WENN Rights Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo
I’ve researched women’s experience of the UK comedy circuit for ten years – this is what I’ve learned.
ImYanis/Shutterstock
It might seem creepy but digital necromancy is a natural extension of how we grieve in the age of AI.
Giammarco Boscaro/Unsplash
Dark academia novels romanticise student life, but their stories of friendship are inspiring.
Poirot investigates in Venice in this spooky murder mystery that cherry picks from several Agatha Christie stories.
Disney
The most recent instalment in Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot franchise is not faithful to Agatha Christie’s work, but it is entertaining all the same.
The Camino Finisterre takes people from Santiago de Compostela to a headland once known as the edge of the world.
M Ramírez/Alamy
Modern pilgrims are increasingly turning to the waves in search of more creative and contemporary ways to explore their faith and its history.
Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in The X-Files.
AJ Pics/Alamy Stock Photo
What made the series successful was its ability to tap into contemporary cultural moments.
Sarah Burton (right) with Florence Welch and Cate Blanchett.
EPA/Justin Lane
It was her design of Kate Middleton’s iconic royal wedding dress that brought Sarah Burton into the limelight.
Dancers perform Rite of Spring.
Pina Bausch Foundation
The 38 dancers highlight the ongoing lack of African representation on theatrical stages.
View from stage of Moscow’s Vakhtangov Theatre.
Pavel L Photo and Video/Shutterstock
Theatre has now been fully instrumentalised by the Russian state in line with its new patriotic cultural policy.
Protesters in Milan, Italy march in solidarity with Iranians.
Piero Cruciatti / Alamy Stock Photo
Social movements around the world use music in their struggle for freedom and equality.
A still from Guzman’s My Imaginary Country (2022)
Icarus Films
As a passionate and partisan defender of Allende’s socialism, Guzmán’s films celebrate popular protest and struggles for democracy and equality in Chile.
Harvey Keitel as Charlie in Scorsese’s seminal Mean Streets.
TCD/ ProdDB / Alamy
From Mean Streets to The Exorcist and Badlands, 1973 was a year that showcased the audacious talent in Hollywood that was experimenting with darker themes and new film techniques.
Jon Pack/A24
You can be connected across lifetimes in so many different ways, from lovers to passerbys.
PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo
A riveting and insightful portrait of the much-read Trainspotting author, replete with funny stories and memorable anecdotes.
Burial ceremonies as depicted in the Book of the Dead of Hunefer.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
There is often a distinct fragrance of pine or cedar, with some spiciness from cloves, cumin, myrrh, and warm notes from plants, flowers and trees.
Jon Pack
Loving portrait of an unrequited love and a cultural divide.
Some reality TV stars like Bethany Frankel (above) have created lucrative careers after appearing on unscripted shows, but many don’t.
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Reality TV workers may not need their own union but they could benefit from joining existing unions serving the creative industries.
Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene.
Warner Bros/Bruno Calvo
The Nun II brings a refreshingly feminist gloss to well-worn tropes within exorcism fiction, shattering assumptions about who should be the victim and who should be the rescuer.
Dean Drobot/Shutterstock
What AI-narrated audiobooks tell us about reading and big tech.
Studio Ghibli
The 82-year-old Japanese director brings over half a century’s worth of animated masterpieces together in this coming-of-age story
We have always wondered what was up there.
Wikimedia
Humans have always been fascinated by the moon and before we could really get there we travelled to it in our stories.
Rose Marinelli/Shutterstock
Corpus linguistics – using computers to analyse texts – can spot patterns and nuances that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Zadie Smith has dipped her toe into the world of historical fiction with The Fraud.
DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy/Penguine
This well-researched book brings to life the odd case of Sir Roger Tichborne and those around him.
Meaw Stocker/Shutterstock
A concerning range of digital games played by children are still failing to build in progressive representations of disability and diverse bodies.
Photograph from 2022 shows how buildings in Homs, Syria, remain in ruins years after destruction.
Provided to author with request of anonymity.
Wars are no longer fought in the trenches, they’re fought in the streets and civilians are on the frontline.