BARBARA BOSWELL remembers South African poet, storyteller, publisher, editor and activist Diana Ferrus (1953-2026)
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The pleasures of protein and pudding
A new biography of the great Robert Wyatt reveals the musician’s commitment to all that’s nourishing and seductive in culture and politics, says JOHN GREEN
HELEN VASSALLO recommends a gripping Argentinian crime story about gender violence and the weaponisation of religion
New releases from Steve Swallow, Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, and Ady Johnson
When the ravages of Alzheimer’s leave an elderly woman marooned in painful memories of October 1950, her grandchild comes up with a creative strategy.
New releases from Simone White, Brass Funkeys, and Souad Massi
SUE TURNER is compelled by a history that shows how far a country can turn in on itself to collude with abuses of power
RON JACOBS is persuaded by the parallel drawn between Charles Manson and Donald Trump
ROBERT WYATT’S gloriously bearded face stares out like an Old Testament god from the cover of this book.
But its seemingly judgmental and deadly serious expression conceals a man of great generosity and tolerance, with a prodigious talent and mischievous wit.
Once a minor star in the celestial heaven of popular music, Wyatt metamorphosed to become an iconic, widely admired and influential pater familias of popular music.
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CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
WILL STONE enjoys a set by an artist too eclectic to be pigeonholed
From sexual innuendo about Blackpool Rock to Bob Dylan’s ‘God-almighty world,’ the corporation’s classist moral custodianship of pop music has created a roll call of censored artists anyone would feel honoured to join, writes NICK MATTHEWS