‘I was in a kind of ecstatic freefall’: artist Miranda July on writing the book that could change your life

The artist and filmmaker has always enjoyed challenging convention. Now she has written a novel which takes a breathtaking look at menopause, sex, death and transformation

‘I don’t want to cancel him’: Rose Boyt on confronting the gaze of her father, Lucian Freud

The artist’s daughter talks about her chaotic childhood, writing truthfully about her dad, and the books she read to him on his deathbed

‘I did not know the life I have now was a possibility’: Gemma Rolls-Bentley on her history of queer art

After two decades creating pioneering exhibitions, the curator decided to publish a ‘sexy coffee table book’ bringing together work made for clubs and protests as much as galleries

Critics, cancellation and cleanskin wine: the Australian novels satirising the art world

New books from Bri Lee and Liam Pieper reach into the frictions and follies of the art industry. But are they fact or fantasy?

Helen Hoyte obituary

Other lives: Art teacher who did much to revive interest in the ancient shawl-making tradition of Norwich and Norfolk

‘No one comes back’: Margaret Atwood’s anti-war poem debuts at Venice Biennale

Canadian author’s work, shared exclusively with the Observer, is to be shown alongside art by Goya

On my radar: Vashti Bunyan’s cultural highlights

The English singer-songwriter on an evocative Scottish railway museum, a much-missed painter and a forgotten American female musician

Apology after Benjamin Zephaniah mural painted over in Birmingham

Council contractor says sorry amid anger at removal of artwork of poet from an underpass in Hockley area

Bri Lee: ‘Writing about getting molested is why I now enjoy artistic freedom. That’s cooked’

In the lead-up to the release of her first novel, the author talks about art, cynicism and the human fascination with pain

On my radar: Alison Balsom’s cultural highlights

The classical trumpeter on a complex marital drama, an uncompromising violinist and a garden that feels like stepping back in time

On my radar: Frank Tallis’s cultural highlights

The author and psychologist on an intimate performance of MR James’s ghost stories, a brilliant debut novel and an impossibly good pianist

The Painter’s Daughters by Emily Howes review – Gainsborough’s girls

The spooky duality of private and public faces is explored in this compelling historical debut about the artist’s children

‘They didn’t understand us at all’: why the miners’ strike still captivates Britain, 40 years on

Artists, writers and film-makers have long been inspired by the stories – and myths – of the 1984-5 strike. But how do those most affected by its legacy feel about the portrayals?

On my radar: James Smith of Yard Act’s cultural highlights

The singer on the power of trespassing, a life-changing film, and the one item of clothing he never takes off

Rare Jungle Book painting to go on show at Kipling’s home

The Return of the Buffalo Herd, by teenage prodigies Edward and Charles Detmold, can be seen at Bateman’s after conservation