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4+ hour, 35+ min ago (446+ words) As the first part of his acclaimed Blinding trilogy is released in the UK, the novelist talks about communism, Vladimir Nabokov " and those Nobel rumours Part memoir, part dreamscape, one'characteristically surreal scene sees a group of medieval villagers discover a swarm of gigantic butterflies frozen under the ice of the Danube river like woolly mammoths, 20 paces long and 40 paces wide. They'marvel at the insects" beauty "and then proceed to hack away the ice and boil them like lobsters, for a sumptuous feast. "Nabokov was a fine artist, but he had fewer connections with fantastical literature and surrealism than I have," says C'rt'rescu in a video call from his'flat in Bucharest. "The image of the huge butterflies under the ice of the Danube could have come from Salvador Dal" or'from Giorgio de Chirico, artists with'whose imagination I have always felt a'kinship....

2+ day, 47+ min ago (418+ words) Exclusive: Hardship grant applications to the Royal Literary Fund, including unseen letters by Doris Lessing and a note from James Joyce saying that he "gets nothing in the way of royalties, show authors at their most vulnerable Tobacco, swiss roll, Irish whiskey, Guinness and monkey nuts: thats the diet followed by one of the foremost poets of the 20th century. Dylan Thomas grocery bill is among a trove of famous writers personal documents and letters " many of which are as yet unseen by the public, and have been exclusively shown to the Guardian " discovered in the case files of a literary charity. A unpublished note from Sylvia Plaths doctor and an unseen letter by Nobel prize winner Doris Lessing also feature in the cache of documents, which once formed applications to the Royal Literary Fund (RLF), a charity that awards hardship…...

2+ day, 4+ hour ago (268+ words) The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten; Woman in the Pillory by Brigitte Reimann; Iran+100, edited by various; Sea Now by Eva MeijerThe Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten, translated by Alison McCullough (Serpent's Tail, "12.99) On the last day of his life " how does he know? He just does " Norwegian ferryman Nils Vik takes a final boat trip, alone after a lifetime helping others. He remembers those he has ferried, including actor Edward G Robinson; Miss Norway 1966, who was "declared the most beautiful woman in the nation and won a Fiat 850; and young gay man Jon, who was bullied by his father, then drowned in a car, channelling the Smiths: "What a heavenly way to die " to die by his lover's side. That blend of light and dark runs through the novel, but the person Nils really misses…...

2+ day, 14+ hour ago (499+ words) This collection of macabre stories set across England explores class, hierarchy and the enduring nature of inequality Folk horror may have had a dramatic resurgence in recent years, but it has always been the backbone of much of our national storytelling. A new anthology of 10 stories set across England, Bog People, brings together some of the most accomplished names in the genre. In her introduction, editor Hollie Starling describes an ancient ritual in a'Devon village: the rich throw heated pennies from their windows, watching those in need burn their fingers. Folk'horror by its nature is inherently connected to class and hierarchy. Reverence for tradition is a double-edged sword " or a burning-hot coin. She also notes the complexity of self-identification as working-class. "For the purposes of this collection," Starling writes, "contributors were asked to consider if they grew up in circumstances…...

3+ day, 5+ hour ago (565+ words) Author tells high court her public support for group means her books could disappear from UK stores altogether The Irish author Sally Rooney has told the high court she is highly unlikely to be able to publish new work in the UK while the ban on Palestine Action remains in effect because of her public support for the group. On the second day of the legal challenge to Palestine Action's proscription, the effect on Rooney, who said her books could disappear from UK stores altogether, was held up as an example of its impact on freedom of expression. In her witness statement, the bestselling author of Normal People and Conversations with Friends, said: "It is " almost certain that I can no longer publish or produce any new work within the UK while this proscription remains in effect. "If Palestine Action…...

3+ day, 6+ hour ago (523+ words) Andy Serkis revels in his narration of the first murder mystery from the author of This Is Going to Hurt, which showcases Kay's signature pitch-black humourDr Eitan Rose is stark naked in a gay sauna when he is called upon to perform CPR on an elderly man and fellow patron who is having a heart attack. When arriving paramedics ask Eitan for his details, he declines to give his real name, instead giving them the name of his work supervisor and nemesis, Douglas Moran. Eitan is a hard-partying consultant rheumatologist who has just returned to work after several months off following a mental health crisis, and who uses liquid cocaine secreted into a nasal inhaler to get through the working day.When Moran dies in unexpected circumstances, Eitan suspects foul play and sets about finding the culprit. Soon he is…...

3+ day, 14+ hour ago (814+ words) The reader grapples with fascism and complicity through the eyes of a mute autistic girl being treated during the second world warAs I started reading Alice Jolly's new novel, whose narrator is a mute autistic girl in wartime Vienna, I realised that I was resisting its very premise. I am generally sceptical about books that use child narrators to add poignancy to dark plots, or novels that use nazism as a means of introducing moral jeopardy to their characters' journeys. And yet by the end Jolly had won me over. This'is a book that walks a tightrope between sentimentality and honesty, between realism and imagination, and'creates something spirited and memorable as it does so.We meet our fierce narrator, Adelheid Brunner, when she is brought into a children's hospital by her grandmother, who cannot cope with the little girl's fixations....

3+ day, 16+ hour ago (420+ words) The Footnote x Counterpoints prize is intended to uncover new literary voices whose work reflects the experiences of migration Footnote Press and Counterpoints Arts have announced a new fiction award celebrating writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds, offering a "15,000 prize and a publishing deal for the winner. The Footnote x Counterpoints prize for fiction, launching on Thursday, marks the second time the two organisations have collaborated on a prize. In 2023, writers were invited to submit narrative nonfiction, but now the prize will focus on fiction for the first time. Open to writers living in the UK or Ireland, the prize is intended to uncover new literary voices whose work reflects the experiences of migration. Footnote Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, and Counterpoints Arts, a national organisation focusing on arts, migration and cultural change, say the award will highlight…...

3+ day, 16+ hour ago (238+ words) The debut novel took the top prize while The Caf" at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please was named children's book of the year The Artist by Lucy Steeds has been named this year's Waterstones book of the year. The novel, which is set in 1920s Provence and blends mystery with a love story, also took home the Waterstones debut fiction prize earlier this year, and was longlisted for the Women's prize for fiction. Waterstones' head of books, Bea Carvalho, described it as a "gorgeously escapist novel which seamlessly transports the reader to the sticky heat of sun-soaked 1920s southern France." Steeds "is a writer of staggering, rare talent and it has been a joy to see this bookseller favourite become a word-of-mouth sensation," she added. Meanwhile, The Caf" at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please was named…...

5+ day, 10+ hour ago (1093+ words) In the fourth volume of the occult Morning Star cycle, a Faustian pact haunts a misanthropic artist who finds miraculous successKarl Ove Knausg'rd's Morning Star cycle may turn out to be even larger in scope than his six-volume autofictional bestseller, My Struggle. Four books deep, this gargantuan work of supernatural existentialism is an unsettling account of the occult phenomena that attend the appearance in the sky of a bright new star. Mysteries from the first three volumes include: who killed the musicians in the forest? What's going on with the local wildlife? Why does no one seem to be dying any more? By the end of The School of Night, the most burning question may sound comparatively mundane: who is Kristian Hadeland?Scattered references appeared in the saga's first 2,000 pages. Kristian Hadeland was the 67-year-old man buried without mourners by…...