‘In drama, we are the creators. Like in a skeleton, the bones of drama only work together. The human context—the situation, the people and their relationships—are the flesh. The body is given shape and animated by the way we focus those basic elements, and how we place them in space and time. We breathe life into the body through the story and the tension we create, and we give it language and movement to express itself, clothing the drama with its mood and symbols.’In 198...

In any 24 hours there might be sleeping, eating, kids, parents, friends, lovers, work, school, travel, deadlines, emails, phone calls, Facebook, Twitter, the news, the TV, Playstation, music, movies, sport, responsibilities, passions, desires, dreams.Why should you stop what you're doing and read a book?Reading is not an innate human ability. Many people can't read. Many people would rather read a newspaper, a magazine, a blog, a cereal packet, than a novel.But peop...

Anyone we might marry could, of course, be a little bit wrong for us. We don’t expect bliss every day. The fault isn’t entirely our own; it has to do with the devilish truth that anyone we’re liable to meet is going to be rather wrong, in some fascinating way or another, because this is simply what all humans happen to be – including, sadly, ourselves.This collection of essays proposes that we don’t need perfection to be happy. So long as we enter our relationships in the right spi...

Unravel the mysteries of language with J.P. Davidson's remarkable Planet Word.'The way you speak is who you are and the tones of your voice and the tricks of your emailing and tweeting and letter-writing, can be recognised unmistakably in the minds of those who know and love you.' Stephen FryFrom feral children to fairy-tale princesses, secrets codes, invented languages - even a language that was eaten! - ...

Read Catherine Blyth's posts on the Penguin Blog.Reclaim the pleasures and possibilities of great conversation with this sparkling guide from the witty pen of an Englishwoman wise to its artEvery day we use cell phones and computers to communicate, but it's easy to forget that we possess a communication technology that has been in research and development for thousands of years. Catherine Blyth points out the sorry state of disrepair that c...

A fun yet provocative look at the importance of staying curious in an increasingly indifferent worldEveryone is born curious. But only some retain the habits of exploring, learning, and discovering as they grow older. Those who do so tend to be smarter, more creative, and more successful. But at the very moment when the rewards of curiosity have never been higher, it is misunderstood and undervalued, and increasingly monopolized by the cognitive elite. A "curiosity...

Carl Honoré captured the zeitgeist with his international bestseller, In Praise of Slow. Now he tackles another rising global movement: our revolutionary new approach to a human inevitability--ageing.A revolution in how we age is on its way. Yes, ageing is inevitable: one year from now we will all be a year older; that will never change. What can and will change is how we age--and how we can all take a much bolder approach to doing it with vigour ...

A fully updated comprehensive guide for improving and practicing your creative writing, including contributions from Ali Smith and Kit de WaalThe Creative Writing Coursebook, edited by Julia Bell and Paul Magrs, takes aspiring writers through three stages of essential practice: Gathering – getting started, learning how to keep notes, making observations and using memory; Shaping – looking at structure, point of view, chara...

This book is designed for people who are learning English as a foreign language and wish to improve their use of English connectives (conjunctions). Connectives are useful because they join clauses, phrases and sentences together, helping readers and listeners to understand writers and speakers.This book contains 101 connectives that are frequently used in English, arranged alphabetically. Each connective is provided with two examples of its use. The examples are provided as answer...

Do you have a compelling vision for a story set in the past? Are you inspired by novelists such as Alan Furst and Philippa Gregory? Get Started in Writing Historical Fiction is designed for anyone who wants to write in this exciting and wide-ranging genre of fiction, whatever your favorite style and era.Designed to build your confidence and help fire up creativity, this book is an essential guide to mastering the practicalities of writing historical fiction, showing you wh...

Mark Forsyth - author of the Sunday Times Number One bestseller The Etymologicon - reveals in this essay, specially commissioned for Independent Booksellers Week, the most valuable thing about a really good bookshop.Along the way he considers the wisdom of Donald Rumsfeld, naughty French photographs, why Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy would never have met online, and why only a bookshop can give you that precious thing - what you never knew you were...

Why do authors write? How do they go about it? What is good writing?In On Writing, Robert McCrum collects together his questions and reflections on the nature of writing from his Observer newspaper column. In them he explores the sometimes tricky relationship between writing and commerce, looks at the state of modern literature, and asks where great writing really comes from can it be taught, or is it borne out of author experience?A unique and informed view on writing and how it is affected...