"More Dickens" competition (UK)

"To celebrate the bi-centenary of Charles Dickens' birth in 1812, the Dickens Fellowship and the English Association announce the More Dickens competition, to be first awarded in 2012. First prize of £500 will be awarded for an extended class project based on one of Dickens' works. The runner up will receive £250. The competition is open to classes of all ages in primary schools in the UK and can be completed at any time during 2011. Projects may link with regular literacy and numeracy work and include other areas of the curriculum, for example, art, geography, history, music, science. The judges will be looking for originality and lively outcomes, but are also very much interested in hearing about the teaching and learning processes that are part of everyday good practice"

2011 Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival (UK)

"The 2011 Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival runs from Saturday 2 to Sunday 10 April, and offers a wonderful range of talks, discussions, debates, readings, Literary Lunches and Dinners in the exceptional and beautiful surroundings of Christ Church and Corpus Christi and Merton Colleges - with many major events staged in The Sheldonian Theatre, The Bodleian Library and other prestigious venues.

The Festival reflects the great literary traditions of The University of Oxford, and its historic Colleges, as well as the contemporary reputation of its Departments and Institutes in every field of scholarship, research and enquiry.

Novelists, biographers, historians, poets, critics, politicians, soldiers, public servants, scientists, and medics will be joined by artists, philosophers, theologians, architects, engineers, botanists, environmentalists and children's writers.

The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival is widely acclaimed for its stimulating and provocative programme and the quality and fearlessness of its debates. This year we extend our series of major lectures and presentations at The Sheldonian Theatre, with World-class speakers, and have developed the Children's Festival under the direction of Nicolette Jones, Children's Editor of The Sunday Times.

But above all the unique feature of The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival is the warmth of the welcome for all who attend, and the opportunity for the general public to meet and mix with authors, writers and public figures, from breakfast in hallowed halls through lunch, tea or drinks in the Festival Marquee to nightcaps in bars, inns and hotels throughout the city"

Booker Prize Foundation to honour Beryl Bainbridge (UK)

"The late, much-loved novelist Dame Beryl Bainbridge was shortlisted five times for the Booker Prize, but never actually won. Despite many other literary accolades, the press's phrase - the 'Booker bridesmaid' - stuck. In her honour, the Booker Prize Foundation has created a special prize, The Man Booker Best of Beryl, and asks the public to consider which of her five shortlisted novels deserves the accolade. No author has ever been shortlisted as many times for the prize. Her shortlisted books were The Dressmaker (1973); The Bottle Factory Outing (1974); An Awfully Big Adventure (1990); Every Man for Himself (1996) and Master Georgie (1998) all of which are now published in paperback by Abacus"

Redwall author Brian Jacques dies aged 71 (UK)

"A former merchant sailor whose children's books sold millions worldwide has died aged 71. Brian Jacques' Redwall series of books were translated into 29 languages and sold 20m globally. He first wrote the series, set in an abbey populated by animals, for children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool. The Liverpool-born writer's weekly show, Jakestown, ran on BBC Radio Merseyside for more than 20 years. He died after a heart attack at the weekend and leaves a wife and two grown up sons"

Lightship Literary Competitions (UK)

"Lightship Publishing will publish literary fiction and poetry. To help fund our lists and discover new voices, we will run annual international writing contests: the Lightship International Short Story Prize, the Lightship International Poetry Prize, the Lightship International Flash Fiction Prize, and First Chapter. This is our inaugural year and we are absolutely thrilled to have writers, agents and editors of the highest calibre, Toby Litt, Kachi A. Ozumba, Jackie Kay, Tibor Fischer, Simon Trewin and Alessandro Gallenzi, as our respective judges in the 2010-2011 competitions. Experienced readers will assist the named judges in selecting the shortlists. Our named judges will select the winners"

Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2011 winner (UK)

"The winner of this year's Waterstone's Children's Book Prize is Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari. It is an insightful, honest novel exploring the delicate balance, and often injustice, of life and death - but at its heart is a celebration of friendship, culture - and life"

Derek Walcott wins TS Eliot poetry prize

Caribbean poet Derek Walcott has won this year's prestigious TS Eliot Prize for Poetry for his latest collection, White Egrets. Walcott, 81, was up against several other well-known poets including Simon Armitage and Seamus Heaney. Judges' chair Anne Stevenson said the judges had found it difficult to choose a winner. But they concluded White Egrets "was a moving, risk-taking and technically flawless book by a great poet." The collection includes two poems written to Barack Obama. Walcott wins £15,000, while his fellow nominees pick up cheques for £1,000 each