I learned the hard way that Fay Weldon was as sharp-witted as her characters
I jumped at the chance to interview her, but regretted it almost at once after being reminded of a bad review I wrote
Black Panthers, punks and brutalist buildings: the micro-publisher exploring Britain’s lost past
Every week, Café Royal publishes books highlighting forgotten architecture or subcultures, celebrating the work of amateur and professional photographers. And they cost less than a London pint
I left my baby to write this. How do artists balance creativity and the ache for their child?
All writers and painters who are mothers must tread a heroic path. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to, says the Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
On my radar: Katy Hessel’s cultural highlights
The art historian and broadcaster on the joys of Emma Corrin’s Orlando, and the exhibition that she has seen three times already
Ann Mactaggart obituary
Other lives: Teacher and accomplished seamstress who became well known for the restoration of harpsichords
In A Time of Panthers: Jeffrey Henson Scales photographs Black history
An absorbing pictorial history of a key component of the Black Power movement shows its relevance has not receded today
Africa’s biggest photography library opens in Ghana
Ghanaian photographer’s crowdfunded project won support of Humans of New York author and boasts more than 30,000 books
What’s it like to publish a deeply personal memoir?
I am often in a cold sweat, thinking of what will happen when my book is released
Top 10 polar photobooks
From Stefan Christman’s absorbing studies of emperor penguins to Sebastião Salgado’s stunning images of unpeopled wilderness, these are richly rewarding voyages for armchair explorers
Hilma af Klint: A Biography by Julia Voss review – portrait of the painter as a mystic
The Swedish abstract artist who conversed with the dead is described as a woman years ahead of her time in this scholarly, sympathetic study
The arts Christmas gift guide 2022: Dolly Parton dog wigs, Strictly tea towels, Bauhaus teapots and much more
From 007 socks to the Dark Side of the Spoon cookbook, from David Shrigley’s foot to AC/DC Monopoly, here are 40 perfect present ideas for culture-lovers everywhere
The big picture: Bill Brandt’s windows into the mind
The Anglo-German photographer’s evocative 1955 portrait typifies the tension he created between person and place
On my radar: David Shrigley’s cultural highlights
The darkly comic artist on being starstruck by Pavement, dining mid-river and a football team he can really get behind
The big picture: Bruno Barbey captures life on the road in 1960s Palermo
The Magnum photographer’s image of a family in Sicily recalls Fellini and Visconti in its romantic depiction of everyday Italian life
‘Pull back the shroud of mystery’: Joan Didion’s revealing estate sale
The often secretive author’s belongings will be available to bid for at an expansive and eye-opening auction