Winter in Sokcho review – atmospheric slow-burner about family and intimacy in South Korean border city
Koya Kamura’s debut film is about shared identities at the centre of quiet, chilly drama as an enigmatic French writer visits the eponymous town
Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood review – the great novelist reveals her hidden side
A sharp, funny and engaging autobiography from one of the towering literary figures of our age
The best recent poetry – review roundup
Namanlagh by Tom Paulin; Foretokens by Sarah Howe; Maryville by Joelle Taylor; Hekate by Nikita Gill; Goatsong by Phoebe Giannisi
Attention by Anne Enright review – sparkling reflections on life and literature
Unabashed and morally generous, the Booker winner writes like a sharp, funny, fallen angel
Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah audiobook review – coming-of-age saga in Tanzania
Three young people step boldly into their adult lives in this elegantly narrated novel from the Nobel laureate
Last One Out by Jane Harper review – satisfying thriller lacks the heft of her previous novels
The Australian crime writer’s latest is less about the dead than it is about the living, in a dilapidated town left suffocating in the aftermath of tragedy
Heart the Lover by Lily King review – a love story to treasure
A companion novel to the brilliant Writers & Lovers, this delightfully witty tale of college romance matures into midlife poignancy
The Line of Beauty review – Hollinghurst’s Gatsby-esque social satire is a class act
Jack Holden has elegantly adapted Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker winner about class envy, gay culture and political scandal in 80s Britain
Saltwash by Andrew Michael Hurley review – raw, dark folk horror confronts mortality
This wildly atmospheric tale of a reunion of dying people in a crumbling seaside hotel borrows tropes from cosy crime, but is truly chilling
Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith review – essays for an age of anxiety
From cultural appropriation to gender, Smith nails the politics of creativity. But on actual politics, she is less assured
Teenage Daydream by Debsey Wykes review – coming of age in an all-girl guitar band
Dolly Mixture’s singer and bassist looks back on their time chasing mainstream success and facing down outrageous sexism
The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie – a haunting coda to a groundbreaking career
From an afterlife fantasy to a tale of loss in Mumbai, death is a recurring theme in this story collection – an echo of the novelist at his peak
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc review – gore-soaked demonic anime squats in the manosphere
Tatsuki Fujimoto’s coming-of-age saga continues with a surreal encounter with a chainsaw-wielding demon living in a teenager’s soul
The Four Spent the Day Together by Chris Kraus review – a cult writer tries something new
The I Love Dick author combines autofiction with memoir and true crime
The Anthony Bourdain Reader review – undiscovered gems from the charismatic chef turned writer
A new collection brings essays, fiction and fragments together in a wild if uneven portrait of a restless mind