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The launch of Elly Griffith's new website coincides with the recent publication of the eighth book in the Dr Ruth Galloway Mystery series, The Woman in Blue, and offers readers information about events, book releases, and reviews.

This week sees the publication of violinist Edward Dusinberre?s brilliant book on Beethoven and quartet playing, Beethoven for a Later Age. Hear him talk about it on Monday?s Start the Week.

Marina Benjamin, whose forthcoming book on middle age The Middlepause: On Turning 50 is published by Scribe in May, has just written this brilliant piece on gambling for Aeon magazine.

In this Faber podcast to mark the publication of his new book, Beethoven for a Later Age: The Journey of a String Quartet, Edward Dusinberre gives us a glimpse of his life in the world-renowned Tak?cs Quartet and introduces us to the story behind Beethoven?s masterpieces ? their technical difficulties, their significance for performers and audiences around the world, as well as what they signify for him personally. Edward Dusinberre is first violinist of the Tak?cs Quartet. Performances of Beethoven have shaped their work together for over forty years. Using the history of both the Tak?cs Quartet and the Beethoven quartets as the backbone to his story, Dusinberre recounts the exhilarating challenge of tackling these pieces. In an accessible style, suitable for novices and chamber music enthusiasts alike, Dusinberre illuminates the variety and inherent contradictions of Beethoven?s quartets, composed against the turbulent backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath, and shows that engaging with this radical music continues to be as invigorating now as it was for its first performers and audiences. https://soundcloud.com/faberbooks/beethoven-for-a-later-age

Sunjeev Sahota has been selected as one of twelve authors who have made the longlist for International Dylan Thomas Award, for his second novel, the Man Booker-shortlisted The Year of the Runaways. The prestigious prize is sponsored by Swansea University, and will be awarded to the best eligible published literary work in English, written by an author aged 39 or under. Judges for this year include Phyllida Lloyd CBE and Professor Owen Shears. Dai Smith, chair of the judging panel, said: "Wow! The longlist exceeds all expectation in its range of genres and the breathtaking quality of the writing. At this stage the only certainty now is that the Judges will end up with an exceptionally strong short list of six stunningly gifted authors.? The shortlist will be announced in March, and the winner will be unveiled at a gala ceremony in Swansea University's Great Hall on International Dylan Thomas Day, 14th May 2016. http://www.swansea.ac.uk/dylan-thomas-prize/

Lucy Hawking is devoted to her mission of making science more accessible for girls ? but even she had a difficult start. In this interview with Vogue India, Lucy talks about the experiences of women working in science, and how writing the George series unites her love for science with her love for literature. http://www.vogue.in/content/what-is-it-like-to-be-stephen-hawkings-daughter/

Amongst other more post-festive health features in this episode, Gabriel Weston meets a woman who has her sight restored for the first time in 16 years, thanks to a bionic eye. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04j9gny

Cameron McAllister's novel The Tin Snail, a delicious reimagining for children of the invention of the Citroen 2CV, is published in the States this month and has been picked by Amazon.com as one of their best books for January. Vive the Tin Snail!

Rob Penn's brilliant book about the Ash tree The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees was serialised on Radio 4's 'Book of the Week' just before Christmas. Catch up here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06s8716

At nearly 98 years old, author Diana Athill has published a new volume of memoirs, detailing lovers, miscarriage and growing old. Jon Snow went to her retirement home yesterday to talk about Alive, Alive Oh! and her lifetime of breaking taboos. Catch-up here: http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up

When asked about the meaning of the late string quartets Beethoven famously remarked 'Oh those are not for you, they are for a later age.' Has that later age arrived? In a talk on the 7th Feb, illustrated by musical excerpts both recorded and live, the leader of the Tak?cs Quartet, Edward Dusinberre, will discuss the significance and challenge of these extraordinary pieces of music with editor-in-chief of Gramophone James Jolly. Presented in association with Gramophone and EFG International, more info here: http://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/events/2016/2/beethoven-for-a-later-age-edward-dusinberre-and-james-jolly

"Dear Data" by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec has been awarded the 2015 overall "Most Beautiful" winner of the the world's first global data visualization awards. The Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards, now in its fourth year, was founded in 2012 by world-renowned author and data visualizer David McCandless and Kantar's then creative director Aziz Cami and celebrates excellence and beauty in data visualizations, infographics and information design. Some background to the Awards: Data visualisation offers an enormous opportunity to the world of research and insight with its ability to bring information to life through the creative application of graphics, unlocking trends and insights in a way that can be instantly seen, not just understood. Since 2010 Kantar has partnered with David McCandless ? renowned as one of the pioneers of data visualisation. David has run numerous training workshops with our operating companies and acts as a consultant to promote the use of data visualisation in our outputs. In September 2011, Kantar creative director Aziz Cami and McCandless jointly conceived the ?Information is Beautiful ? inspired by Kantar? awards, named after McCandless? best-selling book and website. The award scheme is open to entrants from both inside and outside the consumer insight industry and features monthly on-line creative contests culminating in an annual overall awards presentation. Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec are leading lights in the growing field of information design, much sought after as speakers and exhibition contributors, both online and in the physical world. But they mark themselves out in two ways: a) they are women in what is a male-dominated field, and b) they have a preference for analogue, hand-drawn methods of communication over computer coding. Having met only twice in their lives at a conference, they decided they wanted to get to know each other better, both professionally and as friends. To that end they came up with the brilliant project, Dear Data. Over a year, they would send each other a weekly postcard on which they drew the data they had collected about their lives over the previous week. The ways in which the project developed surprised even them. As they experimented with different types of drawing, to convey to each other ? through data visualisation ? the detail of their daily lives, they started to dwell upon those details more carefully, to slow down, to notice, and to enrich their friendship. The result is a series of stunningly beautiful postcards that tell a story of creativity and friendship. Having launched the project online to huge success, they are now making it into a book that will inspire people in numerous ways: to draw (even if you don?t think of yourself as an artist), to slow down and appreciate the small details of your life, and to make connections with other people.

The play adaptation of Lewis Dartnell's apocalyptic survival guide, The Knowledge, premi?red in Munich this weekend. Follow this link to see photos of the production, and this link for the website.

Michel Faber has won the 2015 Saltire Book of the Year award for The Book of Strange New Things (Canongate). Faber was selected from six book category winners of the Saltire Society Literary Awards, the strength of which was described as "testament to the quality and scope of Scotland?s rich literary scene", featuring writers such as Fiona Rintoul, Peter Geoghegan and Helen McClory. Faber came top of the Saltire Scottish Fiction Book of the Year category to win the overall award, fending off competition from a shortlist that included the latest works from 1995 Whitbread award winner Kate Atkinson, Julian Assange's ghost writer Andrew O?Hagan, a previous Saltire Book of Year winner Janice Galloway, Gaelic language writer Norma Nicleoid and Edinburgh writer Irvine Welsh. He collected both awards and an accompanying cash prize of ?8,000 at a special ceremony at the Central Hall in Edinburgh this evening (26th November 2014). A Dutch-born, Scotland-based writer, who was brought up in Australia, Faber is a past winner of the Saltire First Book of the Year award for his 2000 debut novel Under the Skin (Canongate), which was later adapted into the 2013 feature film starring Scarlett Johansson. Published by Canongate in October 2014, The Book of Strange New Things imagines a not-so-distant future where a global corporation is able to colonise a planet in a neighbouring galaxy. Its protagonist, Peter, is a Christian pastor sent to carry out missionary work amongst the native aliens on the planet ? a situation he becomes increasingly uneasy about, alienating him from his wife as the story progresses. It is described as ?a powerful examination of humanity and how a failure to communicate can gradually erode marital intimacy?. Faber said: ?When I emigrated from Australia to a remote part of Scotland in 1993, I never expected that it would be the beginning rather than the end of my literary career. I'm so moved and grateful that this honour has been bestowed on my work. You've made an alien feel very welcome.?