19 h. ago Sarah Jessica Parker meets Queen Camilla at Clarence House reception for Children's Booker Prize

The Queen was full of compliments for Hollywood legend Sarah Jessica Parker as she welcomed her to Clarence House .

Politics

20 h. ago ‘It’s notoriously hard to write about sex’: David Szalay on Flesh, his astounding Booker prize

The novel’s protagonist is violent, libidinous and so inarticulate he says ‘OK’ some 500 times. So how did the author turn his story into a tragic masterpiece?When we meet the morning after the announcement of this year’s Booker prize, David Szalay, the winner, seems an extremely genial and gentle author to have created one of the most morally ambiguous characters in recent contemporary fiction. His sixth novel, Flesh, about the rise and fall of a Hungarian immigrant to the UK, is unlike anything you have read before.Szalay (pronounced “Sol-oy”) is often described as “Hungarian-British”, but that has offended Canadians this morning, he says. His mother was Canadian and he was born in that country, where his Hungarian father had moved a few years earlier. “I’m arguably more Canadian than Hungarian.” Now 51, he grew up in England, graduated from Oxford University, and lived in Hungary for 15 years. To make things more confusing, he is over from Vienna, where he now lives with his wife...

Politics

27 h. ago I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! 2025 favourite to win revealed as bookies hedge their bets

This year's series of the much-loved ITV show, hosted by Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly , is set to hit our screens this Sunday (16 November).

Politics

28 h. ago One of my favourite books of the year just won the Booker Prize – and it’s 22% off on Amazon

Judge Sarah Jessica Parker described whittling down the list as “real agony”

Politics

40 h. ago David Szalay’s Flesh is the most deserved Booker Prize winner in years

The British-Hungarian author’s triumph caps off what has already been a wonderful year for the UK’s most prestigious award for fiction, writes Martin Chilton

Politics

40 h. ago David Szalay wins Booker prize with ‘extraordinary and singular’ novel Flesh

The British-Hungarian author’s novel exploring modern masculinity was chosen unanimously as this year’s winner, says judging chair Roddy Doyle

Culture

40 h. ago The risky strategy of Booker winner Flesh pays off | Justine Jordan

The protagonist’s inner life is hidden from the reader in this highly original novelDavid Szalay wins 2025 Booker prize for ‘dark’ FleshReflecting on the Booker judging process, chair Roddy Doyle stressed the “singularity” of Flesh, the most unusual novel on the shortlist. In his sixth book, Hungarian-British writer David Szalay takes a classic story arc – one man’s journey through life, from childhood to old age – and presents it in a radically new and challenging way, scooping out the interiority that usually powers the novel form.We meet his protagonist, István, as a bored 15-year-old in a Hungarian backwater. He is seduced by a middle-aged neighbour into a relationship suffused with shame and disgust; a confused act of violence knocks his life off course; he joins the military and is stationed in Kuwait; he moves to London and works as a bouncer before the rising tides of global capital carry him, for a while, into the monied elite. And all the while, we are cut off from his tho...

Events

45 h. ago The early favourites to appear in The Celebrity Traitors series two as bookies give their verdicts on the stars the BBC will be desperate to lock in

Fans of the reality show were left jumping for joy when it was revealed that Alan Carr, 49, was crowned winner of the first ever season last week.

Culture

47 h. ago Next Leeds Manager Odds: Marco Rose tipped as bookies favourite to replace Daniel Farke

Daniel Farke continues to have his future in doubt at Elland Road with links to a former Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig coach the favourite to replace him

Politics

48 h. ago Andrew Miller is bookies’ favourite to win 2025 Booker prize

The Land in Winter has shortest odds of victory, ahead of Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and SunnyAndrew Miller is the bookmakers’ favourite to win the 2025 Booker prize, which will be announced on Monday evening in London.The English author tops the William Hill odds at 6/4 for The Land in Winter, a novel set in 1960s England which follows two marriages struggling under the weight of postwar class divisions, professional dislocation and emotional estrangement. Miller was previously shortlisted for the Booker in 2001 for his novel Oxygen. Continue reading...

Politics

54 h. ago Two authors named as favourites to win 2025 Booker Prize for fiction

British novelist Andrew Miller and Indian author Kiran Desai are the favourites to win the award at a ceremony in London on Monday

Culture

56 h. ago Andrew Miller and Kiran Desai are favorites to win the Booker Prize for fiction

British novelist Andrew Miller and Indian author Kiran Desai are the favorites to win the Booker Prize for fiction at a ceremony in London

Politics

3 d. ago BBC Strictly Come Dancing star dealt crushing news hours before live show

EXCLUSIVE: The professional dancer and the actress are the bookies' favourites to exit the competition yet again

Economics

9 d. ago Wilfried Nancy thrives on do or die night as hot Celtic manager name on brink of changing his own timeline

The 47-year-old is among the bookies' favourites and is reportedly on the list to permanently replace Brendan Rodgers

Events

9 d. ago I'm an author — these five books are so good I recommend them to everyone

Alix E. Harrow, author of Starling House, The Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Everlasting, has shared some of her top book recommendations for book lovers

Culture

1 week ago From (finally) being given the Booker prize to the day her partner died: an exclusive extract from Margaret Atwood’s new memoir

The novelist reflects on being struck by loss in the middle of a press tour• ‘World power is shifting It is the scariest of times.’ Read an interview with Margaret AtwoodSome years ago, I was asked to make a stunt appearance on a comedy show. The host, Rick Mercer, was doing a series in which people well known for one kind of accomplishment, such as writing, astonished viewers by doing something different and entirely unrelated, such as rolling a joint.“I want you to be a hockey goalie,” Rick said. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago ‘It is the scariest of times’: Margaret Atwood on defying Trump, banned books – and her score

At 86, she’s a literary seer and saint – and queen of the Canadian resistance. So what does the writer make of our dystopian world?• ‘From (finally) being given the Booker prize to the day her partner died’: an exclusive extract from Margaret Atwood’s memoirMargaret Atwood is doing her grocery shopping in her local supermarket in Toronto, and it is taking longer than usual. This is not because The Handmaid’s Tale author turns 86 this month, but because she is checking the provenance of every item before it goes in her trolley: California satsumas out; Canada spuds in. Atwood is a passionate environmentalist, but at the moment she is more worried about boycotting anything that comes from over the border in the US than air miles. “Elbows up!” she declares, taking a furious stance in the fruit and veg aisle.Back in her kitchen she shows me a YouTube skit of Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and comedian Mike Myers in the national hockey kit to explain the significance of “E...

Politics

1 week ago BBC Strictly Come Dancing star dealt crushing news hours before Halloween Week

Strictly Come Dancing star Balvinder Sopal is the bookmakers' favourite to be eliminated from the competition this weekend

Economics

1 week ago The best afternoon tea in London: Our favourites to book now

The best afternoon tea in London: Our favourites to book now  CN Traveller

Politics

1 week ago Strictly star facing 'the end of the road' as they are tipped for elimination

Bookmakers Ladbrokes have revealed the favourite to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing this weekend

Politics