Books and Readers

Propaganda, pulp fiction, spies and censorship: the fascinating and action-packed story of books in wartime. Chairman Mao was a librarian. Stalin was a published poet. Evelyn Waugh served as a commando - before leaving to write Brideshead Revisited. Since the advent of modern warfare, books have ...

The Oxford English Dictionary has long been associated with elite institutions and Victorian men; its longest-serving editor, James Murray, devoted 36 years to the project, as far as the letter T. But the Dictionary didn't just belong to the experts; it relied on contributions from members of the...

Homer's Iliad is the famous epic poem set among the tales of Troy. Its subject is the anger of the hero Achilles and its dreadful consequences for the warring Greeks and Trojans. It was composed more than 2600 years ago, but still transfixes us with its tale of loss and battle, love and revenge, ...

"The culmination of a decade of intense engagement with antiquity's most surpassingly beautiful and emotionally complex poetry, Wilson's Iliad now gives us a complete Homer for our generation"-- Provided by publisher.

"Delves into the clothing of one of the world's greatest authors, providing unique insight into the writer's material world and the wider context of Regency dress history, society and culture"-- Provided by publisher.

A travelogue exploring the life and work of George Orwell through the places he lived, worked and wrote. Following in the footsteps of his literary hero, researcher and historian Oliver Lewis set out to visit all the places to have inspired and been lived in by George Orwell. Over three years he ...

An essential guide for anyone with cause to communicate in written form (most of us), a passing interest in doing it better (some of us), and a disinterest in a book on said subject that is humourlessly preoccupied with rules (almost all of us).

By turns reflective, entertaining and moving, this book reveals how some of the most influential and best loved writers of our time were shaped by their inspirational teachers. Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee, Margaret Drabble, Stephen Greenblatt, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Andrew Motion, Gretchen Holbrook ...

See inside the gardens where literary giants from Tolstoy to Agatha Christie created some of their finest works in this visually stunning and fascinating book. Discover the flower gardens, vegetable plots, landscapes and writing hideaways of 30 great authors - from Louisa May Alcott's 'Orchard Ho...

The encyclopaedia once shaped our understanding of the world. Created by thousands of scholars and the most obsessive of editors, a good set conveyed a sense of absolute wisdom on its reader. Contributions from Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Orville Wright, Alfred Hitchcock, Marie Curie and Indi...

An artist's solitude is a sacred space, one to be guarded and kept apart from the chaos of the world. This isolation allows for uninhibited wandering, uninterrupted meditation and the nurturing of sparks of inspiration into fires of creation. But in the artist's quiet there is also loneliness, se...

"This is an indispensable handbook for anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the process of writing a novel or short story. Rather than prescribing restrictive templates or formulae, Sarah Burton and Jem Poster draw on their extensive experience as both successful writers and expert t...

A rich, immersive, funny and heartbreaking memoir of the charming bookseller who runs two tiny bookshops in the remote village of Manapouri in Fiordland, in the deep south of New Zealand. Ruth Shaw weaves together stories of the characters who visit her bookshops, musings about favourite books, a...

Something extraordinary happened to the UK literary scene in the 1980s. In the space of eight years, a generation of young British writers took the literary novel into new realms of setting, subject matter and style, challenging - and almost eclipsing - the Establishment writers of the 1950s. It ...

Joseph Johnson became a bookseller and a maker of books in an age when books appeared to have the potential to change the world. Between 1760 and 1809, the years of Johnson's adulthood, Britain experienced a period of political, social, scientific, cultural, religious and scientific change during...

This book tells the story of our greatest invention. Or, it almost does. Almost, because while the story has a beginning a" in fact, it has many beginnings, not only in Mesopotamia, 3,100 years before the birth of Christ, but also in China, Egypt and Central America a" and it certainly has a midd...

In 2020, Claire Luchette in O, The Oprah Magazine described the beloved Italian novelist, Elena Ferrante, as 'an oracle among authors'. Here, in these four crisp essays, Ferrante offers a rare look at the origins of her literary powers. She writes about her influences, her struggles and her forma...

An invaluable resource and reference book for aspiring writers, illustrators, editors and designers, Inside Story is also a fabulous showcase of the richness and diversity of contemporary Australian children's books and will appeal to anyone interested in the sector. Packed with tips, advice and ...

As she approached the age of 70, Ruth Wilson began to have recurring dreams about losing her voice. Unable to dismiss her feelings of unexplainable sadness, she made the radical decision to retreat from her conventional life with her husband to a small sunshine-yellow cottage in the Southern High...

It turns out that the life stories of many famous people start out with a particular book that inspired them when young. Here, Martin Cohen explores the lives of some remarkable people - inventors, scientists, business gurus and political leaders - and the books that have challenged, inspired, an...