Through all the blood and ice of Russian history, the national music has been a balm. Composers and performers have given a voice to the soul of their people, in all its... Read more »
As a cult series of 20th-century childrenâs books, the Moomins have sold up to 30m copies worldwide. Now, extensive humorous notes that their Finnish creator, Tove Jansson, wrote on each of her... Read more »
One might feel short-changed to read a book about death by Sebastian Junger that did not include some battlefield drama. After 1997âs The Perfect Storm, his bestselling account of a trawler disaster... Read more »
While anxiety abounds in the old Cold War West that progress – whether political or economic – has been reversed, for citizens of former-socialist countries, murky temporal trajectories are nothing new. Grounded... Read more »
Kaliane Bradley (pronounced Cull-yan, which means âdarlingâ in Cambodian) is packing to move house when I visit her in Walthamstow, east London. The move has been made possible by the publication of her first novel, The Ministry... Read more »
Olivia Laingâs new book, The Garden Against Time, is as fragrantly replete as a long border at its peak. The word that comes to mind is spumy: a blossomy, brimful excess thatâs... Read more »
Deirdre Madden, Kathryn Scanlan and Hanif Abdurraqib are among the eight recipients of this year’s Windham-Campbell prizes, worth $175,000 (£140,000) each. Madden, who is from Northern Ireland, was recognised for her eight... Read more »
Details of Charles Darwin’s vast personal library, from a paper on epileptic guinea pigs to the Elizabeth Gaskell novel he adored, are being published in their entirety for the first time. The... Read more »
The Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov was having dinner with friends at his home in Kyiv on the evening of 24 February 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Within hours he was advised that his name probably... Read more »