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Editor's picks
Zadie Smith  
I get in trouble when I talk about the state of the nation
I get in trouble when I talk about the state of the nation
What to read this autumn  
2023’s biggest new books
2023’s biggest new books
Sebastian Faulks  
The last remaining human species needn’t have been so violent and clever as we are
The last remaining human species needn’t have been so violent and clever as we are
The books of my life  
Bret Easton Ellis: ‘I connected with Quentin Tarantino’
Bret Easton Ellis: ‘I connected with Quentin Tarantino’
Interview  
Loren Grush on Nasa’s first female astronauts: ‘People thought they’d be a distraction to the men in space’
Loren Grush on Nasa’s first female astronauts: ‘People thought they’d be a distraction to the men in space’
Audiobook of the week  
Isaac and the Egg by Bobby Palmer review – quirky, tender tale with echoes of ET
Isaac and the Egg by Bobby Palmer review – quirky, tender tale with echoes of ET
Books of the week
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright review – the female gaze
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright review – the female gaze
A ferocious sendup of a self-satisfied Irish poet and a brilliantly honest portrait of the women he leaves behind
Eight Bears by Gloria Dickie review – the grizzly truth
From spectacled to moon to polar, Dickie captures the majesty of these enigmatic creatures and their struggle to survive
Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue review – exquisite imagining of Anne Lister’s first love
The Room author evokes a touching relationship between the lesbian diarist Anne Lister and her boarding school lover Eliza Raine
O Brother by John Niven review – a blistering memoir of sibling grief
Black humour mingles with vulnerability in the novelist and screenwriter’s moving account of his brother’s life and death
Nothing Ever Just Disappears review – fascinating journeys into LGBTQ+ courage
Diarmuid Hester’s travelogue celebrates the history of queer spaces in 20th century subculture, from Josephine Baker’s Paris to EM Forster’s Cambridge
Spotlight
Should we colonise other planets?
The big idea  
Should we colonise other planets?
Is Elon Musk’s vision for the future a libertarian fantasy or scientific imperative?
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Talking points and news
Alice Winn wins 2023 Waterstones debut fiction prize for In Memoriam
Alice Winn wins 2023 Waterstones debut fiction prize for In Memoriam
Novel described as ‘truly stunning feat of fiction’ tells love story of two first world war soldiers
Zadie Smith, Stephen King and Rachel Cusk’s pirated works used to train AI
Works by thousands of authors also including Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami and Jonathan Franzan fed into models run by firms including Meta and Bloomberg
Most parents want more time reading to young children, study shows
1,000-parent survey also found 33% lack the confidence to read to their child, despite not seeing the activity as a chore
From the archive
In the forest of the soul
Kenzaburo Oë  
In the forest of the soul

Kenzaburo Oë lost his father in the second world war and says the Japanese defeat is what made him a novelist. A cult figure, he wrote a cycle of books about his relationship with his autistic son, and won the Nobel prize for literature. Now 70, and a fierce critic of resurgent militarism, he will be in Hiroshima next month to mark the city's destruction 60 years ago.
In conversation with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Wednesday 6 September 2023, 8pm–9pm
Join the novelist for an online event to discuss Mama's Sleeping Scarf, her first book for children.
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