5 d. ago Dolls 'salvaged' from thrift shops, VHS tape sculptures and war trauma paintings: The four artists shortlisted for this year's Turner Prize are revealed

Announced today at Tate Britain - on what would have JMW Turner's 250th birthday - the shortlist has attracted criticism for failing to be revolutionary in the same way as previous years.

Events

6 d. ago An irrelevant bourgeois ritual: this year’s Turner prize shortlist is the soppiest ever

Holy balls of wool! From pointless paintings to emotionless snapshots, the once-controversial award tiptoes too earnestly across the minefield of today’s culture warsRemember when controversy was fun? If not, that’s because you’re too young. But back in the 1990s, my child, Britain got itself in hilarious knots about conceptual art, the readymade and whether a pickled shark or elephant dung can be art, with the Turner prize as battleground. It was a culture war but with laughs, because no one’s identity was at stake and it wasn’t like Brian Sewell was going to become prime minister and have Rachel Whiteread jailed.It is by embracing the earnestness of today’s high-stakes culture wars that the Turner prize has lost its edge, the art getting more careful as the ideologies loom larger. This year’s shortlist is the soppiest yet. Two of the artists nominated are painters. Painters, I ask you! This makes some sense of the shortlist announcement taking place on JMW Turner’s 250th birthday....

Politics

6 d. ago Videotape sculptures and wartime paintings among Turner prize shortlist

Nnena Kalu, Mohammed Sami, Rene Matić and Zadie Xa have been nominated for £25,000 prizeAn artist who creates swirling sculptures out of fabric and old videocassette tape, and another who installed huge paintings evoking wartime trauma in the genteel rooms of Blenheim Palace, have been shortlisted for this year’s Turner Prize.Nnena Kalu, a Scottish-born, London-based artist, and Mohammed Sami, who fled his native Iraq as a refugee, have been chosen alongside Rene Matić and Zadie Xa to compete for the contemporary art prize. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Historic Greater Manchester pub amongst venues nominated in prestigious pub and bar awards

­­­The 2025 National Pub & Bar Awards shortlist has been revealed and includes a number of north west venues

Events

2 w. ago Ayrshire favourites announced in the shortlist for the 2025 World Championship Scotch Pie Awards

Ayrshire’s Brownings the Bakers, Irvines Ltd, David at Brownings, The Kandy Bar Bakery and The Cumbrae Butcher have been shortlisted for this year's award.

Events

2 w. ago Oscar's Book Prize 2025 shortlist revealed: £10,000 prize showcases writing and illustrating talent from across UK

The £10,000 award for the best picture book for young children this year spotlights authors and illustrators based from Cornwall to North Yorkshire

Economics

2 w. ago Kaliane Bradley: ‘I dreaded the book going to people I know’

The author of bestseller The Ministry of Time on how lockdown telly, Terry Pratchett and her Cambodian heritage shaped her Arctic time travel taleKaliane Bradley, 36, lives in east London and works as an editor at Penguin Classics. Her debut novel, The Ministry of Time (Sceptre), was published last year to critical acclaim and a place in the bestseller charts and is out in paperback now. It’s a vivid time travel tale following Lieutenant Graham Gore, a crew member of Franklin’s lost 1845 Arctic expedition, who is brought back to life in the 21st century as part of a government experiment. He develops an unlikely relationship with his “bridge”, a contemporary character helping him assimilate to the modern world. It was longlisted for the 2025 women’s prize for fiction and the BBC has commissioned a TV adaptation.What has the past year been like for you?Lovely and discombobulating. I veer wildly between immense gratitude and intense impostor syndrome. But I’m still working 4.5 days a ...

Politics

2 w. ago National World's podcasts shine in Publisher Podcast Awards shortlist for 2025

Podcasts from National World have been shortlisted 15 times at the 2025 Publisher Podcast Awards against titans of the industry.

Events

3 w. ago International Booker Prize shortlist 2025: ‘Truly disturbing and achingly beautiful’ global stories

Selection features stories that offer ‘a miraculous lens through which to view human experience’

Politics

3 w. ago Elizabeth Strout, Miranda July and four debut writers make the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist

From novels described as a 'Muslim Fleabag' to those endorsed by Gillian Anderson, the Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlist has collated the most exciting and original novels of the year

Politics

3 w. ago The ES Shopping Shortlist: What to shop, see and know in April 2025

The hot-off-the-press launches and shiny shopping newness to know this month

Economics

3 w. ago The Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025 shortlist is here – these are my must

From coming-of-age stories to sexual awakenings, these six titles have been recognised as future classics

Politics

3 w. ago Elizabeth Strout and Miranda July are among finalists for the Women's Prize for Fiction

American authors Elizabeth Strout and Miranda July are among finalists for the Women’s Prize for Fiction

Politics

3 w. ago Miranda July and Elizabeth Strout shortlisted for the Women’s prize for fiction

American authors of All Fours and Tell Me Everything are competing for the 30th award alongside four other novels highlighting ‘the importance of human connection’American writers Miranda July and Elizabeth Strout have been shortlisted for the 30th Women’s prize for fiction alongside four debut authors.The six titles in contention for the £30,000 prize all draw on “the importance of human connection” in different ways, said writer and judging chair Kit de Waal. “What is surprising and refreshing is to see so much humour, nuance and lightness employed by these novelists to shed light on challenging concepts.” Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Women’s Prize for Fiction unveils 2025 shortlist featuring four debut novelists tackling identity, history and self

The category is dominated by new voices, joined by previous nominees Miranda July and Elizabeth Stout

Culture