Ali Smith’s data dystopia
Her mind-expanding new novel Gliff draws battle lines between art, language and Big Tech.
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Ellen Peirson-Hagger
Ellen Peirson-Hagger is a former New Statesman assistant culture editor. She covers education as senior writer at Tes, and music and books as a freelance writer.
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Alba de Céspedes’s life of resistance
Informed by the novelist’s fight against Fascism in Italy, Her Side of the Story is a remarkable investigation into…
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Percival Everett’s American absurd
The author behind American Fiction on rewriting Mark Twain, the evolution of racism, and his addiction to irony.
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From Alpa Shah to Michael Taylor: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring Language City by Ross Perlin and The Observable Universe by Heather McCalden.
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How Spotify won
Taylor Swift, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Thom Yorke have all boycotted the streaming giant. Eventually, all of them…
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Suzie Miller: “I was so moved to see my play Prima Facie changing the law”
She was a lawyer for 15 years, then left to become a playwright. The resulting work has shifted approaches…
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The cult of Townes Van Zandt
Hardship haunted his short life, but a celebration of what would have been his 80th birthday reveals the country…
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From Bridget O’Connor to Grace Blakeley: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring The Performer by Richard Sennett and Cloistered by Catherine Coldstream.
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Inside the Royal Society of Literature’s civil war
Amid allegations of censorship, secrecy and elitism, the 300-year-old institution is tearing itself apart.
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