The Latest Breaking News from Iris Murdoch

A biography of the storied director brings revelations, Francesca Kay’s witty fourth novel recalls Iris Murdoch, and Don Paterson’s Dundee memoir is a gripping ride

Other lives: Author of comic novels and plays who later focused on singing for local blues bands and appearing in amateur dramatics

Quentin Falk writes: One of Paul Watson’s first big rows was with Iris Murdoch, his tutor at the Royal College of Art film school in the 60s

Authors, critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

His fifth novel, Prophet Song, about a tyrannical government won the 2023 Booker Prize.

Lynch’s fifth novel, about a young woman trying to make sense of a collapsing society, was announced as the winner of the prestigious literary award at a glittering ceremony in London

The ‘Birdsong’ author has struggled to shake off the ‘historical fiction’ label, but his latest novel, ‘The Seventh Son’, is set in a futuristic fertility clinic. He tells Claire Allfree about human evolution, his former life as the Indy’s first literary editor, and what he borrowed from Bond author Ian…

Wolfram Eilenberger’s group biography of Hannah Arendt, Simone de Beauvoir, Ayn Rand and Simone Weil illuminates how the horrors of the 1930s informed the philosophers’ worldviews – with the ‘saintly’ Weil the star of the show

Feminist philosopher Clare Carlisle illuminates George Elliot’s love life as well as the nightmarish marriages in her novels

From awarding Rami Malek’s all-teeth performance as Freddie Mercury to Julianne Moore winning Best Actress for the wrong movie, the Oscars have always inspired confusion and frustration. Ahead of this year’s Academy Awards, Adam White explores the most egregious mistakes in recent Oscar history

An incriminating note written on sheet music, a flirtatious musician, a pint of bitter … this intricate, sure-footed crime show’s farewell is even more accomplished than its predecessor