There is a great deal to look forward to this year, and hopefully not that much to dread

Andy Friend provides a readable account of Nash’s life, but omits important detail about how the artist made others feel

Bringing back the Net Book Agreement would be a good start for badly-paid authors

Put down the pandemic novels: Here’s my favourite fiction of 2020

George Orwell has a gift for the unusual and the memorable that means that even his half-forgotten novels are well worth discovering once again

A BDSM book by a group keen to challenge gender norms is oddly conventional

Highsmith was a great writer, with a moral vision bracing enough to clarify the terrors of the twentieth century

Davey’s selection has given us a deeper understanding of the value and practice of drawing

At times Portrait of a Muse feels like a Julian Fellowes soap opera where we see this woman of extraordinary vivacity making great men go weak at the knees

Jeremy Black recommends an array of crime fiction novels, both modern and classic, to keep you entertained in January