How Colson Whitehead avoids cliché and traditional motif in Sag Harbor, his autobiographical fourth novel, which is definitely not a coming-of-age tale.

Maxïmo Park is moving in a new direction, one that’s more established, secure and oozing with confidence. It’s serious in lyrics, galvanized in sound.

Designer, curator of the Aram Gallery, and tutor at the Royal College of Art, Daniel Charny is a man in the know. Having trained as an industrial designer, Charny has worked across disciplines including public art, furniture and product design.

Mix blues and ragtime, contemporary roots and indie, folk and jazz. Layer it with soul-drenched vocals and you have something near the sound of Kill It Kid.

Ask her how she became involved in music and Tidwell will reel off a list of family associations on both sides, from her mother’s career in the 1970s, to her grandfather’s country record label.

For such an incidental naming, the heroic-sounding Morton Valence perfectly suits the stylized romance of the band.

In today’s climate, the Do It Yourself attitude is ever more present and we’re encouraging you to get creative, get your camera and make your own films.

Traversing the boundaries between social and personal interests, thriller and realism, Pour Elle forces everyday characters to extraordinary lengths.

Saville is a natural and engaging speaker, and he profusely urges us to stop and consider our state of play. He is still open to all possibilities and contemplates his opinions to an extensive degree.

Chen Ke, one of China’s new generation of young artists discusses her work, the dichotomies of identity, personal tastes and culture in the flux of modern China.

Explorations on the built environment, avant-garde inheritance, and individuality bring together the work of 15 Polish artists, and an exposé on Tadeusz Kantor.

The 53rd Venice Biennale, directed by Daniel Birnbaum, offers a glimpse at the ideas of freedom, originality and the purpose of expression.

Shape of Things to Come is the definitive book on contemporary sculpture. It might weigh your bookshelf down, but definitely worth the gamble.

Lichtenstein Posters is a beautifully produced book, which is essential reading for anyone interested in Pop Art and the works of Roy Lichtenstein.

Comic enthusiast Jim Rath, spends his unemployed hours dreaming of the submarine, matriarchal world of Nautika, standing immersed in hotel pools.

James Lasdun is a modern day observer, much like the flâneur of the 19th century. His craft is estimable, while his humour and wit are poignant.

Sag Harbour is set in 1985, with hyper self-aware Benji battling to create an individual identity separate to his younger brother Reggie.

This debut novel from Patrick DeWitt presents a startlingly honest look into the lives and the patrons at a declining Hollywood bar.

Greenfly is an assured collection of 12 individually outstanding narratives. The context varies wildly, from East London, to Gold Rush era USA, to a desert island.

In conversation with Gina Ochsner.

Celebrating one hundred years of the one of the most beautiful written forms, the Poetry Society is at the very heart of today’s literary culture.

Miriam Toews’ tale of a road trip, a family, and their journey to discover the missing pieces is moving, while her own stories of being on the road are unforgettable.

Spill Festival welcomes new audiences and practicioners to performance and live events around London, with subversive political messages, humour, and more.

At the forefront of the fashion and design industries for many years, Hemingway set up Red or Dead in 1982 the label grew to phenomenal popularity.

One Day International’s debut album Blackbird is a testament to the fact that a guitar is not a prerequisite for a brilliant, soulful band.

Millimetre never shy away from experimentation, and the white noise, interference and aural impositions of our everyday lives become their canvas.

The truth is a lot of bands want to sound like Morton Valence, but this is the real deal. There’s a rich idealism present throughout the album’s 13 tracks.

The Balky Mule is the alias of Sam Jones — a self-taught multi-instrumentalist who was a key figure in Bristol’s music scene before emigrating to Australia in 2006.

M-Bar has a destructive and troubled past. The confessional singer-songwriter feel of the album suits the intelligent and intimate lyrics.

One of the most progressive artists at the moment, since her nomination for the 2007 Mercury prize, Natasha Khan has become something of a phenomenon.

The impending release of Touchdown crowns a successful relocation for Brighton-based Brakes, from Rough Trade Records to fellow Brighton label FatCat.

The first thing that strikes you about First Aid Kit is the uncertain correlation between the band’s age, and the adult material of much of their work.

With a creative lineage traceable to 18th century writer, Jonathan Swift, Richard Swift has clearly inherited the artistic gene, writing inventive, insightful music.

The complexities of Salvador Dali’s genius and his friendships with Federico García Lorca and Luis Buñuel, in an intriguing feature-length from Paul Morrison.

The American West is symbolic, from cowboys to canyons. Into the Sunset explores photography’s ephemeral qualities from the 1850s to the present.

Boo Ritson’s painted people examine the cultural stereotypes of the collective imagination, and effortlessly fuse sculpture and painting into a new form.

Chris Gollon has been probing the human condition from an absurdist point of view for the greater part of two decades. His work promises to evoke this age-old topic.

Transmission Interrupted at Modern Art Oxford, encourages a considered attitude to both the physical and sociological influences of the 21st century milieu.

In conversation with Clare Jay.

Danny Moynihan’s acclaimed novel, Boogie Woogie, documents the inner workings of the art world from the extreme to the extravagant.

Charting the lives of three interconnected characters in Nikolski, Nicolas Dickner crosses continents and opens up new worlds in this fascinating novel.

Collapsing ideologies are collaboratively explored in European theatre – Mark Ravenhill and Ramin Gray’s production of Over There personalises the political.

The intricacies of papal history are not a conventional motivation for writing pop songs. With High Slang, Sergeant Buzfuz pulls this off to dazzling effect.

Years of classical training and a life-long devotion to honing his craft have left Andrew Bird well equipped for his eighth studio album Noble Beast.

Official Secrets Act is setting the standard for contemporary British indie, and what’s more startling, they have yet to release their debut album.

Moscow, Belgium is the uplifting debut feature film from director, Christophe Van Rompaey, who tells a universal story of finding love when you least expect it.

Bradford Film Festival revisits the classics while keeping its content fresh and up-to-date in the facilities of the National Media Museum.

Showcasing works from the late Angus Fairhurst, Arnolfini draws attention to the range and melancholy of this often overlooked Young British Artist.

The curator of the fourth Tate Triennial, Nicolas Bourriaud introduces a new term “Altermodern” in response to the increasingly global context we live in.

Roger Ballen employs 50 years of photographic experience to understand how a photograph affects the human psyche in his latest book, Boarding House.