Arts
Is this the world's best comedian?
John Bailey Last year Sam Simmons won two of the world's top comedy gongs. This year the self-proclaimed "coriander of comedy" is back with extra spice.
Top stories
Luckiest Girl Alive
Author reveals the rape behind her novel
Alexandra Alter By every conventional measure, Jessica Knoll's thriller, Luckiest Girl Alive, was a wildly successful literary debut. It sold more than 450,000 copies and spent four months on the best-seller lists. Foreign rights sold in more than 30 countries.
Opera House unveils Le Corbusier tapestry
ANDREW TAYLOR The Sydney Opera House is a step closer towards realising Joern Utzon's vision for his landmark building with the unveiling of the Utzon/Le Corbusier tapestry.
Chisel to receive award for outstanding service
BERNARD ZUEL Warm praise, and a rare prize, to Cold Chisel for four decades of achievement.
Nude street art by Lushsux censored
KARL QUINN The City of Melbourne is famously supportive of street art, but it has drawn the line at a couple of giant nude murals.
Mae Martin changes minds through comedy
STEPHANIE BUNBURY Canadian comedian Mae Martin finds humour can change people's minds in ways she didn't expect.
Music
Touching songs on new Jeff Buckley album
Danielle McGrane Almost 20 years since the death of seminal singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley, an album of previously unheard tracks is being released.
Songhoy Blues still play banned music of Mali
PHILIPPA HAWKER A jihadist ban on music in Mali had the reverse effect, with bands thriving in exile.
Singer songwriter Jon English dead at 66
EBONY BOWDEN Singer Jon English has died at the age of 66 after suffering complications while undergoing surgery on Wednesday.
Courtney Barnett wins Australian Music Prize
BERNARD ZUEL The win makes Courtney Barnett only the second female artist to claim the prestigious Australian Music Prize in the award's 11-year history.
Daddy Cool guitarist Ross Hannaford dies
Martin Boulton Just months after releasing his latest solo album, legendary Daddy Cool guitarist Ross Hannaford has died, aged 65.
Stage THEATRE MUSICALS DANCE OPERA COMEDY
Masterpiece a fitting Adelaide Festival finale
Cameron Woodhead David Sefton has successfully steered the Adelaide Festival from a biennial event to an annual one, losing none of the depth, range or daring that arts lovers had come to expect.
Technology expands theatrical experience
ELISSA BLAKE Technology is taking theatre to the next stage.
Chris Ryan on Canberra Comedy Festival bill
Kate Kingsmill Chris Ryan remembers vividly the first time she did stand-up comedy.
Migrant women find bonds in Mother's Spice
LENNY ANN LOW Western Sydney migrant women tell their stories of leaving home for a new life in Australia via food, family and friendship.
Martin's first Perth Festival has heart and soul
DEBBIE CUTHBERTSON Perth Festival dazzles with best visual arts line-up in the country
Visual Arts FULL COVERAGE
Shows go on as Melbourne Art Fair halts
Dylan Rainforth Alternative art fairs Not Fair and Spring 1883 will go ahead in August despite the cancellation of this year's Melbourne Art Fair.
Dubbo mayor, deputy Premiere at loggerheads
ANDREW TAYLOR Dubbo Mayor on collision course with local MP and Deputy Premier Troy Grant over arts funding, local government mergers.
Federal agents raid Christie's in New York
Federal agents raided Christie's in New York on Friday to seize what they said were stolen antiquities.
Redlands Art Prize celebrates 20 years
ELISSA BLAKE The Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize is an exercise in that concept known as pay-it-forward.
Stella-Rae Zelnik taps into motorbike culture
SALLY PRYOR Photographer brings out the joys of the community who travel on custom-made motorbikes.
Books FULL COVERAGE
Lumby and Lamb pen Moorhouse biographies
SUSAN WYNDHAM ''I've gone from writing and living to being an archive," says Frank Moorhouse, the subject two biographies under way.
Noted festival brings bookish cool to Canberra
Ashley Thomson For writers, editors, publishers and book-lovers, writers' festivals are the single best opportunity to engage with and to hear from the writers we love as well as the ones we didn't know we loved.
Man Booker International longlist announced
KYLIE NORTHOVER In what is possibly the most intriguing list for years, this year's Man Booker International 2016 longlist includes a couple of Nobel Prize winners, one novel already banned in China and a mystery author.
Gloria Steinem heading to Australia
LOUISE RUGENDYKE Revolutionary feminist Gloria Steinem has been announced as the first headline guest of the Sydney Writer's Festival.
Is Maestra the new Fifty Shades of Grey?
Victoria Lambert 'Geeky' Oxford graduate LS Hilton has written a sexy thriller that brings reality to adult themes.
Multimedia
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Full coverage of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2016.
Golden Plains Music Festival
Golden Plains Music Festival 2016
Spectrum Now Photography
The Spectrum Now Festival photo exhibition features some of the most celebrated entertainers in the world, all captured by Fairfax photographers. A collection of 22 stars will be exhibited by Clique at Westfield shopping centres in Miranda, Parramatta and Chatswood from March 1 - 16. Follow us on Twitter @photosSMH and check out our photography club smh.com.au/clique.
Sydney Laneway Festival 2016
13,000 people indulged in 12 hours of music at the Sydney Laneway Festival. Follow us on Twitter and check out our photography club Clique
So Frenchy So Chic in the Park
About 4500 people escaped to an idyllic Provence in Camperdown to enjoy live music, French food and wine at the So Frenchy So Chic In The Park festival on Saturday. The family friendly event let Sydneysiders explore their inner French as they enjoyed plenty of cheese and bubbly.The celebrations also paused for a minute's silence in remembrance of the tragic events of 2015 around the world, in particular the the attacks that terrorised Paris in January, and again in November. Follow us on Twitter and check out our photography club Clique
Video
Madonna starts Melbourne concert close to midnight
3AW speaks to a caller who waited more than four hours in the rain for Madonna's first attempt at her new "Tears of a Clown" show.
White Night 2016 highlights
Didn't get out to see White Night this year? Here's what you missed out on.
Grammys 2016: Kendrick Lamar performs
Rap artist Kendrick Lamar gives a fiery, politically charged performance at the 2016 Grammy Awards.