Topic: Nadine Gordimer

Chapter & Verse J.K. Rowling, Hilary Mantel, and other British authors auction off annotated first editions

J.K. Rowling and other authors are selling first-edition copies of their books with annotations, written thoughts on the book, and/or illustrations to benefit the writers' organization English PEN.

Chapter & Verse Chinua Achebe is remembered as the 'father of modern African literature'

'Things Fall Apart' author Chinua Achebe wrote his first book in 1958 and won awards for his work that included the Man Booker International Prize.

3 of the best summer 2012 novels

Old crimes come back to haunt characters in three of the summer's best novels.

Keep Calm Good Reads: Politics of withdrawal, fossil fuels, and media freedom in South Africa

Herewith, a shout out to longer-form analysis stories about President Obama's security pact with Afghanistan, as well as stories on oil, developing countries, and media restriction in South Africa.

Sometimes There Is a Void

A messy memoir from an important African voice.

Leading Chinese dissident charged with 'inciting subversion'

The arrest of writer Liu Xiaobo fits a pattern of increasingly harsh measures against independent voices, human rights groups say.

Booker: 'The readers have spoken'

In literature, too, an Israeli-Palestinian split

Two first-time literary festivals – one Israeli, one Palestinian – coincided without a nod to the other, creating one more divide in a troubled land.