Laughs in space

There are, of course, many ways to tell stories, and I’m sure most of you will be used to writing and/or reading short stories and novels alike. But let us not forget there is a middle ground – and I’

Novels, for me, have come from somewhere I wasn’t looking. In my twenties I was carrying an idea about a woman wandering around Ireland on a quest she didn’t understand and I sat in the Reading Room o

Set up by our very own columnist Helen Lederer, the Comedy Women in Print Awards champion the voices of women who tackle serious and heartfelt subjects with a generous dose of humour. Here, we talk to three of this year’s shortlisted authors...

We have wandered many months through this land of Building Blocks. It is time for a break. Learning is a weary trek. And writing is not all about learning. Writing is about, well, writing. The doing o

From colliding galaxies to supermassive black holes, we take a look at some of the strangest sights in the universe

A reactionary radical’s case against progress