Charlie Connelly
13 March 2024
Willem de Kooning: The unintentional painter
To the Dutchman commercial art was just as fulfilling as something more purely creative – and it came with a wage
Read the full article13 March 2024
The hardest truths: Clara Dupont-Monod and the weight of the past
In a new book by a best-selling French author, ancient onlookers watch a family come to terms with a disabled child
Read the full article06 March 2024
Mikhail Bulgakov: The USSR's most deliberate provocateur
A barely concealed desire for the old Russian empire would infuse his work but even this did not preclude Stalin’s tacit admiration
Read the full article06 March 2024
The lady vanishes: the mystery of H Ellen Browning
A great writer travelled to Hungary, wrote a single book, and then disappeared. All she left behind was a masterpiece
Read the full article28 February 2024
Horst Buchholz: The man who made Germans cool again
He arrived in the US as the “James Dean of Germany” but that promise would never truly be fulfilled
Read the full article28 February 2024
Seamus Heaney’s songs of the earth
How a Danish archaeologist’s book about ancient bodies found buried in peat bogs inspired some of the poet’s greatest work
Read the full article21 February 2024
Stefan Zweig: The perpetual exile longing for the Viennese life he once knew
Many exiled European writers embraced their situation, but for Zweig the loss of his nation represented the loss of his identity
Read the full article21 February 2024
Esther Rutter: Her hopes rose in Grasmere
How a young woman finally unlocked the life ahead of her by spending a year at Wordsworth’s cottage in the Lake District
Read the full article14 February 2024
Kralle Krawinkel: The guitarist who put the Dada into Da Da Da
As good a musician as Keith Richards, the German was never entirely comfortable in the limelight
Read the full article14 February 2024
A family on the edge of the world
No other writer has captured the singular beauty of the northern French coast like Rebecca Gisler in her debut novel
Read the full article07 February 2024
Anna Anderson: The woman who claimed to be the daughter of the last Tsar
Once the toast of New York society, the mystery of why she did what she did remains
Read the full article07 February 2024
I’m a celeb.. get me a book deal
Serge Gainsbourg’s novel was unquestionably a stinker, but a surprising number of novels by famous people stand up to scrutiny
Read the full article31 January 2024
Fred Buscaglione: The Turin boy who was the face of post-war Italy
The singer almost came to embody the nation’s revival before it all ended at the dawn of a decade that could have been made for him
Read the full article31 January 2024
The page against the machine
A Russian author is declared a ‘terrorist’ for opposing Putin. American writers are banned in right-wing states. Where will this end?
Read the full article24 January 2024
Edward G Robinson: The Romanian all-American personification of prohibition
The role of Rico in Little Caesar proved as career-defining for Robinson as Frankenstein’s monster was for Boris Karloff or Dracula for Bela Lugosi
Read the full article24 January 2024
Pierre Boulle, from sabotage to screen
French Resistance spy Boulle took up writing almost on a whim – then created the basis for two all-time classic films
Read the full article17 January 2024
Nora Kovach: The dancer who defected
More famous dancers would follow her lead but Nora Kovach was the first, the pioneer, arguably the bravest of them all
Read the full article17 January 2024
Magic in the margins: what links Marlene Dietrich with Coleridge and Kerouac?
All were fans of writing their own thoughts on the pages of the books they read
Read the full article10 January 2024
Uta Hagen: The best - and most demanding - acting coach in the business
While she became one of the most highly respected names in the history of US theatre, Hagen brought a European sensibility to Broadway
Read the full article10 January 2024
The hippo who went shopping: a vivid portrayal of the refugee experience
A real-life zoo breakout is the first in a series of tumultuous events to befall the refugee hero of Leo Vardiashvili’s impressive debut novel
Read the full article03 January 2024
Mistinguett: The song-and-dance showgirl who owned the Paris stage
So emblematic of the city’s spirit did she become that Mistinguett seemed timeless even in her own lifetime
Read the full article03 January 2024
Welcome to this year’s must-reads
2024 should go down as a vintage year for female authors
Read the full article20 December 2023
Baba Yaga: The fairytale scourge of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus
Attempting to steal children’s Christmas gifts from a kindly old man is only one item on the charge sheet of the cannibalistic witch
Read the full article20 December 2023
A year of magnificent exceptions in the world of books
The perfect combination of compelling narrative and wonderful writing is rare but when it works the results are unforgettable
Read the full article13 December 2023
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: The reformer who never quite understood the nation
His zeal doused by public apathy and establishment ambivalence, Albert became gradually overwhelmed by disillusionment
Read the full article13 December 2023
One ring and the right wing: Giorgia Meloni's love of Tolkien
What draws Italy’s populist leader, along with a number of other far-right politicians, to the work of JRR Tolkien?
Read the full article06 December 2023
Luigi Pirandello: The relentless seeker for answers to the riddle of existence
The relentlessly prolific author of plays, poems, short stories and novels, Pirandello was always looking ahead
Read the full article06 December 2023
Writing in the present tense: books for under the Christmas tree
Tales of ice and lighthouses, the ghosts of Irish literary legends and the Iliad reborn: the books you should give this Christmas
Read the full article29 November 2023
Stéphane Grappelli: The violinist who changed the face of jazz in Europe
There was no other with his extraordinary improvising in the medium
Read the full article29 November 2023
The clot thickens: Nadine Dorries' caffeine-fuelled torrent of words
The former Tory culture secretary and Boris Johnson superfan has written an astoundingly bad book
Read the full article22 November 2023
Shakespeare conquered the world elsewhere
The first recorded purchase of Shakespeare’s collected works came 400 years ago – and the compendium soon crossed into Europe
Read the full article22 November 2023
Louis Malle: The French director who was a cinematic maverick
Malle’s unique approach to cinema meant he was always on the hunt for ways to freshen things up, no matter the risk
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