books
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Poetry and music are more closely related than we think
Cerys MatthewsFrom punk to poem-songs, the 2016 Poetry and Lyrics festival reveals how music fits into the poetic tradition -
New York’s ‘Kanye Baudelaire’ talks to Lorin Stein about Donald Trump, departed friends and why a life without writing is pointless
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Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them – plus our favourite literary links
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The owners of this family-run bookshop on Galiano Island (population 1,258) talk about getting bitten by the ‘bookstore bug’ and surreal customer exchanges
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One of the country’s best-known feminists reflects on the lasting effects of street harassment in a memoir that serves as a call for change
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Used to writing darker outings for the caped crusader, writer Ian Edginton talks about the fun he’s been having ‘playing with other people’s toys’
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The National Coalition Against Censorship says Oregon city’s move ‘undermines public education’ by effacing ongoing debate
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A gift from Elizabeth I’s ‘saucy godson’ to his wife brings lusty and sparky life to the epigram form
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Ahead of the European referendum, we asked leading authors and thinkers from EU countries to write letters to Britain. Do they want us to stay, or are they ready to say goodbye?
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Poster poems Buildings
Billy Mills
regulars
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Top 10sTop 10sTop 10 books to make you a better personDon’t be put off! Works by WG Sebald, Roberto Bolaño and Wallace Shawn and others can help us to see ourselves more clearly and understand life better
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Reading groupReading groupHelp choose a translated book for June's Reading groupTranslated fiction is doing better than ever in the UK, so now seems like a fine time to zero in on a good example. But which?
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100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time100 Best Nonfiction Books of All TimeThe 100 best nonfiction books: No 19 – The Making of the English Working Class by EP Thompson (1963)
The 100 best nonfiction books: No 19 – The Making of the English Working Class by EP Thompson (1963)
This influential, painstakingly compiled masterpiece reads as an anatomy of preindustrial Britain – and a description of the lost experience of the common man -
PodcastPodcastSimon Ingram and Fiona Reynolds on our natural landscapes – books podcastSimon Ingram tackles the forbidding rock face of the mountaineering memoir, while Fiona Reynolds mounts a passionate plea for the defence of our natural landscape
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Despite flaws, this lively and accessible history of the gene and its implications for the future is bursting with complex ideas
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Sy Montgomery’s account of octopuses will do much to rehabilitate the much maligned and mythologised creature
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Hugh Aldersey-Williams’s scholarly survey of the history of tides, from the Bristol Channel to the Bay of Fundy, is enlightening
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Emer O’Sullivan traces the journey of the literary giant’s Dublin family from riches to rags
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Sport And The Sun Shines Now – a bold vision of Hillsborough, football and Britain
Frank Cottrell-BoyceAdrian Tempany’s vivid survivor’s account and examination of the effect of the disaster on football and society is authoritative and gripping -
Leonard Cohen, Rod Stewart, Chris Martin and Shaun Ryder feature in this collection of tales of fathers … stories of love, neglect, violence and hero worship
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Peplum by Blutch A work of scratchy genius
Rachel CookeInspired by The Satyricon, French master Blutch’s tale of a mysterious Roman maiden has finally been translated -
Paradise Lodge by Nina Stibbe A sharp coming-of-age comedy
Hannah BeckermanLizzie Vogel has made it into adolescence, but she’s still got mother to look after in this sharply observed tale -
One family man’s Day of the Dead in County Mayo after the boom and bust
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Different Class by Joanne Harris; Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman; A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee; Easy Motion Tourist by Leye Adenle; Sockpuppet by Matthew Blakstad
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My Name Is Leon by Kit de Waal A touching, thought-provoking debut
Bernardine EvaristoA young vulnerable boy is taken into care after his mother is no longer able to cope -
Stibbe’s young heroine Lizzie Vogel comes of age, contending with ‘comfort rounds’ and commodes in an elderly care home
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An angry stand against social injustice resorts to the staples of 70s TV comedy
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At 80, Annie Proulx is as acute (and prickly) as ever. As her latest book, Barkskins, is published, Lucy Rock visits her woodland home to talk trees, Trump – and why she’s bored with navel-gazing novels
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As Harry Potter and the Cursed Child hits the West End, five writers reveal how Rowling changed their field
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Getting to know my father, the woman
Susan FaludiAfter decades of estrangement from her ultra-competitive father, an email arrived: she was a woman. Could they rebuild their relationship? -
The novelist describes his protean working practices – which might take place at 6am or 5pm, in his sister-in-law’s flat or on the top deck of a bus
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Alessandro Gallenzi on why Italy’s most famous children’s writer is so worth loving – and about his mission to polish up lost gem The Adventures of Pipì the Pink Monkey, with help from illustrator Axel Scheffler
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We have three copies of Carlo Collodi’s rediscovered classic The Adventures of Pipì the Pink Monkey, signed by Axel Scheffler (including a hand drawn picture of Pipi the monkey by Axel) to give away to three lucky readers! Anyone under 18 can enter, but read these Ts and Cs first please!
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The Princess Arabella books are now famous in Holland and beyond, but publishers worried Arabella’s ‘uncombed’ hair might be considered offensive in the US. Dutch author Mylo Freeman on how the battle for diversity in children’s books is far from over
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From Ludwig Bemelmans’s Madeline to Katherine Rundell’s Rooftoppers, children’s literature is full of delicious insights into European cities – great for travellers and political pondering too
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Be the first to read an extract of Marcus Sedgwick’s thrilling new YA book. Set on the border of Mexico and the US, Saint Death explores death, love, money, power, guns, gambling and lies
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Kevin Waldron shows you how to draw a dog - just not necessarily an obedient one...
A selection of our favourite literary content from around the world
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The Little Library CaféThe Little Library CaféFood in books: the raspberry and coconut cakes in Sarah Perry's The Essex SerpentKate Young discovers Sarah Perry’s new novel, full of realistic portraits of London, fantastic characters and a great love of food
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Interview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore by Literary HubInterview with a Bookstore: Galiano Island Books, on a tiny Canadian islandThe owners of this family-run bookshop on Galiano Island (population 1,258) talk about getting bitten by the ‘bookstore bug’ and surreal customer exchanges
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pictures, video & audio
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Simon Ingram tackles the forbidding rock face of the mountaineering memoir, while Fiona Reynolds mounts a passionate plea for the defence of our natural landscape
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From Peter Pan’s movements in Kensington back to images of imperial vanity and plans of Saxon kingdoms, maps provide fascinating routes through British history. Many are on show at the London Map Fair, or you can consult some here
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Seventy years after the fall of Nazi Germany, a surprising number of its buildings and public spaces remain. A new book examines these unsettling survivals. Here are some of them
you may have missed
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The Scottish writer on the polluted capital, her lifelong love of the stage and finding serendipity in Wivenhoe
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Petit’s fictional account of the Troubles was not only a perfectly judged noir novel – it was also a political investigation into a dark period of recent history, says Alan Moore
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As his best-known book turns 40, the author reflects on what he has learned about writing and science
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What really happened during Napoleon's exile
Thomas KeneallyIn his latest novel, Keneally tells the extraordinary story of the emperor’s last years on the remote island of St Helena. Here he reveals how artefacts from the emperor’s home, now on display, inspired him to write the book
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Book of the day Don’t You Leave Me Here: My Life by Wilko Johnson