This week, Oxford Professor of Poetry AE Stallings explores the elliptical brilliance of Anne Carson; and an interview with writer, filmmaker and artist Miranda July about her forthcoming novel.

'Anne Carson: The Glass Essayist', by Elizabeth Sarah Coles

'Wrong Norma', by Anne Carson

'All Fours', by Miranda July

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Kathryn Hughes introduces her new book on the cat craze that swept Edwardian England; and she also tells us about an exhibition of the work of Julia Margaret Cameron and Francesca Woodman. Plus a review of Sunjeev Sahota's The Spoiled Heart.

'Catland: Feline Enchantment and the Making of the Modern World', by Kathryn Hughes

'Portraits to Dream In', at the National Portrait Gallery, London, until 16 June, 2024

'The Spoiled Heart', by Sunjeev Sahota

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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As the TLS celebrates all things Shakespeare, Emma Smith goes to see Ian McKellen's larger-than-life Falstaff; plus Rana Mitter on the immense impact and lasting legacy of the Tokyo Trial.

'Player Kings: Henry IV Parts 1 and 2', by William Shakespeare, adapted by Robert Icke, Noël Coward Theatre, London, until June 22, then touring 'Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia' by Gary J. Bass.

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, George Berridge is at the theatre to see Brian Cox in a classic role; and Toby Lichtig on a literary scandal with tragic consequences.

'Long Day's Journey into Night', by Eugene O'Neill, Wyndham's Theatre,

London, until June 8

'Bound to Violence', by Yambo Ouologuem, translated by Ralph Manheim

'The Most Secret Memory of Men', by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, translated

by Lara Vergnaud

'The Extinction of Irena Rey, by Jennifer Croft

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, environmentalist Bill McKibben joins us to talk about the latest in the fight to avert climate catastrophe; and a conversation with the brilliant novelist Hisham Matar about his new novel.

'The Exhausted Earth: Politics in a Burning World', by Ajay Singh Chaudhary

'My Friends', by Hisham Matar

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Suzi Feay sizes up the public intellectuals, deadbeat aristocrats, hedonistic oligarchs and hardened street soldiers of Andrew O'Hagan's panoramic new novel; and Michael Caines on the prolific and endlessly imaginative world of Ray Bradbury.

'Caledonian Road', by Andrew O'Hagan

'Remembrance: Selected Correspondence of Ray Bradbury', edited by Jonathan R. Eller

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Andrew Holter takes us into the extraordinary world of Helen Keller, in her own words; and Peter Maber hails a magnificent retrospective of Yoko Ono's radical art and music.

'Autobiographies and Other Writings', by Helen Keller

'Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind', Tate Modern, London, until 1 September 2024

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Miranda France contemplates the final novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; and Nicola Shulman on what women write in their diaries.

'Until August', by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, translated by Anne McLean

'Secret Voices: A Year of Women's Diaries', by Sarah Gristwood

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, novelist William Boyd praises a polyphonic account of a pivotal wartime moment; and Sarah Richmond explores how we may escape ceaseless toil.

‘November 1942: An Intimate History of the Turning Point of World War II’, by Peter Englund, translated by Peter Graves

‘Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic Against Workers and How Workers Can Take it Back’, by Elizabeth Anderson

‘After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time’, by Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Damon Galgut praises Diane Oliver's exceptional short stories, newly published over half a century after her death; and Rosemary Waugh on theatre director Yaël Farber's visceral engagement with Shakespearean tragedy.

'Neighbors and Other Stories', by Diane Oliver

'King Lear', by William Shakespeare, directed by Yaël Farber, at the

Almeida Theatre, London, until March 30, 2024

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Fintan O'Toole assesses what makes Labour leader Keir Starmer tick; and Linda Kinstler on the Ukrainian writer, musician and activist Serhiy Zhadan's chronicles of life during wartime. Plus John Kinsella reads his new poem, 'Rooks'.

'Keir Starmer: The Biography', by Tom Baldwin

'Rooks', by John Kinsella

'How Fire Descends: New and Selected Poems', by Serhiy Zhadan, translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps

'Sky Above Kharkiv: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Front', by Serhiy Zhadan, translated by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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