Maureen Beattie makes a compelling matriarch in a modern-dress production that is not as radical as it appears. Plus, a new musical co-created by Alan Cumming

Lacy’s confessional third album is musically imaginative but let down by lazy lyrics. Plus, are Westside Cowboys the breakout act of the year?

In 2024 campaigners forced the investor Baillie Gifford to withdraw its funding from some of the UK’s biggest book events. What happened next?

The bestselling author of The Friend and The Vulnerables on the legacy of loveless childhoods, and the indignance of readers fooled by her ‘faux autofiction’

Two books explore the rituals, politics and myths surrounding our man-made notion of time, and what we might gain if we reset our body clocks

Your essential guide from The Observer’s books desk

The publisher’s Stefan and Tara Tobler explain how they won two International Bookers from a ‘tiny cubbyhole’ in Sheffield central library

The author on being a ‘non-objective researcher’ in their work to reclaim the story of the Victorian designer May Morris, the erosion of queer rights, and why they sew

Your essential guide from The Observer’s books desk

A solstice swim and a sticky gig serve as a reminder to learn to live in a spirit more in tune with the natural world

Lisa Owens’s new novel charts how one woman’s day with her sons descends into self-recriminations and strife

Your essential guide from The Observer’s books desk

The writer and musician formerly known as Emmy the Great on her homeland’s colonial past, her love of Cantonese pop, and her ‘constantly shifting’ identity

Our writers pick their favourite seasonal events, from family-friendly gatherings in North Yorkshire and dance extravaganzas in Amsterdam to outdoor fun in the Lake District

Olivia Rodrigo channels 80s new wave with mixed results, while the Blur guitarist treats us to one from the archives

Your essential guide from The Observer’s books desk

The BBC’s chief international correspondent on why she wrote her Women’s Prize-winning history of Afghanistan through the prism of a hotel, and the future of the country under the Taliban

Fishergate primary is one of more than 1,000 schools committed to helping those who have fled their homes

Your essential guide from The Observer’s books desk

The author of The Emperor of Gladness on the ‘psychotropic power’ of dead-end jobs and why America is a nation of fantasists