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Hanya Yanagihara’s second novel A Little Life, released ten years ago, has become a contemporary classic – with notoriety and acclaim boosting its profile in equal measure.

She died before she was 40, leaving behind a body of blazingly original short fiction set in America’s segregated south. But her reputation has been tarnished by accusations of racism

Behind many symbols of quintessentially British culture – from Picture Post to Pevsner’s guides – were refugees who fled Europe in the 1930s and 40s

Erotic novel ‘Daddy’s Little Toy’ has been accused of ‘featuring paedophilia’, while the author has called the outcry a ‘big misunderstanding’

Fiona Larkin’s poem uses Finnish grammar to explore her feelings about her son’s move from the UK to Brisbane

Awarded to writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama, 2025’s recipients include novelist Sigrid Nunez, playwright Roy Williams and poet Anthony V Capildeo

The Bible in Chinese, dated 1815-1822, had been given to Oxfam’s Chelmsford bookshop in Essex

What can Indian and Pakistani press archives, government records and memoirs tell us about the Middle East of the 1920s and ’30s, when Britain’s empire was in its twilight years? What did the dissolution of the Ottoman empire, the movement for Egyptian independence, or the crisis in British Mandate Palestine…

As expected, this six-part series is full of mystery, family drama and rich people hiding secrets. But it’s also surprisingly nuanced, thanks to its A-game performances