Contributor(s): Giles Foden, Professor David Lewis, Jack Mpanje, Sunny Singh | Do we learn more about global poverty issues and the worlds of international development agencies from works of popular fiction such as Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance or Helen Fielding's Cause Celeb than we do from official reports and academic research? A recently-published paper written by David Lewis, Dennis Rodgers and Michael Woolcock suggests that fiction is an important and sometimes under-recognised source of knowledge about 'development' issues that may offer useful and different insights compared to more standard forms of research publication and policy reports.