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The Desmond Elliott Prize, the ?most prestigious award for first-time novelists? (Telegraph), has announced a diverse longlist of 10 ?astonishing? novels, which showcase the excellence of new British and Irish writing. Among the chosen ten is The Dynamite Room, an eerie, thrillingly exciting and piercingly sad d?but for actor and play-write, Jason Hewitt. Chair of judges and best-selling author, Chris Cleave said: ?British and Irish writing is in the best shape it?s been for many years. The strength of these ten astonishing novels proves that our home-grown talent is world class.? Please visit the site for more information.

Lewis Dartnell's survival guide for the end of the world, The Knowldege, has received some great coverage this weekend; The Times, The New York Times, Daily Mail and Esquire Magazine have all reviewed favourably. The Times said: "An extraordinary achievement. With lucidity and brevity, Dartnell explains the rudiments of a civilisation. It is a great read even if civilisation does not collapse. If it does, it will be the sacred text of the new world ? Dartnell that world?s first great prophet." You can also listen in to Alok Jha's interview with him for The Guardian, here.

Derek B. Miller?s Norwegian by Night has been shortlisted for the ?Adult Debut Fiction Book of the Year? category of the ABA Indies Choice, as well as the Strand Mystery Magazine Critics Award for best novel of the year: http://www.bookweb.org/news/voting-opens-2014-indies-choiceeb-white-read-aloud-awards http://www.wfsb.com/story/25006173/strand-magazine-critics-awards-nominees-announcedrl-stine-awarded-the-lifetime-achievement-award

BBC Radio Scotland will have a long interview on Sunday Morning with Lipika Pelham, author of The Unlikely Settler. Lipika will talk about her experience of living in Jerusalem, and play her favourite music. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03y3fbz Photograph: Karel Cudlin

"50 years ago to the day, a 20 year-old history, Arabic and medieval Spanish student at King's College, Cambridge, lit a rocket under the musical establishment, and he's spent the last half-century continuing to shock and awe, agitate and enlighten, entertain and energise audiences and performers all over the world - but mostly, and most importantly, in the UK ever since. It was on 5 March 1964 that John Eliot Gardiner conducted Monteverdi's Vespers in the Chapel of King's College, and musical culture has never been the same since..." Read more from the Guardian report, here.

The shortlist for the Wellcome Book Prize 2014 has been announced by the chair of judges, poet Andrew Motion: Adam Rutherford, author of Creation: The Origin of Life/The Future of Life, will be competing against Elizabeth Gilbert, Emily Mayhew, Oliver Sacks, Andrew Solomon and Sarah Wise for this year?s Prize, which will be presented at a ceremony at Wellcome Collection on 29th April. The shortlist was decided by a panel of judges comprising author Lisa Appignanesi, journalist Hadley Freeman, scientist and TV presenter Michael Mosley, former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion (chair), and novelist and Head of Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre James Runcie. The Wellcome Book Prize, which was relaunched in November to celebrate its fifth anniversary, will award ?30 000 (an increase from ?25 000) to the best book of fiction or non-fiction from 2013 which leads on a medical theme.

Ever wondered what would happen to your body in Mars? In a recent article for Wired Magazine, Kevin Fong explores the strange, deadly effects a life on Mars would have on the human body: "Deprived of the need to work against the force of gravity, the body becomes deconditioned ? taking athletes and turning them into couch potatoes." His current book, Extremes: Life, Death and the Limits of the Human Body, is being serialised in the Atlantic and he was interviewed, recently, by NPR.

Tune in to BBC Radio 3, next Saturday 15th Feb, at 21:30, to hear novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo's radio drama, 'Dostoevsky and the Chickens', in which convicts read Dostoevsky and dream of life beyond the prison chicken plant. Set on a purpose-built island in the Pacific Ocean in a vast poultry processing plant, staffed entirely by prisoners, a teenage couple, Zhuang and Niue, meet in secret and read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment together. Zhuang dreams about the possibility of bringing about a new social order, while Niue has quieter ambitions to become a mother and earn a living from her talent for singing. When the Mainland is hit by a highly virulent strain of bird flu, suspicion falls on chicken meat from the island's processing plant. The chicken factory island and its workers are put into enforced quarantine, surrounded by soldiers and left to their fate. But Zhuang is determined that the workers should be masters of their own destinies. Xiaolu Guo was named one of Granta's Best British Novelists in 2013. She studied at the Beijing Film Acadamy and received her MA from the National Film School in London. She has published seven novels in both English and Chinese. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She directed the award-winning films 'She', 'A Chinese' and 'Once Upon A Time Proletarian'. Her new novel, I Am China, will be published this year by Chatto & Windus.

Tune in to BBC Radio 4 next Wednesday at 21.00 to hear Alex Bellos take you on a mathematical learning journey from the first stages of number recognition, through to an understanding of how children solve sums and calculate answers. On the way he will look at the neuroscience of maths and how our mathematical brain develops. He will also investigate the scientific evidence behind teaching maths and compare how modern methods of teaching children differ from those taught to their parents, helping kids today go beyond basic numeracy to develop a passion for numbers.

Creation, Adam Rutherford's extraordinary, flip-back book on the origins, and future, of life in genetics, has been picked as one of Nick Lezard's Paperbacks of the Week, for the Guardian: ? Dr Adam Rutherford (as he is at pains to point out, no relation to Ernest) is one of the best explicators of any science that I have read ? in a field of good explicators, which is increasingly crowded. So even if you don't have a thing for biology, you will still find this entertaining; you will also find it informative and perhaps, ultimately, scary.? Click here for the full review.

'Blurred Lines', a play about gender politics created by Carrie Cracknell and Faber's Nick Payne, and inspired by Kat Banyard's book, The Equality Illusion, is currently showing at The Shed at The National Theatre and getting fantastic reviews: 'Explosive. Terrific. A superb all-female cast.' Guardian **** 'A funny and visceral exploration of sexuality, gender (in)equality.' Time Out **** 'The writing is witty, the direction elegant, the performance sharply observed.' Telegraph **** 'Thought-provoking. Sharp and challenging new theatre.' Independent **** 'A spirited 69-minute blast.' Observer **** 'Book your tickets now.' Stylist You can buy tickets here. And read about how Kat's book inspired the play here and here.

On Mon 3 Feb 2014, Xiaolu Guo - poet, film-maker and author of the soon to published I Am China - will take part in a panel discussion at an evening to celebrate the launch of a special edition of Guernica magazine focused on free expression, produced in collaboration with Free Word, in association with ARTICLE 19 and English PEN. In the form of essays, interviews, poetry and fiction, the magazine features contributions from leading writers exploring some of the cornerstone questions of free expression today: What does free expression mean in societies who have suffered atrocities? How can this freedom fall under imperial control? How can it be fought for through civil disobedience? What does it mean to safeguard free expression for those we revile? And who guards this freedom online in a fractured and conglomerated internet? To celebrate the launch of this edition, we?ll be addressing some of these questions in a panel discussion at Free Word Centre. Hosted by Kamila Shamsie, the panel includes Guernica?s Editor Michael Archer, novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo, and writer Mirza Waheed, one of the contributors to the issue. This event is by invitation only, but if you?d like to find out more or to attend, please contact: lauren@freewordcentre.com

Norwich Castle, one of the key settings in Elly Griffith?s latest novel, The Outcast Dead, will host the book-launch, in it's keep, on the 5th February. The latest in her Norfolk-based series featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway, was inspired by a tour of Lincoln Castle, a former prison like Norwich Castle. Griffiths says: ?One of the things I love most about Norfolk is its layers of history?I?m writing the next book now, that?s going to be about the abandoned RAF bases. Norfolk has got a few more stories left in it for me yet.? Tickets are ?10 and include ?5 off the book at the event. They can be bought at Jarrold in Norwich or at www.jarrold.co.uk

Publication day, and a flurry of brilliant reviews and coverage for Natalie Young's extraordinary d?but, Season to Taste: The Stylist's Best Books of 2014. Marie Claire?s ?The 2014 Dates To Put In Your Diary. Immediately.' Daily Mail: ?Young writes in a wonderfully detached, dry-as-a-bone style.? Irish Independent: ?It is a thriller in the truest sense. I swallowed it whole, eager and enthralled. The narrative is crisp and snappy, the dialogue sparse, the pace never skips a beat.? The Evening Standard: ?Season to Taste by Natalie Young (subtitled How to Eat Your Husband) comes out this month and is tipped as this year?s Fifty Shades-style literary sensation, destined to capture the imaginations of more unhappily married, fiftysomething women with a weekend penchant for light sadism (and, in this case, horticulture and cookery).' The Sunday Times: 'It tells the story of 53-year-old Lizzie Prain from Surrey, who kills her nasty husband of 30 years with a garden spade, chops him up and turns him into various internal-organ stews and testicle sausages. What EL James did for sales of handcuffs ? the idea goes ? so Natalie Young will do for freezer bags and E coli.?