Love & shadows

Words can be all-powerful, as these three couples discovered. They reveal the romantic and unusual ways books brought them together…

Don’t write what you know; write what you love. Writing my first novel, Lady MacBethad, was like the bursting of a pipe. The words gushed out of me, and the story flew onto the page with a kind of fre

Over my decades-long writing life, I’ve been a reader, judge and (sometimes) an organiser for many novel-writing competitions, including the Harry Bowling Prize, the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s

What questions should today’s writers and artists be asking? Responses from authors at the Hay Festival and the TLS

A hopeless romantic, Chloe believed every story should have a happy ever after

Do you spend more time watching Netflix than having passionate sex – and, if you do, should you be concerned? According to Ita O’Brien, author of a new book on the subject, when it comes to lasting happiness, there’s something much more important than sex: intimacy. Leah Hardy finds out more