No fainting allowed at a traditional equine festival in sunny Menorca

James Marriott's The New Dark Ages is a heartfelt lament for and celebration of books in a device-dominated age. But the battle against distraction is nothing new

Your essential guide from The Observer’s books desk

The celebrated conductor was in exuberant form, demonstrating her command of contemporary US music, from Gershwin to the neglected Joan Tower. Plus, Grimeborn Opera Festival

As a new biopic finds an unexpected youth hero in the figure of Charles De Gaulle, Jonathan Romney on the wave of directors revisiting France’s wartime legacy

Hermione Lee unravels the knotty life of the novelist and art historian – doing her the service of leaving all her mystery intact

A veteran journalist swaps the newsroom for clown school, tumbling into joy, humour and an optimism about humanity

His 1988 memoir of homelessness and alcoholism, The Grass Arena, was lauded one minute and pulped the next. Nearly 40 years on, Healy, now 83, is setting the record straight

Zach Zucker has turned his anarchic Stamptown cabaret into a cult hit and now a Netflix special

A punchy Prince of Tyre musical and a portrait of a pouting Perdita are among the highlights of a festival held in an old pub theatre

Our critic picks five cultural highlights, whether you have a few minutes, an hour or a day to spare

The national outpouring of grief that has met the death of Norway’s monarch speaks volumes about the man and his message of inclusivity

What Julian Jones’s series lacks in geopolitical context it makes up for in deep humanity. Plus, The Murder Detective investigates the death of Lyra McKee

The late Tennessee superstar had a unique ability to square the circle of being loyal to her inner hillbilly with her gifts as a formidable artist

What Julian Jones’s series lacks in geopolitical context it makes up for in deep humanity. Plus, The Murder Detective investigates the death of Lyra McKee

His 1988 memoir of homelessness and alcoholism, The Grass Arena, was lauded one minute and pulped the next. Nearly 40 years on, Healy, now 83, is setting the record straight

The country star’s seven-decade career was built on instinctual understanding of business and branding and a songwriting style that drew on her own experience heartbreak and survival

As the embroidery arrives in the UK for the first time in 950 years, experts say the women who created it were playing a strategic game of survival

Alicia Graf Mack is preparing the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for its first international tour since she became artistic director

The Spanish director’s candid exploration of self-doubt, grief and an auteur’s struggle with his creative life has none of the bitterness of its title

Our critic picks five cultural highlights, whether you have 20 minutes, a mealtime or a couple of days to spare

The Oscar-nominated actor is the compelling centre of a playful but toothless Brazilian retelling of Ibsen’s courtroom drama

In her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, the woman wrongfully convicted of Meredith Kercher’s murder defiantly reclaims her story

Premiering at the Edinburgh International Festival, a startling new work explores the devastating effect of addiction in the US through a hallucinogenic horse ride

From father-daughter fallouts to faith-based child abuse and shady dealings in the suburbs, trouble begins at home for the Palme d’Or frontrunners

Three women and one man will vie for Britain’s top art award with an exhibition in Middlesbrough

The Olivier award-winning writer of Prima Facie and Inter Alia drew on her legal career to put female lawyers at the centre of her dramas. After tackling sexual assault and toxic masculinity, she reve...

In London, a city rocked by antisemitic hate crimes, an artist with a history of praising Hitler has been chosen to perform at a summer music festival. Why?

A judging panel led by Phil Redmond will be looking for signs of a strong local identity and lots in the way of arts and heritage

White wanted his Brittany home turned into an artists’ residence. Now it may be sold on the open market

The bowler-hatted adventurer is heading for the big screen. Alfie and Dogger may follow. Why are our childhood heroes back in vogue?

The late, great Anglo-Portuguese artist’s son Nick Willing is preserving her legacy – and her cast of grotesques. He shows us his mother’s idiosyncratic studio

Book lovers weren’t best pleased when The Observer presented them with a new debut novel created by ChatGPT at the Hay Festival this weekend

The dissident artist is to spend 24 hours in a life-sized replica of the space where he was detained for 81 days by the Chinese regime

It is ironic that it has taken more than 150 years for Harriet Taylor Mill to be credited, given that one of her husband’s most famous books is called The Subjection of Women

As a new musical adapting the comedian’s songs readies for its premiere in a theatre renamed in her honour, its writer Tom MacRae explains why she still captivates, a decade after her death

Despite the festival’s American theme and the threat of protests over its continued controversial sponsorships, the virtuoso violinist in charge is defiant in saying the EIF will be “even more outstan...

Internal BBC emails show how a project that may have shed light on the broadcaster’s negotiations with the royal household was quietly shelved

The artist and writer on living through a ‘zombie state of grief’, and how the ocean inspired her new novel

The Harvard professor believes that Silicon Valley’s business model must be outlawed. Her new film about the tragic case of Molly Russell explains why

Dwindling visitor numbers, an industrial dispute and a huge wage bill have put off applicants, say insiders

Despite his success in persuading the Treasury to cut business rates for pubs, the chef and campaigner is pessimistic about his industry’s future. Even so, he says, entering the cauldron of politics i...

My first visit to the country prompted an unravelling of assumptions about a place I’d only encountered in books and films

The Scottish actor and musician revisits the now gentrified streets of London’s Soho, recalling the sites that marked his youth hustling for jobs, first in studios, then on stage

Two claims of historic sexual misconduct at Guildhall are under investigation, but these could be merely the tip of the iceberg