Woolgathering by Patti Smith – review
Smith's vivid sequence of memoir sketches has lost none of its quiet power in this augmented 20th anniversary edition, writes Helen Zaltzman
My 1960s wasn’t all sex, drugs and rock’n'roll – and I suspect I’m not alone
Ian Jack: For a lot of people, today's dominant narrative about the 1960s and the baby-boomer generation does not ring true
Culture coach: the week’s essential arts stories
Charlotte Higgins: It was the week that Maurice Sendak died and Bianca Jagger had a fight at the opera. Here are the past seven days' biggest arts stories from around the web
Culture coach: the week’s essential arts stories
Charlotte Higgins: Every week I'll round up the biggest arts stories from around the web, recommend a long read and look ahead at what's coming up
BBC and Arts Council launch joint digital Space for culture
Partnership set to offer hundreds of hours of new and archived arts programming online, on mobile and on digital TV. By John Plunkett
The Rolling Stones: Fifty Years by Christopher Sandford – review
The Rolling Stones' merchandise, rather than their music, has ensured their survival, writes Peter Conrad
Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell by Tom Bower – review
He's been the linchpin of top-rating TV for a decade, but we still know little about Cowell the man. This book doesn't help much, says Marina Hyde
On her majesty’s silver service: expats dust off tuxedos for BritWeek in LA
Britons famous, once famous and perhaps to be famous again are beating the drum for the UK in Hollywood this week
A History of Singing by John Potter and Neil Sorrell – review
The tenor Ian Bostridge on song – from lullabies to opera
Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls find literary fame
Novelist who made the Costa award shortlist brings the 'fiendish northern sweets' into her plot
Tim Burgess: ‘I tried a lot of different drugs’
The Charlatans singer on Britpop, developing a breakfast cereal for Kellog's and a very odd experiment with cocaine
Did Solange take the pee out of The Great Gatsby?
The singer claims to have made use of a copy of F Scott Fitzgerald's novel when caught short in the desert
Snoop Dogg on a roll with smokable book
Rapper has released a book of his song lyrics printed on rolling papers so it can be smoked once read
Paperback Q&A: Simon Reynolds on Retromania
The music critic on travelling through time to grapple with pop's eerie fixation with looking back
Fly to Brittany, spring gardens break and three of the best alfresco arts events
The newly accessible French coastline, green-fingered forays and outdoor screenings and concerts at stately homes
The neuroscience of Bob Dylan’s genius
How do we have insights, and where does inspiration come from? Jonah Lehrer goes inside Bob Dylan's brain to find out
A Natural Woman by Carole King – review
Wildly successful, modest – Carole King is a one-off. By Caroline Sullivan
How Soon Is Now? by Richard King – review
A group biography of independent labels takes Sukhdev Sandhu back to his teenage years
New faces on Sgt Pepper album cover for artist Peter Blake’s 80th birthday
Amy Winehouse, JK Rowling, Noel Gallagher, Mick Jagger and the Monty Python foot to feature in update of 1967 original
The Most Incredible Thing – review
Buried inside this big multimedia production, an illuminating fable is waiting to get out, writes Sanjoy Roy
Mike Skinner: ‘I get withdrawal symptoms if I’ve not created something for a few days’
The artist formerly known as the Streets on life after rap, the surprise of his rapid rise to fame and why years of sustained drug-taking were really great fun
All Cheeses Great and Small: A Life Less Blurry by Alex James – review
Blur bassist Alex James's memoir of farming life swaps pop excess for crumpets and polytunnels, writes Tom Lamont
Latitude 2012 lineup: Elbow, Paul Weller and Bon Iver to headline
Other performers at Suffolk festival include Bat for Lashes, classical pianist Lang Lang, and professor Brian Cox
The Turn of the Screw – review
Northern Ireland Opera's production of The Turn of the Screw is, on the whole, a clear and thoroughly effective staging. There's a real buzz to this company, writes Andrew Clements
Hole’s Eric Erlandson to release Kurt Cobain book
Guitarist's prose and poetry tribute to Nirvana frontman set to be published without permission of Courtney Love
Pop stars working the web
Rihanna is the queen of Twitter. David Byrne's psychedelic radio show is a global hit. And Tim Burgess has his own virtual caff, writes Chris Salmon
The readers’ editor on… how too much coverage of some people can annoy
Chris Elliott: Open door: The prominence given to Christopher Hitchens, the Duchess of Cambridge, Fabio Capello and Harry Redknapp irked readers
Rock’n'roll’s literary love-in
Camille Paglia has written gushingly about pop singer Adele, but she's not the only writer to pen glowing words about their favourite star
Prince: Inside the Music and the Masks by Ronin Ro – review
Prince's latest biographer is great on sales figures – but the man himself remains a mystery, says Dorian Lynskey
Greil Marcus: a life in writing
'I had an overwhelming urge to express the joy, the delirium, I felt listening to the radio and going to shows by the Stones and Dylan'
The Last Holiday: A Memoir by Gil Scott-Heron – review
The late American musician's riveting memoir veers from heart-rending revelations to wisecracks and street poetry, writes Margaret Busby