Culture

The prizewinning author who almost lost his nerve

This week the prestigious British Academy book prize went to The Burning Earth, a ‘magisterial’ study of mankind and its relationship with nature. Its author, Sunil Amrith, explains how he wrote it

On my radar: Lolita Chakrabarti’s cultural highlights

The actor and writer on reconsidering John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a monastic adventure, and the musical that made her cheeks hurt from laughing

Klaus Kinski, misguided messiah

A car-crash fascination drew Benjamin Myers to write a novel about the German actor’s infamous one-man Jesus Christ stage show

What to read to understand the information age

From the printing press to the triumph of video: three books on how media revolutions have shaped us

Seamus Heaney’s poems for a darkening age

Collected in a landmark new edition, the late Irish writer’s work is attuned to wonder, replete with humanity and rooted in the tragedies of history

The hijackers who invented modern terrorism

Jason Burke’s The Revolutionists is a riveting account of the militant groups whose spectacular crimes captured the world’s attention in the 1970s

Phillis Wheatley, the first Black nature poet

Enslaved as a child, the 18th-century writer was a pioneer of nature poetry

How Ringo Starr made the Beatles

Tom Doyle's biography shows how the drummer defined the band's sound

The tragedy and courage of Virginia Giuffre

The posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl cuts through the tabloid stories about Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew to reveal the stark reality of a lifetime of abuse

Cashing in on Harper Lee

The Land of Sweet Forever is a cynical, barrel-scraping trawl through the To Kill a Mockingbird author’s slight early works

Tangled up in Bob Dylan

In a quest to discover if Bob Dylan is his father, Sam Sussman’s Boy from the North Country reimagines his late mother’s affair with the musician

Art isn’t too complex for the working class – that’s elitism

The myth that culture has not been for the masses is debunked in a new book

Beyond the bonkbuster: the best of Jilly Cooper

In her many interviews in The Observer over the years, the late queen of the bonkbuster was charming and candid. Here are some of the best extracts

Last call for the phone-hacking scandal – but is anyone still listening?

ITV’s The Hack tells how Rupert Murdoch’s reporters intercepted voicemails. Will the story’s loose ends ever be tied up?

I’d make a terrible traitor, says TV historian – but is he bluffing?

Writer David Olusoga will vie with fellow personalities in a celebrity version of the hit show that rewards treachery

Blackbird Spyplane are the coolest people in your inbox

The writers behind the fashion newsletter have changed how we talk about style

Brontë meets Barbie: purists slate Wuthering Heights trailer

A first glance at Emerald Fennell’s raunchy take on the classic novel sends the internet into a frenzy

How Hollywood lost the plot

For well over a decade, major film studios have pumped out soulless sequels. Have writers and directors finally found a way to change the narrative?