In western democracies, is reading a political act?
Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, discusses her new book, on the importance of fiction to democracy.
Culture
How to let go: The Leftovers, Broadchurch, and The Missing
The last year has seen a proliferation of TV shows exploring the different facets of loss, from the intimate to the metaphysical.
Selma is a great film, but where are the British stories about race and racism?
Our histories are similar, but they are not the same.
What does Utopia tell us about our attitudes to disaster?
Channel 4’s conspiracy-thriller Utopia weaves a horror story from recent history. What does it tell us?
Charlie Brooker: Tea and empathy
Charlie Brooker is a savagely funny satirist who takes aim at modern irrationality. But in person, he’s a rather more gentle soul.
Industrial action heroes
The message of Pride is that politics changes people’s lives not only through winning, but through the process of fighting itself.
Lost children, missed opportunities, and an alternative history of the art scene: the best new novels
Three rather extraordinary debut novels were published recently. Each deals with its own idiosyncratic concerns and themes, but the books share a powerful common denominator: voice. Jeff Jackson’s Mira Corpora…
Confessions of a Bob Dylan fan
Dylan fans are notoriously obsessive. A new book explores their "fan extremism".
Isabel Allende: “There’s a change in the way we think”
The writer discusses technology, politics, and her move into crime fiction.
The ethics of the terraces
In football's murky moral world, where should fans draw the line?