26 h. ago The Faber/Observer/Comica graphic short story prize 2025 – enter now!

The annual award for aspiring cartoonists – which now boasts its own evening event – offers the chance to be published in the Observer and win £1,000, with past winners landing book and film dealsThis year, we have decided to launch the annual Faber/Observer/Comica graphic short story prize with an event as well as an announcement: an evening that will hopefully be highly enjoyable for anyone who has followed the progress of the award, as well as helpful to those who might be thinking of entering this time around. On 9 April, then, come along to the Bindery in Hatton Garden, London, where a panel will discuss graphic novels in general and our prize in particular – tickets are still available. On stage will be last year’s brilliant judges, Luke Healy and Posy Simmonds, as well as Lesley Imgart, who won the 2024 prize for her charming, funny comic Witch Way?. The event will be chaired by me, and I hope to see you there.But back to the details of 2025. As ever, the winner of the prize ...

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5 d. ago Monaka wears her cyclops mask to work: Niccolò Rastrelli’s best photograph

‘Japan is the mecca of cosplay. Monaka runs a cafe in Tokyo called Monster Party, where people go dressed as characters from a subculture known as tanganmen. Her brother is holding a picture of their mum’My personal projects have often focused on the topic of identity, so the world of cosplay immediately appealed to me. I knew nothing about it until I saw some photographs on Instagram and became interested in these people who spend their free time turning themselves into characters from manga, anime, movies and video games – or even into creations they’ve come up with by themselves.Italy’s biggest annual cosplay event is held in the region where I live, Tuscany. I started going and taking pictures, just on my phone at first, and that’s where I first approached cosplayers to ask if they’d like to help me with a project I had in mind. In the 1970s, John Olson took some portraits for Life magazine of musicians such as Frank Zappa and Elton John at home with their parents. They contrast...

Culture

6 d. ago The Beatles: actors playing the Fab Four in Sam Mendes’ biopics announced

All four Beatles biopics, focusing on each member of the band, will be released in cinemas in April 2028The cast of Sam Mendes’ four upcoming Beatles biopics has been officially announced, with Harris Dickinson playing John Lennon, Paul Mescal playing Paul McCartney, Barry Keoghan playing Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn playing George Harrison.Mendes, the Oscar-winning director of films including American Beauty, 1917 and Skyfall, made a surprise appearance on stage with his Fab Four at CinemaCon, an annual industry event for Hollywood, in Las Vegas on Monday night. Continue reading...

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7 d. ago Engaging guide dogs demonstration team to attend annual event in Livingston

The Make Every Cuppa Count morning is being held at Chain Runner

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8 d. ago Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya review – teenage lives at the crossroads

A night of violence exposes the dynamics of race, masculinity and privilege at play in America’s schools The Marabar caves in A Passage to India represent the breakdown of order and communication as well as provoking the terrible accusation that drives EM Forster’s story. Sameer Pandya plays with a similar plot device in his compelling US-based novel, including an epigraph from Forster’s classic.It is set in southern California, where three teenage boys on the brink of adulthood – stars of their high school American football team with promising college careers ahead of them – attend a party at an abandoned house in the hills. Vikram is an Indian American, while Diego, who is Latino, lives with his academic mother. MJ is white with wealthy parents. Part of the pleasure of Pandya’s writing lies in his unravelling of identity politics – a theme explored in his debut, Members Only.Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya is published by Bloomsbury (£16.99). To support the Guardian and Observ...

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1 week ago 'Woke' Sundance film festival shockingly moves location after 40 years as fans rejoice

The annual cinematic event will relocate after a bidding process that included locations in Salt Lake City, Utah and Cincinnati, Ohio , Deadline reported earlier Thursday.

Culture

2 w. ago March Madness: The teams, dates and favorites for the 2025 NCAA tournament

Fans across the US are gearing up for the annual event. Here are all the details

Politics

3 w. ago Kate Middleton makes major announcement about upcoming event after heartfelt apology

The Princess of Wales is set to attend a special annual event next week that she apologised for missing last year after having abdominal surgery and being diagnosed with cancer

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3 w. ago A dozen teams took part in Carluke Rotary Primary School Quiz

The annual event was hosted this year by Carluke Primary School.

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3 w. ago All you need to know about London Book Fair 2025 as thousands head to Kensington for annual event

Essential trade fair returns for 2025 with events and seminars

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3 w. ago Hay Festival 2025: ‘Carnival of ideas’ returns with new events programme

Annual literary event has become a prominent occasion in British culture and boasts a star-studded lineup with over 600 events

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4 w. ago Kate and William among royals at service as Commonwealth’s ‘powerful influence for good in world’ celebrated

The King attended the annual Commonwealth Day event at Westminster Abbey with the Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales and the Princess Royal

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4 w. ago Princess Kate matches Angela Rayner in Labour red at Commonwealth Day Service 2025

The Princess of Wales returned to the annual Commonwealth Day Service after missing event in 2024

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4 w. ago What does Crufts winner get as Best in Show dog whippet Miuccia leaves fans divided

Crufts was held at the NEC in Birmingham this week from March 6 to 9, with the Best in Show winner named in the final of the annual international event in the city earlier today

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4 w. ago Silence please: how book clubs without the chat help focus the mind

A Silent Book Club is growing in popularity in Melbourne as an antidote to the social pressure of group discussionsGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailIt’s commuter hour on a late-summer morning and the sun is still stretching through the leafy canopy of Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens. In the cool, concrete sanctuary of MPavilion – the city’s annual architecture installation/event space/public shelter – a small group of people sit reading. Some recline on beanbags, some perch on stools; others lean against the fluted concrete wall, breeze running through their hair. For close to an hour, nobody speaks; they just read.This is Silent Book Club, where there is no required book list, no entry fee, no organised discussion. Just reading, quietly, in company. Continue reading...

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last month Inside Victoria Beckham's PFW show! Her husband David and kids Romeo, Cruz and Harper make up the star

The fashion designer, 50, returned to the annual event for the third year running as she debuted her Fall/Winter 2025-2026 women's ready-to-wear collection.

Culture