13 h. ago Jarvis Cocker and Mary Beard announced as Booker prize judges

The historian is set to lead a ‘stellar’ 2026 panel featuring the Pulp frontman and other acclaimed writers, as the search begins for next year’s standout work of fictionPulp frontman Jarvis Cocker will feature on the 2026 Booker prize judging panel that will be chaired by the classicist and broadcaster Mary Beard.Novelist Patricia Lockwood has also been named as a judge, along with the poet Raymond Antrobus and Rebecca Liu, an editor at the Guardian Saturday magazine. Continue reading...

Events

16 h. ago Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and broadcaster Mary Beard among Booker Prize judges

The literary prize panel will also feature Patricia Lockwood, Raymond Antrobus and Rebecca Liu.

Events

17 h. ago Mary Beard and Jarvis Cocker join judging panel of 2026 Booker prize

Raymond Antrobus, Rebecca Liu, and Booker Prize-shortlisted author Patricia Lockwood make up the rest of the ‘stellar’ group

Politics

5 d. ago Story of Handmaid’s Tale becoming ‘more and more plausible’ – Margaret Atwood

The book tells the story of subjugated women called handmaids who are forced to be natal slaves.

Politics

2 w. ago Men aren’t vanishing from fiction. The truth is more complicated

As debates over the ‘disappearing’ young male novelist rumble on, some authors and critics push back against claims that fiction has closed its doors to men. Hannah Ewens learns that the real problem is less about publishing and more about a wider societal issue

Politics

3 w. ago Things That Disappear by Jenny Erpenbeck review – a kaleidoscopic study of transience

A collection of columns by the German Booker winner reveals a keen eye for details that mark the passing of timeJenny Erpenbeck wrote the pieces collected in this compact yet kaleidoscopic book for a column in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; published in German in 2009, they now appear in an English translation by Kurt Beals, following the immense success of Erpenbeck’s novel Kairos, which won the 2024 International Booker prize.It’s interesting and instructive to reflect on what German newspaper readers made of the column in the early years of the new millennium, nearly two decades on from the fall of the Berlin Wall. For while Erpenbeck adopted some of the features of the form – apparently throwaway observations on daily life, such as minor irritation at the difficulty of sourcing proper splitterbrötchen, an unpretentious pastry now pimped for a more elaborate and wealthy clientele – she consistently enlarged and complicated it. Into that recognisable tone of e...

Events

3 w. ago Booker prize winners, rap hits and Ryder Cups: interpreting the Ashes omens

History shows that surprisingly random factors can have an impact on whether England or Australia lift the urnContrary to what you may have read in some other publications, Josh Hazlewood’s hamstring injury is a massive boost to Australia’s hopes of victory in the first Test in Perth. The 34-year-old, you see, has proven beyond all doubt over an 11-year international career that he is a terrible hindrance to his team.Since the Tamworth-born terror made his Test debut in December 2014 he has played in 76 of Australia’s 107 Tests, of which they have won 39 (51%), while losing 24 (32%). Decent numbers, but it’s when you strip him from the side that they really thrive, with 22 wins (71%) and just five defeats (16%) in 31 games. His impact in the Ashes, if anything, is even more damaging: they have won 50% and lost 33% of their 18 games with him, but won 71% and lost just 14%, a single rogue game, of their seven without his malign presence. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago ‘It’s pretty healthy’: Sharon Horgan on her relationship with fashion at Edeline Lee’s Women and Power talk

The Irish actor and writer chats about how clothes shape creativity and confidence at Edeline Lee’s latest speaker series.

Politics

3 w. ago Not OK? Booker winner Flesh ignites debate about state of masculinity

Toxic male behaviour of David Szalay’s protagonist reflects real-world concerns about a ‘crisis of masculinity’In the immediate aftermath of David Szalay’s book Flesh winning the Booker prize, one feature of the novel stood out: how often the protagonist utters the word “OK”.The 500 times István grunts out the response is part of a sparse prose style through which the British-Hungarian Szalay gives the reader few insights into the inner workings of a man whose fortunes rise and fall. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Sarah Jessica Parker to be honored with Carol Burnett Award at the Golden Globes

Sarah Jessica Parker has been named the winner of the Carol Burnett Award for 2026 for her outstanding contributions to television

Events

4 w. ago How did Sarah Jessica Parker become a judge of the Booker Prize?

Plus celebs go skating at Somerset House and Topjaw turns 10

Events

4 w. ago Celebrating literature is good – but I’m running out of patience with celebrity book clubs | Emma Brockes

Sarah Jessica Parker swept all before her at the Booker prize ceremony, but is fame the best way to encourage reading?In these turbulent times, we take small joys where we can find them. And this week we’ll take this: the spectacle of various literary people at the Booker prize award ceremony jamming themselves into photos alongside Sarah Jessica Parker. The actor – if you missed the long piece about it in the New York Times, or the many social media posts promoting Parker’s involvement – served as a judge for the Booker this year, a process that required her to read 153 books, some of them on the New York subway while being followed by a film crew. “Oh let me try!!!!” Parker had posted to Booker organisers last year, and for reasons that became obvious this week, they did.I know what you are going to say; that anything short of full-throated support for Parker’s adorable engagement with books in general and the Booker prize in particular is just unacceptable snobbery. There is noth...

Culture

4 w. ago Should I care what Sarah Jessica Parker thinks about books? | Emma Brockes

She swept all before her at the Booker prize ceremony, but I’m running out of patience with celebrity influence in publishingIn these turbulent times, we take small joys where we can find them. And this week we’ll take this: the spectacle of various literary people at the Booker prize award ceremony jamming themselves into photos alongside Sarah Jessica Parker. The actor – if you missed the long piece about it in the New York Times, or the many social media posts promoting Parker’s involvement – served as a judge for the Booker this year, a process that required her to read 153 books, some of them on the New York subway while being followed by a film crew. “Oh let me try!!!!” Parker had posted to Booker organisers last year, and for reasons that became obvious this week, they did.I know what you are going to say; that anything short of full-throated support for Parker’s adorable engagement with books in general and the Booker prize in particular is just unacceptable snobbery. There ...

Politics