DARK SECRETS: John updike | Rare Historical Photos

Leaving His Mark On Houston’s Inprint

Rich Levy, the man behind the Bayou City’s prestigious reading series and the brains behind Inprint, an unusual literary nonprofit, is retiring.

Texas Observer · May 14

Vladimir author Julia May Jonas: ‘We’re imprisoned by our obsessions’

As her debut novel becomes a Netflix series starring Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall, the American author talks about comparisons with Lolita, moving on from #MeToo and problematic authors

The Guardian - UK · Mar 8

John Updike’s best books – Ranked!

Following the publication of the novelist’s letters, we count down the best of his books, from the dark magic of The Witches of Eastwick to the misadventures of Rabbit Angstrom

The Guardian - UK · Dec 22, 2025

The sad decline of Gore Vidal, America’s most acerbic writer and fearsome feuder

THE READING LIST: As the world approaches the centenary of the celebrated novelist, television pundit and all-around man of letters, Martin Chilton recalls his greatest work, most withering putdowns, and chronicles a career that devolved into ‘crackpot’ conspiracy theories, illness and, perhaps most depressing of all, boredom

The Independent UK · Apr 7, 2025

‘It’s all in the ears’: John Updike’s paean to Mickey Mouse, 1992

The novelist had grown up with the much-loved Disney rodent

The Guardian - UK · Dec 29, 2024

John Barth obituary

American postmodernist novelist whose experimental approach challenged literary conventions

The Guardian - UK · Apr 12, 2024

Without our voice, we actors are lost

When a celebrated voice coach feels she has to resign, it’s a poor reflection on the state of drama in the UK

The Guardian - UK · Mar 10, 2024

Make coffee. Shower. Clean the loo. In an age of choice, rituals are the key to happiness

Wim Wenders’ film Perfect Days is on to something with its depiction of main character Hirayama’s calm, habitual life

The Guardian - UK · Mar 2, 2024

Arena Group fires CEO in wake of Sports Illustrated AI articles scandal

Ross Levinsohn sacking was to ‘improve the operational efficiency and revenue of the company’, says board, two weeks after fake authors exposed

The Guardian - AU · Dec 12, 2023

‘Damn, that fool can write’: how Martin Amis made everyone up their game

He exploded into the tweedy world of literature, a young, pouting and outrageously brash crusader for prose. Our writer remembers her encounters with the novelist, whose smarts and chutzpah confounded his peers

The Guardian - UK · May 22, 2023