‘I spat in Sean Connery’s face 16 times’: Ron Perlman on making The Name of the Rose
‘When I couldn’t do the spitting scene, Sean took me aside and said: “Ron, if you don’t actually spit in my face, we’ll be here all day.” So I let one fly – and kept having to redo it’I read an article about a curious book that had great reviews in…
Sleeping Beauties by David Byrne review – a quirky journey through the afterlife of invention
The Talking Heads frontman considers dormant ideas that made a comeback – from Indian irrigation to KafkaThere’s barely been a moment in the last half-century when David Byrne hasn’t been zinging about, dancing forward, opting odd. The art-school…
My sister Nicole married OJ Simpson. This is what I wish I had known
Since Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder in 1994, Denise Brown has devoted herself to ending domestic violence. She talks about her beloved sister, the trauma she witnessed in the couple’s marriage and how lives can be savedThe last night Denise Brown spent…
Children’s books with Black main characters down 8% in a year, study shows
Only 150 of 2,189 titles published in UK for young children last year focused on minority ethnic, disabled or neurodivergent charactersThe number of children’s books featuring Black main characters fell by almost 8% last year, according to research into…
When is the right time to compare US politics to the Nazi era This expert on Christian nationalism says: now
Robert P Jones argues that declining white Christian influence has fuelled an alliance with Trump, and warns it is reshaping US democracyThe lawyer Mike Godwin famously came up with the “law” that, as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of…
The Guardian view on Barack Obama’s new podcast: all the president’s books | Editorial
From Oprah Winfrey to Dua Lipa, there is no shortage of celebrity literary champions. But the former US leader is in a class of his ownAt the Labour party conference Andy Burnham revealed that Hamlet, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Tony Harrison’s…
The best recent poetry – review roundup
Have It by John Cooper Clarke; The Dodo Stories by Mary Mulholland; Red River Valley by Ian McMillan; Some Sacred Harbour by Roger Robinson; Otherwhere by Carolyn ForchéHave It by John Cooper Clarke (Picador, £16.99)The latest collection from the…
‘Starchitects go home’: what’s the truth behind Albania’s astonishing building boom?
Sixty top architecture firms from around the world have mooted 500 eye-catching projects across Albania, sparking fury and protests. Now they’re being celebrated in an 800-page tome that some are calling ‘a smoking gun’Last autumn, I was sitting with a…
Rhapsody: A Manifesto by Alice Oswald review – a history of the spoken word, from Homer to Ted Hughes
A twisting, beguiling investigation into the art of poetry that ends in a call to arms on behalf of the natural worldThe poet Alice Oswald is no stranger to thinking in public about her art. She was Oxford professor of poetry until 2023, and her lectures…
The Long Cloud by Hector MacKenzie review – there’s only so much depth to a himbo
This wry debut novel about a male model’s inner life, written in lowercase fragments, has tender insights but isn’t as profound as it aims to beShould you care about a vape-loving, philandering male model who just goes with the flow because that’s life?…