Lost writers are at the heart of two novels that recall the late Roberto Bolaño in their language, wit, profundity and literary quests

The Chilean writer’s posthumous novellas may be the most autobiographical fiction he wrote, but the uninitiated should seek out his two masterworks first

Publishers report that coronavirus has boosted sales of long, classic novels. You reveal the great baggy monsters you’ve found the time to tackle

The Argentinian writer’s best novel yet follows a Japanese man investigating his country’s history of trauma and survival

From seeking how to stop being an ass to finding out where a month has gone missing, these stories are as weird as life

Author and critic Alex Preston recommends fiction for fans of modernism

The novelist on admiring Maggie Nelson and Rachel Kushner, and being irritated by William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury

The novelist on why Penelope Fitzgerald is underrated and the book that changed his mind about science fiction

Stories that appear to buy into hidden plots, from Franz Kafka to Thomas Pynchon, have an insistent appeal for readers looking to find out ‘what really happened’

Don’t be put off! Works by WG Sebald, Roberto Bolaño and Wallace Shawn and others can help us to see ourselves more clearly and understand life better

Producing a theatrical version of Bolaño’s 900-page novel, with its large cast and extreme variations in tone, was a terrifying prospect for director Robert Falls. One five-hour play later, he explains the irresistible call of Bolaño’s epic work

As Shakespeare is outed as a potential pothead and before September’s release of stoner movie American Ultra, here’s a tally of tokers from Withnail and I to Caddyshack