The nuance and power of Sophie Okonedo stage performances are in a league of their own. I am there for anything and everything she appears in. She was a revelation in Medea and is perfect in this lovely adaptation of Turgenev giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Sophie Okonedo is wonderfully complex in A Month in the Country at the Donmar — review

Lyndsey Turner’s staging of the Turgenev classic is beautifully executed with a rich ensemble cast

giftarticle.ft.com

New book from Tara Westover, author of EDUCATED apnews.com/article/tara...

Daisy Lafarge’s talent will make you gasp. Her essay on the search for a diagnosis of a psychosomatic illness is astonishing. www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/the...

The Romance of Diagnosis — Parapraxis

Seeking and Finding the Definite Article daisy lafarge

parapraxismagazine.com

I have read many interviews with Margaret Atwood & this one, by Decca Aitkenhead, is my favourite of recent years. Really captures both Margaret Atwood & Peggy, her politics & her irrepressible sense of fun. You’ll chuckle. ‘God made the middle finger for a reason’ www.thetimes.com/article/631e...

‘A fascinating book and a must read’ Thomas Piketty, ‘An out-and-out masterpiece’ William Dalrymple - PEASANTS in the words of other authors who know a thing…

Excited for this. Tilda Swinton in Man to Man at the Royal Court royalcourttheatre.com/events/man-t...

Man to Man | Royal Court Theatre

In 1930s Germany, a woman puts on her dead husband’s trousers and never takes them off. As the world around her changes, she endures war and dictatorship,

royalcourttheatre.com

Wonderful. From a tribute to Gloria Steinem in the Sunday Times. (Barbara Nessim was her long-time friend.)

Bestselling titles of 2026 so far: London Falling and The Names top the hardback non-fiction and paperback fiction charts. Congratulations, Patrick and Florence!

Any good reviews of Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma that deal with the two-step, messed-up nature of female desire (male gaze & predator aesthetic in fantasy), othering of the non-binary, horror & the personification of death by teens as way of making it less incomprehensible? I haven’t seen any.

Can I skive off and check into the BFI for a week? London Film Festival comes with new films by Paweł Pawlikowski (with Sandra Hüller) and Andrey Zvyagintsev. whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/d...

Galas | BFI London Film Festival 2026

Exciting public premieres of some of the most highly anticipated films of the year.

whatson.bfi.org.uk

Arresting women with guitars at Kenwood House today. (One of the guitars is a ukulele) @soumayakeynes.ft.com singing about trade wars.

Artist and designer of humbling range and erudition Es Devlin with brilliant public intellectual and writer Ekow Eshun at the FT Weekend Festival. Es’s inspirations are captured in her atlas and her new show at the Design Museum opens later this month designmuseum.org/exhibitions/...

‘I’m amazed a human being could do so much’: Gloria Steinem celebrated by Margaret Atwood, Dua Lipa, Lynda Carter and more

‘I’m amazed a human being could do so much’: Gloria Steinem celebrated by Margaret Atwood, Dua Lipa, Lynda Carter and more

Authors, activists and admirers pay tribute to the feminist icon who died this week at the age of 92

theguardian.com

How posh are you? Do you have a therapist? What would you say to Trump at a party? Marina Hyde answers readers’ questions

How posh are you? Do you have a therapist? What would you say to Trump at a party? Marina Hyde answers readers’ questions

We asked you what you most wanted to put to our Guardian columnist. You responded in droves, querying her ‘beef’ with Burnham, who she thinks is this generation’s Hugh Grant, and what she really thinks about Richard Osman ...

theguardian.com

What a Time to Be Alive! (by Britain’s best satirist - every word sharp as a dagger)

The Comet by @edcaesar.bsky.social - a gripping story of courage and resistance by a superb writer. Out in March.

Delighted @wsj.com recognise Randy Boyagoda’s genius. A fantastic profile on the eve of the publication of Lords of Serendipity, a campus novel like no other: Dickensian in scope, sharp, funny and tender. Truly brilliant writing. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Academia Is in Trouble and This English Professor Understands Why

Combining wicked satire with genuine hope, Randy Boyagoda’s latest novel takes on the financial, moral and cultural crises plaguing modern academia.

wsj.com

Britain’s premier non-fiction prize, The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction announces its longlist - congratulations to Patrick Radden Keefe. London Falling is what best narrative non-fiction should be: top-notch reporting, great storytelling www.thebookseller.com/news/patrick...

Patrick Radden Keefe, Ben Macintyre and Charlotte Higgins make Baillie Gifford Prize longlist

Patrick Radden Keefe, Ben Macintyre and Charlotte Higgins are among 13 authors longlisted for the 2026 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.

thebookseller.com

Congratulations to Jill Lepore whose WE THE PEOPLE: A HISTORY OF THE US CONSTITUTION is shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize www.cundillprize.com/news/the-202...

The 2026 Cundill History Prize Shortlist

cundillprize.com

London Falling UK tour this Autumn. Tickets selling very fast indeed.

Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood. Out in paperback today and a joy to read. (We appear to have tentacles on our heads in this photo insert. As one does, in the Atwood world.)

‘Dazzling’ - starred Kirkus Review for Lords of Serendipity by Randy Boyagoda. A campus novel like no other. www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

Edinburgh Books Festival with Mieko Kawakami, author of Sisters in Yellow, Heaven and Breasts and Eggs, amongst others. Outstanding writing from Japan (not a cake shop in sight.)

‘Our little world doesn’t feel as timeless as it once did’ a beautiful and eye-opening essay by James Rebanks in @ftweekend.com on farming during Britain’s hottest summer and learning from American rancher friends how to adapt to droughts and heat giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

The Cumbrian shepherds racing sunrise to beat the heat

Ancient farming practices are having to adapt to Britain’s increasingly brutal summers, writes James Rebanks

giftarticle.ft.com

Sobering and important. (Via my wonderful colleague @john-ash.bsky.social) @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

Superb.

This George Saunders quote is how I feel about Jill Lepore and The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State. Out today!

A new Post Office scandal. Superb reporting, as ever, by @oliverbullough.bsky.social author of Everybody Loves Our Dollars www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

The other Post Office scandal: how organised crime launders money on the high street

The long read: Hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty money are being deposited at post offices every year. So why are the police reluctant to investigate the scale of the problem?

theguardian.com

Three best friends, endless golden summers, the August they never talk about. An unforgettable debut novel - out next year (Chatto & Windus)

Two remarkable books: London Falling by Patrick Radden-Keefe (18 weeks in the top three, back at number 1) and The Names by Florence Knapp (20 weeks in the top ten in paperback and back at number 2). Would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.