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From the Londoner whose first book sold for a whopping seven figures to the food writer being compared to Nora Ephron, Francesca Brown compiles the year’s most hyped new writers ten literary names to know now

Authors and Observer critics choose the books they will be giving as gifts this year – and the one they’d like to find in their own stocking

The out of offices are flying in, the mercury is rising and the luggage queues at Heathrow are now stretching the 19-ish miles into central London. Which can only mean one thing: it is officially pool loungers and rosé-at-10am-cos-why-not season. But sunny holidays aren’t an excuse to let your brain…

Collection edited by Andrew McMillan and Mary Jean Chan ‘questions and redefines’ the meaning of its title

Writers are taking spooky books to places they’ve never gone before

The American author on how his own experience of psychedelic therapy sparked his debut novel, and his poems about the opioid epidemic

The Vietnamese-American poet on the legacy of war, navigating grief — and turning invisibility into a superpower

There’s more to a great talon salon than a pretty set of nails, says Susie Lau. It’s a heart-warming microcosm of the best of human nature

The Vietnamese-American poet’s second collection, written in the aftermath of his mother’s death, illustrates what it means to be out of control