Libraries

This year, my detective Vera Stanhope turns 21. She first appeared in 1999 in a book called The Crow Trap, which was conceived while I walked miles round the Northumberland countryside with my husband, Tim. He had suffered a major psychotic episode and been hospitalised. Though he'd been allowed home, he was still very poorly and very restless. Walking was the best remedy. It was autumn.  Read more

Two great champions of reading for pleasure return to remind us that it really is an important thing to do - and that libraries create literate citizens

Words by Neil Gaiman and illustrations by Chris Riddell

Hemingway wrote in cafes, nursing a marc, and later at a stand-up desk surrounded by polydactyl cats. Melville used an upstairs study in Pittsfield with a view of Mt. Greylock, which in winter looks very much like a white whale. Virginia Woolf had a room of her own and Edith Wharton was said to write in bed.  Read more

Jessica Faulkner on a programme that opens doors to literacy, learning and a lifetime of opportunity.
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I have, in a grim week, some good news for you. Not just good, but clear, concise and practical news. It is the publication yesterday of some important recommendations which don't involve spending trillions the country hasn't got in the first place, and which will improve the lives and futures of a huge proportion of the population. Fast.  Read more