Manchester Central Library taken over by Chaos to Order week
Band Everything Everything shows library is more than just dusty books with noisy week of music, storytelling and performance
From bop to żal: how jazz became the voice of freedom in Poland
Suppressed under Stalin and promoted on film, jazz has long been synonymous with freedom in Poland. Richard Williams surveys a thriving tradition that embraces the spirit of longing
Timothy Spall: ‘Maybe these days you simply need to be posh to be an actor. It’s a bloody shame’
The enduring performer talks about the emotional moment he received best actor award at Cannes for his role in Mike Leigh’s new film Mr Turner, 18 years after having to miss the festival when he was diagnosed with leukaemia, writes Xan Brooks
The Turn of the Screw review – compelling, challenging and creepy
Jonathan Kent’s production of Britten’s ghost story is revived to haunting effect, with standout central performances from the children, writes Tim Ashley
Children’s illustrators’ doodles: watch them in action!
Want to experience the magic of illustration in motion? Then watch these six-second videos of top children’s illustrators drawing. From Axel Scheffler to Debi Gliori, watch the finest British illustrators doodling beautifully for us
A literary tour of Manchester
From Marx and Engels to John Cooper Clarke, Manchester has a radical literary history. Ahead of the city’s literature festival, David Atkinson discovers its bookish haunts on a walking tour
Gone Girl unleashes battle of the sexes at New York film festival
Chilly woman at heart of David Fincher drama is a new kind of screen heroine, says film's star Rosamund Pike. Xan Brooks reports from the film's world premiere
Observer Ideas 2014: witness the power of words in person
As Conchita Wurst is added to our one-day festival of talks and performances, it’s a good moment to reflect on the power of face-to-face speech, writes Carole Cadwalladr
Accents, narrators and total silence: how you hear voices when you read
Do characters speak to you when you read – or are you more affected by the author’s voice? In response to a survey investigating what hearing voices means to writers, we asked readers for their experiences. Here are some of your responses
Wild review – a two-hour hallucinatory montage
Reese Witherspoon shines in Jean-Marc Vallée's lean, energetic adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's bestselling memoir, writes Henry Barnes
This Is Where I Leave You review: Fey and Bateman in tale of sibling ribaldry
Jason Bateman, Tina Fey and Adam Driver play the offspring of Jane Fonda, required to come home and remain there for a week after the death of their father. The performers excel, but the schmaltz can send a shiva down the spine
Madame Bovary review: just go with the Flaubert – Toronto film festival
This swooningly grim adaptation is inessential but interesting viewing, not least for Mia Wasikowska’s fish-out-of-water heroine; a crabby valley girl in rural Normandy
Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2014 – as it happened
We tracked debate, ideas and controversy at the sixth annual Festival of Dangerous Ideas at Sydney Opera House – catch up with the conversation
Haruki Murakami: ‘My lifetime dream is to be sitting at the bottom of a well’
The Japanese author talked writing, heroes, domestic life, dreams and how his life informs his novels at a Guardian book club at the Edinburgh international book festival – and he answered some of your questions
Samuel Beckett’s articulation of unceasing inner speech
Marco Bernini: The literal sounds in his characters' minds express a subtle and revealing understanding of how we all talk to ourselves