'my academic performance became wildly erratic and I started walking the city streets regularly at night, sometimes till early dawn.' Read an extract from Music Lessons by Stephen Johnson on @bookpostusa.bsky.social : books.substack.com/p/diary-step...

Diary: Stephen Johnson on Anton Bruckner

He was nervous, unstable, oddly impulsive, plagued by obsessions, passionate but mysteriously self-thwarting; yet able to locate something else within himself

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Have you visited Frida: The Making of an Icon at Tate Modern yet? Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg by Emily Rapp Black invites you to explore her remarkable story further, recounting how Kahlo inspired her to find a way forward when all seemed lost. Discover the book here:

Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg - Notting Hill Editions

Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg by Emily Rapp Black is an amputee’s personal examination of how Kahlo's experiences, art, and disabilities shaped her life.

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Here’s my review of the new book by writer, broadcaster and composer Stephen Johnson about the lifesaving effect music has had on him. It’s a powerful and fascinating read, published by @nottinghilleds.bsky.social nick-holmes-music.com/2026/06/20/m...

Music Lessons: Seven Composers and What They Taught Me by Stephen Johnson - Book Review - Nick Holmes Music

★★★★★ Johnson’s book is a deeply personal and human meditation on music and mental health, and the redemptive power of love “…As I got out of the taxi Kate fixed me with a look of intense, focussed co...

nick-holmes-music.com

'Johnson’s book is a deeply personal and human meditation on music and mental health, and the redemptive power of love' A beautiful review of Music Lessons by Stephen Johnson, out now: nick-holmes-music.com/2026/06/20/m...

Music Lessons: Seven Composers and What They Taught Me by Stephen Johnson - Book Review - Nick Holmes Music

★★★★★ Johnson’s book is a deeply personal and human meditation on music and mental health, and the redemptive power of love “…As I got out of the taxi Kate fixed me with a look of intense, focussed co...

nick-holmes-music.com

We are thrilled that Frida: The Making of an Icon is now open at Tate Modern, bringing her unflinching vision into focus. Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg by Emily Rapp Black continues that conversation: on pain, the body, and making art within its limits. Discover the book here: buff.ly/ig4I4wS

'A fantastic idea... Jamieson encourages us all to think more deeply about the complexities that we face ourselves, and about human behaviour generally.' Many thanks to New Psychotherapist for this glowing review of On the Couch! Buy now: buff.ly/LRdim1g

Some games linger long after the final whistle - for the moments that define them. In The Penalty Kick, Robert McCrum reflects on that singular drama: the loneliness, the theatre, the fate of a game resting on one strike of the ball. Learn more: www.nottinghilleditions.com/product/the-...

'A fantastic idea... Jamieson encourages us all to think more deeply about the complexities that we face ourselves, and about human behaviour generally.' Many thanks to New Psychotherapist for this glowing review of On the Couch! Buy now: buff.ly/ijJhz1l

Happy publication day to Music Lessons: Seven Composers and What They Taught Me by Stephen Johnson! From the bestselling author of the award-winning How Shostakovich Changed My Mind comes a new book about the cathartic power of music. Get your copy: www.nottinghilleditions.com/product/musi...

From the bestselling author of the award-winning How Shostakovich Changed My Mind comes a new book about the cathartic power of music. Music Lessons: Seven Composers and What They Taught Me is available to pre-order: buff.ly/W8jCVQ1

Stephen Johnson explores seven composers and what their music reveals beyond sound—about attention, structure, and experience. Music Lessons is available to pre-order now: buff.ly/W8jCVQ1

What if play is the real engine of creativity? A beautiful piece by Emily Rapp Black - author of Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg - on imagination, curiosity, and making space to explore, on @lithub.com.web.brid.gy: lithub.com/jump-into-th...

Jump Into the Ball Pit: Emily Rapp Black on the Creative Power of Play

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. One summer in Brooklyn I made an outline for my first book. I was told I must do this, or my ideas would be unorganized, m…

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'When I write stories I can try on different voices. It’s still an adventure' A beautiful piece by Xandra Bingley, author of Ways of Telling, in @bigissue.com : www.bigissue.com/culture/book...

My plan for the future is to die on a weekend

In her collection of stories, Ways of Telling, Xandra Bingley reflects on a literary life well lived... and contemplates its end

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'Xandra Bingley has enriched my life, and the lives of so many people who have known her. Now she is about to enrich yours, in this curious and intriguing collection.' @margaretatwood.bsky.social Get your copy of Ways of Telling by Xandra Bingley now: buff.ly/XNGtb4t

'Xandra Bingley has enriched my life, and the lives of so many people who have known her. Now she is about to enrich yours, in this curious and intriguing collection.' @margaretatwood.bsky.social Get your copy of Ways of Telling by Xandra Bingley now: buff.ly/XNGtb4t

‘The settings of these pieces are hugely varied but Bingley brings a penetrating eye and sharp wit to their many different milieus. . . Marvellous.’ @thespectator1828.bsky.social Ways of Telling is out now! Order your copy: buff.ly/XNGtb4t

Ways of Telling by Xandra Bingley - Notting Hill Editions

From the author of the UK bestseller Bertie, May and Mrs Fish comes an unforgettable exploration of memory, loss and human connection, with an introduction by Margaret Atwood

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‘The settings of these pieces are hugely varied but Bingley brings a penetrating eye and sharp wit to their many different milieus . . . As well as being inventively and compellingly written, the book is often darkly funny’ Read the full review in @thespectator1828.bsky.social :

An outpouring of jaunty black comedy

In 2005 Xandra Bingley published Bertie, May and Mrs Fish, an extraordinarily lively and enjoyable memoir of her childhood on a Cotswold farm during the second world war. Much of the writing was…

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‘As well as being inventively and compellingly written, the book is often darkly funny . . . Marvellous.’ @thespectator1828.bsky.social Ways of Telling by Xandra Bingley is published tomorrow! Pre-order your copy here:

Ways of Telling by Xandra Bingley - Notting Hill Editions

From the author of the UK bestseller Bertie, May and Mrs Fish comes an unforgettable exploration of memory, loss and human connection, with an introduction by Margaret Atwood

buff.ly

Publishing on the 28th April, Ways of Telling is a remarkable collection of stories. Introduced by Margaret Atwood, Xandra Bingley’s vivid portraits of everyday experience remind us of the mysterious transience of life. Pre-order now: buff.ly/zj7Ux7v

Publishing on the 28th April, Ways of Telling is a remarkable collection of stories. Introduced by Margaret Atwood, Xandra Bingley’s vivid portraits of everyday experience remind us of the mysterious transience of life. Pre-order now: buff.ly/zj7Ux7v

‘Compact yet thought provoking ... It is heartening that at least one publisher in the English-speaking world has decided to mark the centenary of Bachmann’s birth this year.’ @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social A wonderful review of The Threshold and the Ledger by Tom McCarthy: buff.ly/8c8Z9rF

Returns (on Bachmann): A Performance-Lecture by Tom McCarthy Join the Booker Prize-winning author for a performance-lecture on the 21st of April at the Austrian Cultural Forum NYC, marking the centennial of the writer Ingeborg Bachmann. Learn more: buff.ly/QkRu6wK

Returns (on Bachmann): A Performance-Lecture by Tom McCarthy Join the Booker Prize-winning author for a performance-lecture on the 21st of April at the Austrian Cultural Forum NYC, as part of the series of events marking the centennial of the writer Ingeborg Bachmann. Learn more:

Returns (on Bachmann): A Performance-Lecture by Tom McCarthy - Austrian Cultural Forum New York

April 21, 2026 | 6:30 PM TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE Join us for “Returns”, a performance-lecture by novelist Tom McCarthy, as part of the series “Today” is an Impossible Word for Me: Bachmann at 100”…

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Publishing on the 28th April, Ways of Telling is a remarkable collection of stories. Introduced by Margaret Atwood, Xandra Bingley’s vivid portraits of everyday experience remind us of the mysterious transience of life. Pre-order now: buff.ly/zj7Ux7v

‘Compact yet thought provoking ... It is heartening that at least one publisher in the English-speaking world has decided to mark the centenary of Bachmann’s birth this year.’ @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social A wonderful review of The Threshold and the Ledger by Tom McCarthy: buff.ly/8c8Z9rF

On the 16th April, psychotherapist and author of On the Couch, Andrew Jamieson will be speaking at @brlsi.bsky.social delving into the minds of the likes of Picasso, Nelson Mandela and Vladimir Putin. Book tickets: www.brlsi.org/whatson/on-t...

On the couch: from Picasso to Putin – Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution

In this talk, author and psychoanalyst Andrew Jamieson focuses on the internal world of Pablo Picasso and Nelson Mandela via Freud and Jung’s accounts of the unconscious, introducing the ideas behind ...

brlsi.org

Reading this amazing book about the power of music. @nottinghilleds.bsky.social

Currently reading: Beneath My Feet Writers on Walking edited by Duncan Minshull @nottinghilleds.bsky.social #booksky

‘Compact yet thought provoking’ @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social A wonderful review of The Threshold and the Ledger by Tom McCarthy: lareviewofbooks.org/article/inge...

The Structures That Make Violence Legible | Los Angeles Review of Books

Tom McCarthy’s critical study of postwar Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann shows a deep sensitivity to form.

lareviewofbooks.org

'Michael Collins – for as long as I keep reading him, and for a considerable while after – persuades me not only of [photography's] significance as an artform, but also of the beauty of individual photographs' Will Self Get your copy of Blind Corners: Essays on Photography now: buff.ly/nUD0Kxm