Literature
Perhaps a dying art, perhaps the highest of human achievements. Get reading with our expert views:
Arthur C Clarke: an appreciation
Much more than a sci-fi writer: Dave Rothery pays tribute to Arthur C Clarke.
Of mice and men
Talking mice, epicurean delights and farming: What lays at the heart of Horace's carpe diem?
Oedipus adapted
The same story gets a different treatment to fit the times of the retelling, as shown by competing Oedipus myths.
Hearing women's lives
You can discover real lives of classical Greece in literature, but it takes a closer reading to find the real women.
Sharing the messages
How do the challenges facing us all shape media and arts in an interdependent world?
A year in reading: 2006
Selected to surprise, delight and entertain, sample some of our books for 2006.
A year in reading: 2005
Another twelve months' worth of escape and discovery with our books for 2005.
A year in reading: 2004
Twelve months, twelve great reads: Revisit the Big Read and our books for 2004.
Starting with Julian Barnes
How does a writer take a blank sheet and set about making a novel? Find out in our Julian Barnes interview.
Writing home
Even your own family may become unfamiliar as you write about them. Find out why in our Hanif Kureishi interview.
Sanity in madness
The Vietnam war provided a fresh context for a Second World War novel. Germaine Greer opens Catch 22.
Byronic man
He could only have been a poet, couldn't he? Meet Byron, first of the international playboys.
Making monsters
Heartbreak, passion and the quest for respectability - it's a wonder Mary Shelley had as much time for writing as prolifically as she did. Follow the story of Shelley.
Modern romance
The Romantics gave us a new world vision, encompassing revolution and philosophy. Are we making the best of the legacy of the Romantics?
Reason and rhyme
A 'Dark Lady', sexual promiscuity, romantic triangles: Shakespearean life or the life of Shakespeare? The clues are in the Sonnets.
In modern dress?
Cross dressing, ghosts, racism and war - do the modern resonances in his work make Shakespeare our contemporary?
Shakespeare's key players
"All the world's a stage", Shakespeare wrote, but what of Shakespeare's private world? Come behind the curtain to meet Shakespeare's family.
The original lit hit
He was the first literary superstar - and although his popular reputation is built on them, Chaucer did much more than The Canterbury Tales.
Go create
Did you know your computer can enhance your creative skills? The worldwide web is a great source of inspiration. Learn five ways to get creative online.
Trying out loud
Trying out dialogue at the bus stop might get you odd looks but could improve your plays, suggests Mark Ravenhill.
Character witness
It's a constant struggle for his characters to stop from turning out with too much in common with Howard Jacobson.