books of my life Hanif Kureishi: ‘Racism makes people mad – it’s necessary to deal with this in fiction’

The writer on Freudian dreams, Tom Sawyer, and what ER Braithwaite taught him about race

Hanif Kureishi: ‘Racism makes people mad – it’s necessary to deal with this in fiction’

Where to start with Agatha Christie

Kicking off our new monthly guides to an author’s work, crime novelist Janice Hallett puts the spotlight on the creator of Miss Marple and Poirot

Agatha Christie

Big idea The big idea: how to win the fight against disinformation

From Covid conspiracies to lies about the Ukraine war … traditional fact-checking is no match for the power of the crowd

The big idea: how to win the fight against disinformation

More Regulars

You may have missed

‘Out of touch' Children’s authors describe increasing censorship of books on diversity

Fear of backlash means stories about race, sexuality and neurodiversity increasingly deemed inappropriate for young readers

Children’s authors describe increasing censorship of books on diversity

Ali Smith on fiction in times of crisis The novel can’t just leave the war out

The Orwell Prize winning author looks at how the first world war forced writers Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf to rip up convention - and asks if today’s conflicts demand a similarly radical response

The novel can’t just leave the war out

Primal screams New novels lay bare motherhood’s true brutality

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Mothers are all the rage in contemporary fiction. But forget baby yoga and school gate gossip - these women are red in tooth and claw

New novels lay bare motherhood’s true brutality

The road well travelled 100 years of Jack Kerouac

Nature-loving mystic or proto-dudebro? Untameable free spirit or reclusive mama’s boy? On the centenary of his birth, it is time to look past the icon at the ‘bleeding ball of contradictions’ behind it

100 years of Jack Kerouac

More You may have missed

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International Booker prize shortlist delivers ‘awe and exhilaration’

International Booker prize shortlist delivers ‘awe and exhilaration’

Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde review – Lagos magic

Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde review – Lagos magic

The Women Who Saved the English Countryside by Matthew Kelly review – nature’s guardians

The Women Who Saved the English Countryside by Matthew Kelly review – nature’s guardians

‘It takes your hand off the panic button’: TS Eliot’s The Waste Land 100 years on

‘It takes your hand off the panic button’: TS Eliot’s The Waste Land 100 years on

Hanif Kureishi: ‘Racism makes people mad – it’s necessary to deal with this in fiction’

Hanif Kureishi: ‘Racism makes people mad – it’s necessary to deal with this in fiction’

No Hard Feelings by Genevieve Novak review – another hot-mess-millennial novel

No Hard Feelings by Genevieve Novak review – another hot-mess-millennial novel

Elmer and Mr Benn author David McKee dies at 87

Elmer and Mr Benn author David McKee dies at 87

‘I didn’t win the election’: Trump admits defeat in session with historians

‘I didn’t win the election’: Trump admits defeat in session with historians

From Dreamland to The Waste Land

From Dreamland to The Waste Land

Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir – review

Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir – review

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