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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.

It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic team of arts and culture writers went ahead with an ambitious plan – to launch a dedicated internet site devoted to coverage of the UK arts scene.

Leila Greening |

Mountainish by Zsuzsanna Gahse is a collection of 515 notes, each contributing to an expansive kaleidoscope of mountain encounters. Translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire in Prototype’s English-language edition, a narrator travels in the Swiss Alps across disparate fragments of prose, converging occasionally with five central characters.

John Carvill
Patrick McGilligan’s biography of Woody Allen weighs in at an eye-popping 800 pages, yet he waits only for the fourth paragraph of his introduction…
India Lewis
Russia Starts Here: Real Lives in the Ruin of Empire, the journalist Howard Amos’ first book, is a prescient and fascinating examination of the…
Jon Turney
Henry Gee’s previous book, A Brief History of Life on Earth, made an interestingly downbeat read for a title that won the UK’s science book prize. He…

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Leila Greening
Notes on danger and dialogue in the shadow of the Swiss Alps
John Carvill
Fair-minded Woody Allen biography covers all bases
India Lewis
A journalist looks beyond borders in this searching account of the Russian mind
Jon Turney
A science writer looks to the stars for a way to dodge our impending doom
Leila Greening
Buckley’s 13th novel is a powerful reflection on intimacy and grief
Bernard Hughes
Biography of the groundbreaking British pianist who was a hero of the Blitz
India Lewis
Love comes under the microscope in this heartfelt analysis of the personal and political
Jon Turney
Myths, mines, and mankind combine in this wide-eyed reading of the earth beneath our feet
India Lewis
The trials and triumphs of a city’s margins are observed by an outside eye
India Lewis
Family trauma repeats in this deftly strange exploration of roads not taken
theartsdesk
As 2024 comes to an end, we look back at the books that have thrilled and enthralled us
John Carvill
Why we're still in love with Bogart and Bacall, and their legendary Hollywood romance
India Lewis
Fragments cohere in this dog-eared history of an itinerant life
Rachel Halliburton
Beautiful books take you to worlds that are intricately imagined and a feast for the eye
Jack Barron
Damion Searls thoughtfully translates the wise words of 2023’s Nobel Prize winner
Jon Turney
A re-reading of our complex history of energy use shows the long way we have to go
Hugh Barnes
Common themes are retuned with political edge in critique of Brexit, race, and sexuality
Bernard Hughes
Political satire, social observation and literary artifice elevate this ostensibly 'cosy crime' caper
Harry Thorfinn-George
In time for Halloween, the author discusses 'Feeding the Monster' - and why she thinks horror cinema has entered a new phase
Issy Brooks-Ward
Antonia Lloyd-Jones translates a contagious work from a Nobel Prize winner
Jack Barron
This slim and stylish new edition can't quite dispel some lurking doubts
Issy Brooks-Ward
A violent history finds a home in this impressionistic blend of literary criticism and memoir
India Lewis
A brutally honest and epic narrative follows a family doomed to wander the earth

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