JOHANNESBURG- Four of the five writers shortlisted for this year's Caine Prize for African Writing are from Nigeria, a first for the prestigious award, organisers revealed Wednesday. The fifth...

BEIJING- A Chinese court ordered a controversial professor who claims descent from the ancient sage Confucius to apologise and pay a fine after a heated online row over poetry, local media reported...

VENICE- Venice removed a controversial white statue of a naked boy holding a frog by US sculptor Charles Ray from the entrance of the Grand Canal on Wednesday, sparking criticism from art lovers. The...

KYOTO, Japan, Harumi Ozawa- Bestselling author Haruki Murakami said Monday that writing a novel is like descending to a very dark second basement of your psyche, when you are not even sure where the...

TOKYO- Japanese author and keen runner Haruki Murakami sent a "personal message" to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and said he also felt wounded by the attack on his favourite race. "So,...

ROME- With Italy still mired in a long-running government crisis, a show honouring Renaissance politics genius Niccolo Machiavelli opened in Rome this week celebrating his enduring legacy. The...

ABU DHABI- Kuwaiti writer Saud al-Sanaussi has won the Arab version of the Man Booker Prize for a novel focusing on the situation of migrant workers in the Gulf. "The Bamboo Trunk" explores the...

VIENNA- Irish author John Banville is to be awarded the Austrian state prize for European literature in July, the government said Monday, praising the novelist's "unconventional" style. Banville "is...

LAGOS, Ben Simon- The future of Nigeria's rich theatre legacy, built over decades by artists including Africa's first Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka, may be found off stage. Theatre has been...