New supplement, new features, new writers: Changes ahead for The Independent and The Independent on Sunday

Your weekends are looking brighter! Improvements are on the way for both The Independent's Saturday edition and The Independent on Sunday.

The changes start this week when The Independent on Sunday unveils a refreshed look as well as some new features. The editor John Mullin, who describes the changes as energetic, elegant and imaginative, provides further details HERE.

Sunday also sees the publication of The Happy List, the annual celebration of 100 fascinating people who give something back to British society rather than take from it. Now in its fifth year, the list was devised as an antidote to that annual celebration of greed, The Rich List, published by The Sunday Times.

Mullin also details how The Independent on Sunday has been shortlisted for several major awards at the same time as enjoying strong newstrade sales in the face of an otherwise declining Sunday quality newspaper market.

Then The Independent launches refreshed supplements from Saturday week, 28 April. As the editor Chris Blackhurst details HERE, the package will include a flagship arts, books, listings and culture magazine called Radar.

Blackhurst says of Radar: "It combines the strengths of the existing Arts & Books section – most of which will move from next week from its current Friday slot – and our old listings supplements. We will, though, still help you choose which films to go out and see on a Friday night."

He adds: "The Independent recently added two of the brightest new, young stars in the journalistic firmament to its award-winning team of writers: Owen Jones and Laurie Penny. They are now joined by more talent, wooed from the competition – the brilliant, sassy, funny Grace Dent."

The Independent on Sunday and The Independent launch these initiatives in the face of their first price rises for five years and nearly four years respectively. The Independent on Sunday will cost £2 from this weekend. The Monday to Friday price of The Independent will be £1.20 from next Monday, 23 April, although the improved Saturday package remains unchanged at £1.60.

The existing, pre-price-rise subscription offer still stands: £5 per week for all editions of The Independent and The Independent on Sunday – worth £9.60 – now with free iPad access, which would normally cost £9.99 a month. (You can use prepaid vouchers at the newsagent. For more information and to sign up, go to independent.co.uk/subscriptions.)