American law professor Marc Falkoff collected 21 verses by 17 inmates detained at Guantánamo — among them, prolific Pakistani poet Shaikh Abdurraheem Muslim Dost, who etched verses into styrofoam cups.

Rambunctious British singer Lily Allen joins the jury for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Turkish publisher Erol Karaaslan faces prosecution after readers of The God Delusion were offended by the atheist claims made by scientist Richard Dawkins.

The troubled New Republic magazine sought unsuccessfully to verify stories recounted by the Baghdad Diarist, the alias for US Army private Scott Thomas Beauchamp. Editor Franklin Foer recounts the entire saga.

With a high-profile divorce from fourth wife Padma Lakshmi — a model, cookbook author, and Top Chef host — Salman Rushdie is back in the gossip columns.

Studies confirm that Americans are reading less; an author speculates about what the US will look like with a less literate public.

Nobel Prize-winning author J.M. Coetzee, a key chronicler of South Africa's turmoil, has become an Australian citizen. With a new novel by the famously reticent author on the shelves, critics are questioning the move.

A manuscript by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling containing five handwritten tales beat pre-auction estimates 40-times over.

The dead language that never seems to die, Latin is becoming popular again.

A "track-changes" view exposes how Gordon Lish's extreme makeover transformed Raymond Carver's "Beginners" into "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love."

No word yet on whether they'll be titled How I Did It.

From his home in Sri Lanka, surprisingly sharp science-fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke reflects on technology, climate change, and waiting for aliens.

Blogs may be the minor leagues for writers, but turning a blog into a book still seems to be a way to make money.

Critic Pierre Bayard's book about discussing books that you haven't read (but should have) inspires critics to review his book without reading it.