Category Joseph Conrad

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From Dylan Thomas’ shopping list to a note from Sylvia Plath’s doctor: newly uncovered case files reveal the hidden lives of famous writers

Exclusive: Hardship grant applications to the Royal Literary Fund, including unseen letters by Doris Lessing and a note from James Joyce saying that he ‘gets nothing in the way of royalties’, show authors at their most vulnerable

Tobacco, swiss roll, Irish whiskey, Guinness and monkey nuts: that’s the diet followed by one of the foremost poets of the 20th century.

Dylan Thomas’ grocery bill is among a trove of famous writers’ personal documents and letters – many of which are as yet unseen by the public, and have been exclusively shown to the Guardian – discovered in the case files of a literary charity.

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Gurnaik Johal: ‘I had no idea Zadie Smith was such a big deal!’

The author on a brilliant biography of Buster Keaton, coming round to Joseph Conrad, and marathon training with Karl Ove Knausgård

My earliest reading memory
I used to regularly reread my bright green copy of the Guinness Book of Records. I can still clearly picture the woman with the longest fingernails in the world.

My favourite book growing up
I loved the world-building in Michelle Paver’s Wolf Brother series. Its stone age setting was different to anything I knew, but so easy to imagine being a part of.

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