Shock ending: how the Costa book awards changed reading – and pitted husband against wife
After 50 years, the prize has been scrapped. How did it change Britain’s literary landscape? And what happened at the awards when Margaret Drabble was seated next to Theresa May?
November 2021
Book of the day
The Young HG Wells review – the shape of things to come
Claire Tomalin’s restrained biography of the prolific writer and philanderer’s early years lets readers reach their own verdict on his life and deeds
December 2019
Books that made me
Thomas Keneally: ‘Does anyone write a good book at 83? Well, I think I have’
The Australian novelist on crying over a Dickens biography, laughing at Kathy Lette and the classic he is ashamed not to have read
February 2019
Charles Dickens was a ruthless Victorian husband. Like my great-grandfather
Ian Jack
My ancestor wanted to have his wife declared mad and locked up. Unlike the great writer, he succeeded
July 2018
In brief: Turning the Tide on Plastic; A Long Island Story; A Life of My Own – reviews
Lucy Siegle tackles our plastic habit, a McCarthy-era novel lacks pace, while biographer Claire Tomalin tells her own engrossing story
December 2017
Best books of 2017
Tim Adams’s best biographies of 2017
From rock’n’roll to Anthony Powell via a crop of memoirs, there’s something for everyone in the year’s life studies
September 2017
Critical eye
Reviews roundup: A Legacy of Spies; A Life of My Own; and Autumn
What the critics thought of John le Carré’s A Legacy of Spies, Claire Tomalin’s A Life of My Own and Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Book of the day
A Life of My Own by Claire Tomalin review – this time, it’s personal
One of the greatest biographers of our age finally shines the spotlight on herself in this moving and beautifully written memoir
A Life of My Own by Claire Tomalin – tragedy and sex in literary London
The biographer writes memorably about a difficult marriage and deaths in her family, but is maddeningly discreet about most of her affairs
February 2015
The week in books
Should biographers be on first-name terms with their subjects?
Robert Crawford’s use of ‘Tom’ in his new biography of TS Eliot has raised eyebrows – but he is not the first author to get so familiar. Here are 10 distinguished precedents. By John Dugdale
February 2014
On my radar
On my radar: Claire Tomalin's cultural highlights
The award-winning biographer talks to Leah Harper about Zadie Smith, the superior pleasures of radio, and a treat to come at the National
The Invisible Woman – review | Mark Kermode
Felicity Jones mesmerises as a young actor whose affair with Charles Dickens is depicted in Ralph Fiennes's adaptation of Claire Tomalin's book, writes Mark Kermode
The Invisible Woman – review
Ralph Fiennes shows his directorial skills with this adaptation of Claire Tomalin's biography of Charles Dickens' secret lover, writes Peter Bradshaw
January 2014
How I persuaded Ralph Fiennes to play Charles Dickens
Playwright Abi Morgan: 'Mistresses can have great power'
November 2013
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe – review
Nina Stibbe's fascinating letters from the heart of 80s literary London entertain Kate Kellaway
September 2013
Ralph Fiennes: Charles Dickens 'absolutely had a child' with Nelly Ternan
Speaking after the Toronto film festival premiere of The Invisible Woman, actor/director says evidence strongly suggests Dickens's affair bore offspring, and reveals his own complex relationship with the writer
August 2013
Greenslade
Calling young political journalists - try for £25,000 Anthony Howard bursary
Winner will serve three internships at Times, Observer and New Statesman
December 2012
2012 in review
Review Christmas quiz 2012
Who worked all day, and got half-drunk at night? Identify Margaret Thatcher's fictional appearances. And in whose memoir does a chapter titled 'Cocainus' appear? Try our fiendish literary quiz
November 2012
2012 in review
Books of the year 2012: authors choose their favourites
From a meditation on walking Britain's ancient paths to an epic American novel, from reportage on life in a Mumbai slum to a blockbuster biography of LBJ ... writers choose their books of the year
