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The Bookseller •

'Magnificent' 2026 New Adult Book Prize shortlist represents range of genres

The shortlist was compiled by writer and bookseller Ross Kelly, author Busayo Matuluko, journalist Bella Green and prize chair Katie Fraser. Green said: "More than ever, young people are grappling with questions from how their personal relationships should manifest to what their futures will look like… Our wonderful shortlisted titles deal with these themes and more, with characters navigating everything from existential threat to situationships."
The Bookseller •

The Odyssey is an epic masterpiece – but what about the women?

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, an adaptation of Homer’s 3,000-year-old epic poem, is a triumph of action-adventure cinema, with thrilling battle scenes, stomach-churning body horror and an abundance of moral ambiguity, all set to a thunderous soundtrack. But when I emerged from a screening last weekend, I could not help feeling a twinge of disappointment at the film’s treatment of its female characters.

The early noughties was a golden age for mythology in cinema. Films like Gladiator (2000) and Troy (2004) were among the highest-grossing in their respective years, with cult classics like 300 (2006) also making an impact. In these films, women serve a largely subsidiary function to male protagonists – as dutiful wives, awaiting their husbands’ return; as hapless, floundering maidens, needing to be rescued; or as seductive temptresses, luring heroes away from their destinies.
The Bookseller •

Sceptre celebrates 40th anniversary with rooftop party

Hachette imprint Sceptre celebrated its 40-year anniversary with a party on the rooftop terrace at Carmelite House last night (Tuesday 30th June).

Authors in attendance included Booker Prize shortlistee Andrew Miller and Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer, alongside David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, David Nicholls, author of One Day and You Are Here, and Stacey Yu, whose debut novel Kitten publishes at the end of July.
The Bookseller •

The Other Bennet Sister – the return of quiet romance?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that film and television viewers are crying out for more Jane Austen adaptations.

It has been a memorable six months for on-screen versions of classic literature. The success of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, alongside the discourse surrounding the latest trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, has made it clear that public appetite for the classics shows no sign of waning.
The Bookseller •

Thea Lenarduzzi talks about her new book, The Tower, a journey into the nature of storytelling itself

It is a warm summer’s evening and Thea Lenarduzzi and I are sitting outside an independent cinema in Lewes. The Italian writer is talking about her upcoming book, The Tower, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in October, which relates her preoccupation with Annie – a tuberculous young woman said to have been confined to a tower in her family’s garden in the early 1900s, before she died there, alone. The Tower is an original, ever-shifting, ever-searching journey that probes the nature of storytelling itself, carefully treading the fine line between fact and fiction.
Bella Green •

The art of swimming

Twice a week, I go swimming at my local leisure centre. I am occasionally joined by a friend who lives the next tube stop over. We alternate between swimming lengths and trading gossip, crouched in the shallow end of the pool. Last time, prompted by the adult learners in lane one, she pointed out what a privilege it is to be able to swim. If you have been swimming your whole life, this probably isn’t something you think about, but she’s right. It is a privilege to feel safe in water, to exist in...
The Bookseller •

Arifa Akbar explores our sometimes complicated relationship with the nocturnal hours

For as long as she can remember, Arifa Akbar has had a complicated relationship with the night. It is apt, then, that she is chief theatre critic for the Guardian, a job that has flipped her days and nights. She spends most evenings in a dimly-lit auditorium, being regaled by London’s latest theatrical offering, before racing home to pen her review ahead of the morning deadline.
Bella Green •

Maggie O’Farrell, David Nicholls, and the Great Glass Elevator

This year, I decided that in order to feel a sense of accomplishment in my life, I need to commit to regular and controlled discomfort. It was one of my 25 goals for 2025, in fact: ‘Remind myself that it is vital to step outside of my comfort zone.’This has manifested in various ways, but most recently in me attending a number of literary events through work. People at publishing parties tend to get quite excited when I tell them I work at The Bookseller – less so once they realise I’m a lowly s...
Bella Green •

Intermezzo

The Oxford English Dictionary defines intermezzo as ‘a short connecting instrumental movement in an opera or other musical work’.On Chess.com, where I have spent more hours than I care to admit playing online games against strangers (read: AI bots), an intermezzo is ‘an unexpected move that poses a severe threat and forces an immediate response’, usually ‘in-between exchanges’.As a Latinist, when I first heard the title of Sally Rooney’s latest novel, my ears pricked up. The word is borrowed fro...
Bella Green •

Shifters

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to the Duke of York’s Theatre to watch Shifters with two of my fellow sub-editors at The Stage. We had booked the tickets a few weeks prior, and happily, in the interim, it received a glowing four stars from one of our reviewers. Beyond this endorsement, and the fact that Shifters is a romantic comedy produced by Idris Elba, I knew very little about it, so it was with excited anticipation that I joined the crowd of people in the West End awaiting their Tuesday night entertainment.
Bella Green •

A weekend in Dublin

I visited Ireland for the first time this summer. This is rather embarrassing for me to admit, since I have always been very forthcoming about my Irish heritage. Perhaps I thought I would feel a sense of catharsis when I finally landed in Dublin Airport, one night in late June. I didn’t feel this way exactly, but there was a profound sense of relief: Ireland was here and I was here and I could experience it. And I was there for the Eras Tour, of all things.
Palatinate •

Editors’ picks: profile

It is little wonder that the motif of summer and the unreliability of memory and perception has inspired a number of writers; the idea of relentless heat rolling on, day-by-day, while something sinister bubbles underneath the surface, is creative fuel. Over the course of these novels, characters blister and burn and are gradually brought to a boiling point under the summer sun. Best read on a warm August day, when the descriptions on their pages most easily spill out into reality.
Palatinate •

Nathaniel Barling: “Objectivity is an impossible pursuit”

Nathaniel Barling, who graduated from Durham in 2016, recently secured a place on Forbes’ 30 under 30 media list, alongside his fellow co-founders of Knowhere – an AI-driven news platform designed to strive towards objectivity above all else. It was an idea conjured up by Barling as an 18-year-old and nurtured during his time at Durham; A philosophy text on his first year reading list led to the name ‘Knowhere’, while the Bill Bryson library was the scene of its legal incorporation.
Palatinate •

Clare Cameron: “As a civil servant, you don’t have to agree with all government policy”

Clare Cameron graduated from University College Durham in 2002, where she studied History, and applied for the Civil Service fast stream in the following year. Two decades and twelve roles later, she holds the position of Director of Innovation for the Ministry of Defence. Palatinate spoke to Cameron about learning from mistakes, becoming a better ally, and the challenges of leadership in the coronavirus pandemic.
Palatinate •

Lee Elliot Major: “Social mobility is both a personal and professional passion”

Lee Elliot Major OBE is a Professor of Social Mobility at the University of Exeter, the first of his field in Britain – and possibly the world. In his published works, Major highlights class inequalities and their impact on young people’s education; Major’s most recent book, What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Social Mobility?, discusses the Covid-19 pandemic and how it is making social divides even more distinct. Palatinate spoke to Major about his own experience, t...
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