This week's update features the skeletons of victims of the Black Death, a First World War project that really builds up a picture of individuals serving during the war, and the best thrillers and crime writting by women.
* Skeletons unearthed in London Crossrail excavations are Black Death victims from the great pandemic of the 14th Century, forensic tests indicate. Their teeth contain DNA from the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis and their graves have been dated to 1348-50.
* Facilitator Jessica Haldeman discusses one of the aims of a session on Georgian Women, which drew parallels between the constructions of ideal femininity in this period and today.
* According to Reddit user Alxmog1, students at Xavier High School in New York wrote to their favorite authors as part of an assignment. Vonnegut was the only one to respond, and while he said he would not be able to make a visit, his inspiring letter made up for it with with wit and charm.
* Take a look at the lives of the First World War database. This ambitious idea, being led by the IWM, is one of the flagship projects of the centenary. It will allow users to build up a picture of those who served during the war from official sources and user-submitted information and pictures, contributing to a permanent digital memorial.
* Crime, thrillers, and mysteries are generally thought of as genres written by and for men, most likely because they’re so violent. You might think of the Stephen King novel you had to hide under the covers as a kid, or the James Patterson books that fly off the shelves at the airport, or the sadistic trilogies from Scandinavian authors whose names you inevitably pronounce incorrectly. But in fact, some research shows that female readers are more drawn to non-fiction crime books than male readers are. Elle Magazine take a look at the 10 best thrillers and crime writting by women.
* A recent lawsuit brought before the U.S. District Court in New York offers readers a glimpse into a battle raging behind the scenes in traditional publishing. The dispute, between authors and publishers, has been going on for several years and there are times it affects which titles you're able to get as e-books.
* Hope for greater book coverage dwindle as the BBC axe the Review Show, asked in last week's Radio Times if she would like to see more "programmes that cater for bookworms", Kirsty Wark replied: "I have to be diplomatic because there's going to be a big announcement about BBC Arts".
* Lisa Campbell Foyles' new flagship "bookshop for the 21st century" will open its doors in June with a three-week Grand Opening Festival. The Foyles flagship is moving to 107 Charing Cross Road from its former home down the road at 113-117, oh we do love a good new bookshop!
* The stand-off in Ukraine has revived memories of the Cold War, but for many under the age of 40 the events of that conflict now seem far off. The US, UK and France were allied with the communist Soviet Union during World War Two, but as it became clear victory in the war was approaching new battle lines started to be drawn. Take a look at the six key moments of the cold war relived.
* What are the great sentences in genre fiction? What makes a world-class literary sentence, and can genre writers ever compete with stylists such as Jane Austen or James Joyce? Literary editor, Claire Armitstead, takes a look.
* There are a great many Victorian domestic dangers, perhaps the most unsual is repoted in an artical titled 'Death from falling into a tub of scalding beer'. With clippings and articles from the Victorian age, the is ceratinly an interesting read.
* For most of us, the 'slang' that we use today is thought to be a rather modern concept. Perhaps due to researches aim to record these new adaptations of the English language to update such things as the Oxford Dictionary. As Jonathon Green set out to compile a dictionary of contemporary slang, he has found that we are not quite as modern as we think; phrases thought to be used only in recent decades have in fact been found in books dating from 1705! So just when did we pick up this ‘slang’ that we use today?
Which history and publishing stories have you enjoyed reading this week?