Immortalized in verse, novel and opera, the story has been altered and adapted over the centuries to suit the times.

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The Golden Gate (1986), a full-length novel in verse, was a tour de force.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

The long list includes former actress Kitty Aldridge for her third novel, A Trick I Learned From Dead Men, while Ros Barber's The Marlowe Papers is the first novel written in verse to be recognised.

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Brown is a New Hampshire resident spending the week in New York to promote "Inferno, " a return to his beloved continent and a chance, he hopes, to interest readers in the classic 14th century journey in verse by Dante that provides the title for his new novel.

WSJ: Dan Brown returns to Europe for 'Inferno'