Cover Stories: Clarissa Dickson Wright on the attack; a joint effort from de Niro and Scorsese; Douglas Adams' posthumous debut

Judging by the performance of her last book, Forever Summer, one could be forgiven for thinking that the nation's love affair with Nigella Lawson has peaked.

Judging by the performance of her last book, Forever Summer, one could be forgiven for thinking that the nation's love affair with Nigella Lawson has peaked. Now, it appears, the formidable Clarissa Dickson Wright rather disapproves. "There are too many chefs," she told Publishing News while promoting her own The Game Cookbook, adding that she thinks of herself as a cook. "I've never thought of Nigella as a cook. She's a wonderful writer and critic. The rest is Saatchi & Saatchi." Ouch.

* Actors generally like to bask solo in the spotlight, and it's unusual for one to share his literary glory. Three cheers, then, for Robert de Niro, who's writing a joint memoir with director Martin Scorsese. The two grew up on the same New York streets, and their friendship goes back three decades to Mean Streets. There have been many films since, among them Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas, so the guys will have plenty to write about in their memoir, due next year from Ebury. It will offer "a rare look at their unique friendship as private men and creative geniuses".

* The late Douglas Adams had always wanted to act in the radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Before he died, he recorded the part of Agrajag for a later production. The new series, adapted from the last three Hitchhiker volumes, will air on Radio 4 in September and then be released as a CD. His lines will be digitally inserted. Adams can already be heard reading the quintet on BBC Audiobooks.