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Barack Obama names his favourite films, music and books of 2024

Barack Obama’s years-long tradition of sharing lists of his favourite cultural highlights continues. Here’s what the former POTUS has been listening to, reading and watching in 2024...

Culture news

Tintin & Popeye: What else is entering the public domain in 2025?

The entrepid kid reporter and the stuttering sailor are entering the public domain on 1 January 2025. What else from the world of cinema, literature and music can soon be used without payment to copyright holders?

Cinema

What is the unsettling poem in the '28 Years Later' trailer?

Ahead of the June 2025 release of the long-awaited third part in the '28 Days Later' film series, a detail in the trailer's soundtrack has intrigued film (and literature) lovers.

Culture news

Sarah Jessica Parker on the 2025 Booker Prize judging panel

Sarah Jessica Parker is a judge on the newly announced panel for the 2025 Booker Prize. The ‘Sex and the City’ star will join panel chair Roddy Doyle alongside three other authors.

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Culture news

'Men In Love': Irvine Welsh to publish new sequel to ‘Trainspotting’

There have been other spin-off novels with the Trainspotting characters, but next year's "Men In Love" is the first that takes place immediately after the events of the original novel.

Culture news

Taylor Swift: The end of an Era(s Tour) - but not Obama's book record

Taylor Swift was named Spotify’s most-played artist yesterday and ends her monumental Eras Tour this weekend. She’s also landed the biggest book launch of the year in the US with the publication of her official Era's Tour book. However, fans have noticed multiple eras - sorry, errors...

Culture news

Nobel Prize winning authors demand release of writer Boualem Sansal

Multiple Nobel Prize-winning authors have signed a petition to demand the release of Algerian writer Boualem Sansal.

Culture news

Best-selling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford dies aged 91

Bradford, whose literary career began with "A Woman of Substance" in 1979, went on to write more than a dozen novels, selling tens of millions of copies worldwide.

Culture news

South African dissident writer Breyten Breytenbach dies aged 85

Breytenbach was a poet, novelist, painter and activist whose work touched on and influenced literature and the arts both domestically and abroad.

Culture news

Percival Everett wins National Book Award for 'James'

After disappointment at the Booker Prize, Everett has taken home one of the US's top gongs for his retelling of Mark Twain's story.

Culture news

Baillie Gifford prize winner rejects award over fossil fuel ties

Richard Flanagan has been awarded the Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction for his book "Question 7" but refused the award over the firm’s ties to the fossil fuel industry.

Culture news

Pope Francis calls for probe into possible Gaza genocide in new book

Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released from a new book ahead of the pontiff’s jubilee year.

Culture news

Celebrated Japanese poet Shuntaro Tanikawa dies aged 92

Tanikawa diverged from haiku and other traditions, and explored the poetic, not only in the repetitive music of the spoken word but also the magic hidden in little things.

Culture news

Samantha Harvey wins Booker Prize with 'Orbital'

The judges described Harvey's "Orbital" as a “miraculous novel” with a “crystalline” style that makes the world feel “strange and new”.

Culture news

Jamie Oliver book withdrawn after criticism by Indigenous Australians

Critics say the chef’s book “Billy and the Epic Escape” relies on tropes and stereotypes about Indigenous Australians.

Culture news

Dystopian books fly off the shelves following Trump's re-election

The prospect of four more years of Trump has sent readers back to their bookshelves to reacquaint themselves with the bleak futures depicted in works by Margaret Atwood and George Orwell.

Culture news

India overrules ban on Salman Rushdie book — due to a missing file

Rushdie's novel was banned in the Asian country in 1988 due to controversy over its depiction of Islam and portrayal of Prophet Muhammad.

Culture news

Rachel Cusk wins the Goldsmiths Prize for 'Parade'

It's the British writers 12th novel and fourth nomination for the prize.

Culture news

Fears of censorship at Algiers International Book Fair

French-Algerian author Kamel Daoud, who won the Prix Goncourt last week, was not invited to this year's 27th edition of Algiers International Book Fair. And he's not the only one - which has led some to fear a "complete ban from publishing."

Culture news

France’s top literary prize awarded to Kamel Daoud for ‘Houris’

Kamel Daoud becomes the first author of Algerian descent to win the Goncourt Prize with his novel 'Houris', which is banned in Algeria for tackling the 'black decade' - the civil war that pitted Islamist groups against the Algerian army from 1992 to 2002.