Culture | The Guardian

RSS

Editors' picks

Music

Franz Ferdinand: 'We'd become the opposite of what we wanted to be'

Interview: From their rise to fame, to rumours of a split, to a new album that is tipped to be the sound of the summer. Craig McLean asks the group how it all went so right, then wrong, then right again
Theatre

Miranda Richardson: 'I love doing new or unvisited stuff'

Interview: The actor talks to Tim Lewis about Blackadder, the Women's prize for fiction – and why she'll be reading Samuel Beckett in a boat on Lough Erne
- Kate Tempest: 'I like to play where the stakes are high'

Books

Inside Lulzsec and Anonymous

Review: Journalist Parmy Olson managed to gain extraordinary access to the groups, leading to this fascinating account, writes Carole Cadwalladr
Film

The Big City - review

Review: Philip French welcomes the rerelease of Satyajit Ray's enduring 1963 masterpiece about one woman's struggle for independence
Art and design

The Cheesegrater and the Walkie-Talkie – review

The City's latest additions aren't bad buildings – but together they're an ill-conceived mess, writes Rowan Moore
Music

Bat for Lashes – review

Review: A fiercer Natasha Khan has emerged, with a brave new direction, writes Kitty Empire

Latest video, audio and galleries

Muscle Shoals: watch an exclusive trailer for a documentary about the music born in the Alabama town

Watch the trailer for a new documentary about the FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama

Latest audio

Guardian Edinburgh Books podcast: David Peace and Jonathan Agnew

Audio (26min 28sec)
Guardian Edinburgh books podcast: Andrey Kurkov and Niccolò Ammaniti

Audio (23min 31sec)
More audio

In pictures

Arthur Fields: the man who stood on O’Connell bridge – in pictures

Gallery (13 pictures)
The 10 best fictional newsrooms – in pictures

Gallery (10 pictures)

Latest culture news

Edinburgh international book festival sees rise of author-as-performer

19 Aug 2013: Appetites for premium-price events peak at literary festival as readers jostle to see their favourite authors perform
Pre-Raphaelite mural discovered in William Morris's Red House

19 Aug 2013: Entire wall at 1860s building owned by National Trust reveals painting of 'international importance'
David Cameron met Stephen Fry to discuss Russian gay rights row

19 Aug 2013: Meeting of prime minister and comedian at East End pub was brokered by Evgeny Lebedev
Folk group dedicate second record to dead singer

18 Aug 2013: Cornish band the Fisherman's Friends commemorate late friend and tenor Trevor Grills who died in a freak accident in the spring
Young Mexicans embrace the seductive charms of the dance that Cuba forgot

18 Aug 2013: Danzón has all but died out on the island where it was born. But across the Yucatán Channel, the precise, elegant style thrives in classes and festivals
Penguin suit out, feather boa in: orchestra gets a Vivienne Westwood makeover

18 Aug 2013: Extravagant designs replace 'boring and outdated' black for the London Contemporary Orchestra – but opinion is divided
Mark Kermode to become the Observer's chief film critic

18 Aug 2013: One of Britain's best known writers and broadcasters on cinema will replace Philip French when he retires next month

More Culture news

Latest features

Alban Berg's Lulu turns freedom fighter

19 Aug 2013:
Lulu is one of opera's most astonishing characters, a femme fatale who manipulates and murders her way to a terrible end. Now she's been turned into a black American freedom fighter, singing to a jazz score. Tom Service reports
Brian de Palma: 'My women always look fantastic!'

19 Aug 2013:
He introduced Scorsese to De Niro, sorted out the start of Star Wars, and terrified a whole generation with Carrie. As Brian de Palma returns with a typically sexually charged thriller, he talks to Damon Wise
Rhythm divine: the Ethiopian nun whose music enraptured the Holy Land

19 Aug 2013: Jersusalem's classical music lovers honour Emahoy Tsegué-Mariam Guebrù, 90, after a life devoted to God and the piano
Arthur Fields: the man on O'Connell bridge

18 Aug 2013: Sean O'Hagan on the fascinating archive left by the self-taught street photographer who stood on Dublin's principal bridge every day for 50 years
Why we're watching… Alice Tait

18 Aug 2013:
The talented 34-year-old illustrator and designer on mugs, tea towels, sausage dogs and why she'd like to be Poirot
Bill Bailey: 'I nearly torched an entire restaurant'

18 Aug 2013:
The comedian on Crunchies, a proper cuppa and the taste of fruit bat. Interview by John Hind
DJs Danny and Ilona Rampling on their musical marriage

18 Aug 2013: The iconic broadcaster Danny Rampling and his wife Ilona, the outgoing American DJ, on what sparked their connection

More features

Talking points

- Samantha Shannon: 'Writing was a drug I couldn't stop taking'
  
  At 21, Samantha Shannon has a degree in English – and a six-figure publishing deal for The Bone Season, her novel sequence set in a dark, dystopian future. Kate Kellaway meets her

I see your point, but frankly, [I] am more concerned by the thousands of works of art, bought by wealthy collectors around the world and then never seen by anyone but them and their coterie of friends and associates
alexguy
commenting on Why is the world's best art being detained at her majesty's pleasure?

- Tom-All-Alone's by Lynn Shepherd reviewed by thankstoMrsWard
  
  This is good! Witty, literary, arch, engaging. I read the first 200 pages at a gallop, then slowed down to savour the writing before it was over all too soon... The only aspect of the book I'm not completely sold on is the references to authors who weren't writing at the time the novel is set. It's smart - but maybe a bit too smart?
  - Write your own book review

- ChooseDeath reviews BE by Beady Eye
  
  There are no weak tracks. You might think some start off leaving you underwhelmed but by the end you will have changed your mind. I am reluctant to pick out single tracks for praise as I feel it deserves 50 minutes of your time to sit down and listen to the whole thing.
  - Write your own album review

Latest from our blogs

Film blog

Next recap: Nicolas Cage's gateway to boggle-eyed lunacy

18 Aug 2013:
The movie that most embarrasses Julianne Moore is back to haunt her on TV this weekend. Stuart Heritage revels in its silliness
Books blog

What I'm thinking about ... why big books are back

18 Aug 2013:
Kirsty Gunn: The ultra-long novel is making a comeback - what does this say about us as readers?
TV and radio blog

Top of the Lake recap: episode six – No Goodbyes, Thanks

18 Aug 2013:
Rebecca Nicholson's episode blog: Did you see it coming? And if you did, with a showdown so horrific and grimly satisfying, did you actually mind?
Books blog

Edinburgh international book festival 2013: week one live blog

Live 17 Aug 2013:
Join us here for all the news, events, reviews and discussions from the 30th anniversary Edinburgh international book festival
Books blog

Edinburgh international book festival 2013: week two live blog

Live 17 Aug 2013:
It's week two of the 2013 Edinburgh international book festival. Join us here for all the news, events, reviews and discussions from the site

Live opera from Glyndebourne

Watch Don Pasquale on demand

Watch the Glyndebourne production of Don Pasquale, starring Danielle de Niese, on demand here
- Don Pasquale - do I hear a waltz?
Watch Hippolyte et Aricie on demand

Did you miss our live stream of Rameau's opera? You can watch the stunning Glyndebourne production again, here, available until 31 August
- Podcast: Hippolyte et Aricie
- In pictures: Hippolyte et Aricie

Reviews by genre

Latest reviews

Puzzle games 1hr 29min ago

The Wonderful 101 – review

19 Aug 2013: A creative approach to puzzle-solving makes for a fantastically enjoyable game, writes Matt Kamen
Last night's TV 2hr 24min ago

Top of the Lake; Southcliffe; The Mill; The White Queen – TV review

19 Aug 2013: Sam Wollaston: Abuse, cruelty, rape: Top of the Lake's deep, dark secrets finally came gasping to the surface, as they did in some other bleak shows
Marin Alsop 8hr 17min ago

Prom 47: OAE/Alsop – review

19 Aug 2013:
It was Marin Alsop's period-instrument performance of Brahms's German Requiem that elevated this concert into something special, writes Martin Kettle
Dance 9hr 4min ago

Dance Odysseys: New Voices – Edinburgh festival 2013 review

19 Aug 2013:
Scottish Ballet and Scottish Dance Theatre share a platform at Edinburgh for the first time, with unclassifiable results, writes Judith Mackrell
Comedy 9hr 52min ago

Jamie Demetriou – Edinburgh festival 2013 review

18 Aug 2013:
The hotly tipped comedian's best characters are richly imagined, his worst little more than excuses to behave outrageously, writes Brian Logan

More reviews

The Guardian Collection

Art prints on demand

The Guardian Collection presents a curated series of on-demand iconic prints from the Guardian's extensive archive with work from celebrated photographers including Tom Jenkins and Christopher Thomond

Culture professionals network

Culture professionals network 3 days ago

Soho Theatre par for the comedy course

Erinn Dhesi's plan to become the British Mindy Kaling is a step closer after a term of comedy school, but can you teach jokes?
Culture professionals network 4 days ago

Mobile in museums: the good, the bad and the future – live chat

Join us from noon on Friday 16 August for a deeper conversation about mobile and museums – from user experience and responsive design to data collection and prototyping
More from the Culture professionals network

On this site

Find the latest jobs in your sector:

Browse all jobs

Hot topics

notifications (beta)

Edition:

About us

Subscribe

Editors' picks

Latest video, audio and galleries

Latest culture news

Latest features

Talking points

Latest from our blogs

Live opera from Glyndebourne

Reviews by genre

Latest reviews

Culture professionals network

On this site

Sponsored feature