Latest Blogs
Monster from the South Seas
Not everyone is impressed by the gargantuan Booker Prize winner.
Kaiserlich und Königlich
The old Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed into its component parts after the First World War, a victim of rising nationalism and Woodrow Wilson’s backing for national self-determination. Given the wave of fascism and authoritarianism that followed, leading to another war, many people thought something very valuable had been lost.
German Book Prize
One of Germany’s most prestigious literary prizes, awarded at the start of the Frankfurt Book Festival, has gone to the Hungarian-born Terézia Mora .
Stop. Think. Stop.
A new book examines some of the interesting and obscure corners of punctuation and typography and the strange characters that once lurked about.
Books Do Furnish A Room
Is the future of the book made from paper to be appreciated largely as a beautiful object, not necessarily destined to die out but to become a remote, old-fashioned, cultured cousin while more and more production is transferred to electronic format?
Letter from New England
A new play performed by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, features a superb portrayal of Lyndon Baines Johnson by Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston.
Miracles in the Cornfield
Steve Logan writes of his slight acquaintance with Seamus Heaney and his influence on him as a university teacher.
Oh Brave New World!
Rebecca Solnit remembers a time when the paper was delivered in the morning, you went to the pictures to see a film and Mom always had something good cooking in the kitchen.
Take My Advice
Democracy and debate are all very well – in their place. But sometimes we should surely just listen to the advice of people who know more about these things than we do.
Not so brave
Publishers of course have always deprecated book censorship, but have they always fought it?
The Boys in the Band
Some people thought the guys in the group, and particularly the drummer, had no rights at all and should play what, and wherever, and for as long as they were told. But Joseph Haydn rapped his bow and stood up to them.
Book Central
James Moran offers his thoughts on the new Library of Birmingham, which opened earlier this month and which puts books and literary culture at the heart of England.