The week in radio: Neil Gaiman’s Chivalry; Christmas Compass; The Nutcracker and more
Musical radio chairs, Neil Gaiman and a ‘best-smelling’ US housewife delivered wall-to-wall festive cheer
April 2017
On my radar
On my radar: Shirley Collins’s cultural highlights
The musician on finding consolation at her local churchyard, the brilliance of Stewart Lee, and why she’s currently drinking Breaky Bottom wine
July 2016
Best holiday reads 2016
From gripping fiction to history, brilliant poetry to biography, our guest contributors offer their recommendations for the beach and elsewhere
April 2016
Children's books
Freddie Mole, Lion Tamer by Alexander McCall Smith – review
agirlbee: ‘I liked this book more than the twinkling stars’
March 2016
Julia Eccleshare's choice
The best children’s picture books – Easter roundup 2016
Fiction for older children reviews – tales of gumption and cunning
January 2016
Breakfast of champions
Breakfast of champions: Alexander McCall Smith’s fried Marmite sandwiches
If you’re a Marmite-lover, you’ll be gagging to try this favourite of the Scottish novelist (cheese optional)
October 2015
Reader, I tweeted him – why mobile phones are not the enemy of storytelling
John Crace
Major authors sponsor new group to support free expression
July 2015
Best holiday reads 2015
Authors, critics and philosophers tell us which books they will be reading on the beach
March 2015
Wodehouse prize for comic fiction 2015 shortlist announced
Writers Alexander McCall Smith, Irvine Welsh, Caitlin Moran and Nina Stibbe among the six shortlisted for the 2015 award
November 2014
Love letters to libraries
Love letters to libraries: Alexander McCall Smith
Emma by Alexander McCall Smith review – exhausting and implausible
October 2014
Children's books
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith - review
Butterfly Rainbow: 'Ms. Ramotswe encounters lots of different cases in the book. Probably the funniest one is 'The Boyfriend' case'
August 2014
Eimear McBride, Alasdair Gray and a spy opera: day six at the Edinburgh book festival
Alexander McCall Smith: 'Friendship, loyalty, betrayal and a sense of horror'
April 2014
Books blog
English readers don't need independence from Scottish writers
With a few star exceptions, London publishers are wary of writing from Scotland. But good storytelling transcends nationality
February 2014
Top writers draw foxes - in pictures
To raise money for Great Ormond Street hospital – the readers' quarterly Slightly Foxed asked writers including Carol Ann Duffy and Kazuo Ishiguro to draw a fox. Here are some of the wily creatures they came up with …
December 2013
Children's books
Precious and the Mystery of the Missing Lion by Alexander McCall Smith - review
Lady Abigail: 'I like this book because although it is a fiction book it actually tells you facts too'
October 2013
Alexander McCall Smith to rewrite Jane Austen's Emma
Author of No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series joins Joanna Trollope, Val McDermid and Curtis Sittenfeld on project to rework Austen's oeuvre for a modern audience
