Books features

Articles from BBC Arts on books, authors and reading.

Your ultimate guide to 2018's biggest books
Our round-up of the biggest titles for the Christmas season.
Booker binding: Unique handmade editions of shortlisted novels
Designer Bookbinders Fellow Angela James gives an insight into her creative process.
Radical writing: Was Angela Carter ahead of her time?
Authors including Margaret Atwood and Anne Enright discuss Angela Carter's radical writing
The English Patient voted best Man Booker novel of all time
The wartime love story by Michael Ondaatje came out on top in the Golden Booker.
The 17th-Century sci-fi trailblazer you’ve never heard of
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, wrote The Blazing World in 1666
How Dave Eggers' new book filters the American Dream through Yemeni coffee
His new book is about a young Muslim-American trying to jumpstart Yemen's coffee industry
Rebel with a cause: WB Yeats read by the stars
Ten poetry readings from Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Noel Gallagher and more.
Cover stories: Sleuths, spies, sorcerers and other paperback heroes
The classic paperback covers from detective fiction, fantasy epics and spy novels.
The Man Booker Prize 2017
From one of America’s greatest writers to an author who works part time in a bookshop.
Arundhati Roy: A Cause For Happiness
Outspoken, enigmatic, tantalising - what do we know about author Arundhati Roy?
Beyond A Clockwork Orange: Anthony Burgess at 100
Commemorating the literature and music of Anthony Burgess
Stranger than fiction: Five of the biggest literary scandals
From JT LeRoy to the Hitler Diaries - fakes that fooled the world.
From Brontë to Le Carré: The year in books
The best features on books and literature from 2016 on BBC Arts.
The Baillie Gifford Prize 2016: Real life writ large
Brian Morton explores the four non-fiction books on the shortlist.
Dirty books and literary freedom: The Lady Chatterley publisher who beat the censors
Jack Kahane used profits from 'light erotica' to publish Henry Miller and Anais Nin.
'I've been naughty for years': Maurice Girodias and the 'dirty books' that helped to modernise literature
Olympia Press published some of the most significant authors of the post-war era.
An extraordinary life: Michael Palin meets Jan Morris
The extraordinary life and career of author Jan Morris
In his own words: The memoirs of John le Carré
BBC Arts profiled the novelist in 2016 as his first non-fiction volume was published.
Playing favourites: How do you pick Scotland's best book?
Professor Willy Maley on picking the 30-strong longlist for Scotland's Favourite Book.
Novel ideas: Houses with great literary history
The National Trust properties that inspired some of our greatest authors.
The Secret Agent: Joseph Conrad's radical tale of terror
With a new BBC adaptation of Conrad's The Secret Agent, we take a deeper look at the book.
New York state of mind: Megan Bradbury's literary portrait of a city through its art
An interview with the author of Everyone is Watching.
Tech-free verse: How poet Lisa Luxx made the connection
Poet Lisa Luxx on her new book and a love/hate relationship with technology
31 Treats and a Marriage: Making comedy out of a crisis
Bidisha on writer Lynn Farley-Rose's late-blossoming talent
Frankenstein: Freak events that gave birth to a masterpiece
A visit to the source of Mary Shelley's novel sheds fresh light on her gripping tale.
The Great Book Giveaway
Author Ann Cleeves celebrates World Book Night
BAME and shame: How non-white writers are shunned by the books industry
Bidisha reports on the under-representation of writers of colour in UK publishing.
Weird, windswept and wonderful: Charlotte Brontë at 200
Biographer Claire Harman discusses the author's enduring appeal.
Kicking up a storm: Kate Tempest on her debut novel
The poet, performer and author discusses The Bricks that Built the Houses.
Seven Hanged: The book that started World War One
How did Seven Hanged, an obscure Russian novel, help to kickstart WW1?
The Nine Secrets of John le Carré
Fascinating facts about the author behind the BBC drama The Night Manager.
Poetic justice: How the world caught up with Stevie Smith
A retrospective look at the legacy of British poet Stevie Smith.
Shakespeare's Shylock: Victim or scoundrel?
Author Howard Jacobson analyses Shakespeare's depiction of Shylock.
From page-turners to primetime: The razor-sharp author behind new drama Apple Tree Yard
As a lavish adaptation hits screens, BBC Arts appraises Louise Doughty's writing.
The Outrun: Amy Liptrot on connecting with nature
Simon Richardson talks to author Amy Liptrot about her book, The Outrun.
The real deal: How William McIlvanney transformed Scottish fiction
An in-depth look at one of Scotland's greatest and most enigmatic writers
Book at Bedtime: A short guide to abridging, in 10 parts
Radio 4 producer Robin Brooks on the art of cutting novels down to size
Jeremy Hutchinson and the Lady Chatterley's Lover trial
The barrister discusses a pivotal moment in British legal and literary history.
Kazuo Ishiguro: The giant awakens
Mark Lawson looks back at the writing of Kazuo Ishiguro
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