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Book containing early versions of the Merlin and Grail legends has remained in private hands for 700 years

Speaking at Hay festival as UK breaks May heat record, author says optimism is a ‘moral duty’

French campaigner was drugged by her ex-husband and sexually abused by dozens of men over almost a decade

Exclusive: New biography uncovers Frank Hawking’s papers in which he lamented that his son had ‘little initiative’

In its 26th year, the ABIAs also recognised Possum Magic’s Mem Fox for ‘outstanding service’ to the industry

The Rolling Stone will play a lighthouse keeper in Three Incestuous Sisters, joining a cast including Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley and Saoirse Ronan

What would Trump think of Gilgamesh? And why are 19th-century classics so popular among young people? Writers on why we need the novel more than ever

Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King, pulled off an ‘incredible double feat’ in succeeding as ‘both a romance and an incisive postcolonial novel’

Granta publisher says ‘perhaps we never will know’ true authorship of work that won Commonwealth prize