Neither ugly nor shy, Laura Dockrill is “loving life” and, if you’ll pardon the rhyme, it’s easy to see why. A headline act at this month’s Latitude festival, the young poet will this weekend launch her first novel and second book with a “magical afternoon of poetry, music and stories” at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, where she will be supported by her best friend, the singer Kate Nash.

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Is This What the Next-Gen iPod Will Look Like’

Short stories aim to woo the iPod generation

Puppets and fish will soon make room for some humans on Broadway.

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PLAYBILL.COM’S THEATRE WEEK IN REVIEW: Here, There & Everywhere

PLAYBILL.COM’S THEATRE WEEK IN REVIEW: Stealing Focus

Russian author Vasily Aksyonov, whose writing captured the essence of the Stalinist era but also forced him into years of exile, died Monday aged 76, his wife told AFP.

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Russian writer and Soviet dissident Aksyonov dies

Simin Daneshvar, Iranian Author and Translator, Dies at 90

A woman who worked with her cousin to steal the identities of 13 unsuspecting Library of Congress employees was sentenced Monday to two and a half years in prison.

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Library of Congress Agents Ask for Their Guns Back

Library of Congress Investigators Said to Get Guns Back, Restart Criminal Probes

Well known in Uganda for his poem, “The Rape of the Temple,” which was written to commemorate the first State siege of Uganda’s High Court by Black Mamba commandoes on December 16, 2005, Justice James Ogoola has recently published his first book of poetry, Songs of Paradise: A Harvest of Poetry and Verse now available in bookstores around Uganda.

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Uganda: Ogoola’s Harvest of Poetry

No winner of Urdd poetry contest

Book Review: Biography of Armando Guebuza, “A Passion for Land”. Author: Renato Matusse. Publisher: Macmillan Mozambique Publishers, 2006. Pgs 340.

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New artistic director of Maddermarket Theatre has passion for the stage

Botswana: Serema Rejects Freedom of Speech Accusations

Many American presidents have kept prized possessions within reach during their White House years. Franklin D. Roosevelt cherished a 19th century ship model of the U.S.S. Constitution. One of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s favorite gifts was an engraved Steuben glass bowl from his cabinet.

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Bush Says No to Library Lawsuit

Judge rules Bush can be deposed over library suit

Libertarians and free expression campaigners were jubilant last week. An obscenity case was due to be heard against Darryn Walker, a 35-year-old civil servant who had posted an essay on a website, titled Girls (scream) Aloud, imagining the sexual torture and mutilation of the each of the women who make up the pop group.

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Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Freedom of speech is fine until the invective is against you

March protest ‘freedom of speech’

Nigel Richardson follows in the footsteps of the bards along the best literary trails in Britain.

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Literary walks: William Blake

Literary walks: Daphne du Maurier

We’re perched in a coffee shop in central London waiting for the photographer, who has just phoned to say he is five minutes away. “Don’t you think we ought to buy something’” Wendy Perriam asks, glancing nervously towards the staff at the counter. “They might not like us taking up their seats and not buying anything.” It is a line that one of her characters could so easily have spoken. For the …

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Wendy Holden: Modern art is pants

Author attempts to retrace old cattle drove route