Literature

A pile of books

How to write a historical novel and get it published: 9 tips from bestselling authors Alison Weir, Hilary Mantel and more

Historical book reviews

Want to know what to read next? The latest history books reviewed

(Illustration by Laurie Avon for BBC History Magazine)

37 books for history lovers: BBC History Magazine’s Books of the Year 2019

James Shapiro discusses Shakespeare and America. (Images by Dreamstime)

How William Shakespeare shaped America

Box cover of Encounters with Victoria by Lucy Worsley

The best historical audiobooks to listen to right now

James Shapiro discusses Shakespeare and America. (Images by Dreamstime)

Shakespeare and America

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet

Jane Austen’s tips for “health and happiness”

'The Poor Actress's Christmas Dinner', a painting by pre-Raphaelite artist Robert Braithwaite Martineau, says much about the way Victorians had begun to understand the problem of loneliness. (Photo by Bridgeman Art Library)

The invention of loneliness: why being ‘unhappy alone’ is a surprisingly modern idea

Photographs of Anne Frank and her father, Otto, with the typewriter

Censoring Anne Frank: how her famous diary has been edited through history

Historians have chosen their favourite historical novels.

9 of the best historical novels – as chosen by expert historians

A portrait of Thomas Cromwell

The Mirror & The Light book review: Hilary Mantel’s epic finale “lives up to the hype”

Writer Virginia Woolf photographed in 1932. (Photo by ullstein bild via Getty Images)

London’s trailblazing women

British writer Hilary Mantel photographed at home. (Photo by Lionel Derimais/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images)

Hilary Mantel on the secrets of successful historical fiction

Historian Peter Frankopan has been announced as the new chair of the Cundill History Prize.

“This is a golden age for history writing”: submissions open for $75k Cundill History Prize

'The Young Victoria' follows the early relationship of Victoria and her beloved Prince Albert. The monarch was played by Emily Blunt in the 2009 film. (Images by Bettmann/Getty Images/Alamy)

Leading ladies in love: 6 historical movies to watch this Valentine’s Day