culture
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Bowraville murders: chief suspect says 'small part of him' wants trialJay Thomas Hart says having murders of three children retried as a single case means ‘actual evidence [would] be all heard and seen that it wasn’t me’
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Gillian Mears: wry, poetic, unmistakably Australian and gone too soonMears’s death at only 51 is a great loss. I wrote her fan mail and her response was intense and personal, just like her fiction -
The government’s record drips with a contempt for writers and writing that leaves me in despair. The Liberals are a party of philistinesBe under no illusion: Malcolm Turnbull wants to destroy Australian literature
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Kate Tempest: 'There is a damaging and poisonous racism at root in Australia'British poet delivers passionate speech at Sydney writers’ festival and urges ‘empathy, humility, reparation and change’
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Bryan Estepa & the Tempe Two: Every Little Thing review – highly self-assuredAustralian troubadour’s experience shows in his fifth album, opening with a wonderful country song – the kind Hank Williams used to make
talking points
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JK Rowling is wrong to defend Donald TrumpThe Harry Potter author supports Trump’s right to free speech – but what about my freedom to protest against him safely?
culture news
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Letter that inspired Jack Kerouac's On the Road goes on sale againEpic missive from legendary beatnik Neal Cassady, whose spontaneous style fired the novel, expected to make upwards of $400,000
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Chris Martin: Coldplay singer, philanthropist … and comedian?The global superstar might be playing Glastonbury this year but his penchant for making comedic cameos of varying success has been overlooked – until now
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Too much film today is synonymous with Donald TrumpSpeaking after a critical savaging for his new film as director, Penn attacks current entertainment trends and describes how foreign aid workers – such as those in The Last Face – are driven by excitement as well as ethics
reviews
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Jeff Koons: Now review – Damien Hirst's joyless paean to Donald Trump of artFrom sexed-up Hoovers to kitsch kids’ toys, Hirst’s celebration of his biggest artistic influence is empty of emotion, revealing the shallowness of his own art
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Kick by Paula Byrne review – what if JFK had been a woman?Kick Kennedy, ‘JFK’s forgotten sister and the heir to Chatsworth’, had as much personality and sexual charisma as her brother but throughout her short life was a victim of double standards
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see this month
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X-Men: Apocalypse review – lots of bangs for your bucks but loopiness is lostThe latest X-Men prequel goes back to the 1980s, but the now-regulation destruction is beginning to eclipse the series’ unique strangeness
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The Meddler - Susan Sarandon shines in sitcom-ish tale of rejuvenationAn overbearing mother who moves closer to her daughter after her husband’s death must find another outlet for her intensity in this sweet crowd-pleaser
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Criminal review – fantastically stupidBrainless brain-transplant action flick – complete with Piers Morgan cameo
features
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Fetty Wap: ‘I didn’t even get to use no bed – I was lucky to have a carpet’Just over three years ago the New Jersey rapper was dealing drugs and practically homeless. In 2015, his track Trap Queen was the year’s biggest sleeper hit. So how is this ‘hip-hop Evel Knievel’ coping with the fame?
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Guardian Film Club gala screening: Chasing AsylumCome and enjoy a preview screening with a complimentary glass of wine and post film Q&A discussion
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Straight to the pool room: top 10 films about the Australian dreamThe housing market may not sound like the most stimulating territory for a story, but it has been the basis of some of Australia’s greatest films
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Guardian Film Club gala screening: A Month of SundaysCome and enjoy a preview screening with a complimentary glass of wine and post film Q&A discussion
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'I just sat there and cried': the making of Remembering the ManA new documentary tells of the social injustices faced by the couple at the heart Holding the Man – but it almost didn’t see the light of day
pictures & video
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Iggy Pop: Everyone should just drop drugs – videoRock star Iggy Pop, famous for his records with Iggy and the Stooges, speaks to the press while at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday
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Alanis Morissette sings On Danse à la Villette in The Price of Desire – videoThe Price of Desire is about influential modernist Irish designer Eileen Gray (Orla Brady), who made significant contributions to the development of furniture design and architecture
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Dramatic celebrity portraits by Patrick Swirc – in picturesPared-down simplicity is the trademark of portraits by Patrick Swirc, whose debut exhibition at the Fiaf Gallery in New York, French Protocol, features American and French personalities captured in unguarded moments
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West End wizardry: designing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – in picturesFrom Hogwarts robes to Hermione’s wand: take a look at some of the designs for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which begins previews at the Palace theatre, London, in June
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Refugee: an examination of the global migration crisis – in picturesThe exhibit Refugee, at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, highlights their journeys and arrivals and includes portraits of new Americans
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Laurie Anderson's film Heart of a Dog screened to audience of dogs – videoMore than 50 dogs – and their owners – attend a screening of Laurie Anderson’s Heart of a Dog at Picturehouse Central in London’s West End
Shakespeare Solos
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The forgeries of jealousyAyesha Dharker plays Titania, the queen of the fairies, in a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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'Now, gods, stand up for bastards'Riz Ahmed speaks Edmund’s soliloquy from King Lear, in which Edmund reflects upon being an illegitimate son and plots against his half-brother, Edgar
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If wives do fallEileen Atkins speaks Emilia’s lines from Othello, act IV scene 3. Emilia, Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s maid, counsels Desdemona on marital fidelity
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Are you meditating on virginity?In a speech taken from the first scene of All’s Well That Ends Well, Sacha Dhawan’s Parolles stresses the importance of losing one’s virginity
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You call me misbelieverPaterson Joseph speaks Shylock’s lines from The Merchant of Venice, in which the moneylender reminds Antonio of the times he has insulted him
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All the world’s a stageJaques’s speech about the seven ages of man from As You Like It is performed by Zawe Ashton
Books Magda Szubanski may leave Australia if changes to book industry go ahead