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Latest features and reviews

<p>Gwen John’s place in the British art scene is still a work in progress</p>

McCrum on Books

Augustus John is a legend – but his sister Gwen is the true genius

While her wild younger brother is a feted household name, Gwen John is hardly known. But a fascinating new book, which unravels their story of mutual torment, shows why this neglected sibling was the true talent and should now take her rightful place in British art history, writes Robert McCrum

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Books of the Month

What to read this July, including a wonderful memoir told in verse

<p>Noel Gallagher: ‘I wrote “Supersonic” in about however long it takes six other guys to eat a Chinese meal’</p>

EXTRACT

Oasis and the unlikely story of Supersonic: The making of a smash-hit

<p>Dua Lipa has recently re-launched her literary interview podcast</p>

State of the Arts

Dua Lipa and the problem with the celebrity book club mafia

<p>Stephen T Lewis: ‘Richard got lost in the wars between those two alpha males’</p>

The forgotten genius of The Band’s Richard Manuel

<p>Gráinne O’Hare’s debut is set in the nightclubs of Belfast</p>

interview

Sex, grief and debauchery: Gráinne O’Hare on her new novel Thirst Trap

<p>Munroe Bergdorf’s latest book, ‘Talk to Me’, is a guide on allyship</p>

Interview

Munroe Bergdorf: ‘Half of my face froze from Bell’s palsy’

<p>June reading list: From a debut packed with deft humour to an enlightening biography of one of the 20th century’s most intriguing writers, and a non-fiction exploration of the most stigmatised emotion</p>

Books of the Month

What to read this June from a witty revenge tale to a defence of rage

<p>Take a page out of their books: Elif Shafak, Nussaibah Younis and more on the novels that changed their lives</p>

Hay Festival 2025

The book that made me who I am, by Elif Shafak, Tessa Hadley and more

<p>Joanne Harris returns to her most famous character, Vianne, in a prequel book of the same name</p>

Interview

Chocolat’s Joanne Harris: ‘We don’t want machines to dream for us’

<p>Simon Armitage: ‘I don’t see it as my job to bring the nation together’</p>

Interview

Simon Armitage: ‘It’s not my job to bring the nation together’

<p>Always with a glass-half-full view of the world, Rebecca Solnit is soon appearing at this year’s Hay Festival</p>

interview

Rebecca Solnit: ‘Fiction is treated as more literary – f*** that’

Reviews

<p>The Big Three: Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference in 1945</p>

Tim Bouverie recalls The Big Three’s fall-out with wit and sensitivity

<p>‘Source Code’ is the first of a memoir trilogy, looking back on Bill Gates’s early years in Seattle to the 1975 foundation of Microsoft</p>

Amid cyborg tech tycoons, Bill Gates’s memoir offers a more human view

<p>Readers’ history: Orlando Reade’s new book explores the response to ‘Paradise Lost’ over the centuries </p>

The book unearthing the subversive history of Paradise Lost

<p>Compelling: Dalrymple highlights India’s ‘often forgotten position’ as a motor of global trade in ancient and early medieval times </p>

The history book that will transform your view of early civilisation

Lists

<p>What better way to become the best version of yourself other than with a trusty self-help book? (Alamy/PA)</p>

7 books that are cheaper than therapy

<p>Must-reads: the books you can’t miss in 2025 </p>

The books to read in 2025, from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to Adam Kay

<p>With the rise of Instagram and BookTok, the importance of aesthetics in literature is on the rise </p>

Don’t judge a book by its cover: 15 of the most iconic book covers

News