A debut novel has won the Orange Prize for Fiction for the second year running, with US author Madeline Miller scooping the £30,000 award for The Song of Achilles (Bloomsbury).

At the prize ceremony at London's Royal Festival Hall last night (30th May), chair of the judges Joanna Trollope called the novel—...

"Super Tuesday", "Triumphant Thursday", whatever the soubriquet (or not!), there’s always a moment when Christmas proper starts and all eyes are on the charts. This year, not having a book out, I’ve been watching the circus from the sidelines. Before the advent of published weekly sales figures, the nerves...

Last Friday I cut the ribbon and opened a new library in Southsea, Hampshire. At a time when many libraries are under the threat of closure, the transformation of a former Woolworths is a sign of possibility, of joined-up thinking, of an attempt to refashion what libraries are and how they fit within the community.

As well as being a...

The nation is gearing up for the first Save Our Libraries day on Saturday (5th February), with around 80 events planned around the UK and “hundreds of thousands” of supporters thought to be backing the cause.

Authors Philip Pullman, Kate Mosse, G P Taylor, Julia Donaldson and Mary Hoffman will be among the authors ­...