Although south of the river, the Old Vic is an establishment theatre, staging top revivals and adding a dazzle of well-funded glamour to the Southbank. But just recently it has branched out into the avant …

Christopher Eccleston, the only Doctor Who to sport a shaved head and a shouty Northern demeanour, carries his own baggage. In other words, he is not an actor to disappear within the part, although he …

Andrew Hussey, presenter of BBC Four’s France on a Plate, likes to wear his smart dark suit, whether feasting alone in Parisian brasseries, noseying around restaurant kitchens or careering in an old motor through …

During the introduction of James Corden’s World Cup Live (ITV1), as Corden shouted and paced through his hot, cramped studio, my television reception cut out. For a few seconds, a blank screen hovered, as if …

Have you ever been to a literary festival, or a book festival? They’re different from book fairs – those are industry-only, business affairs where rights deals are struck and conferences are held.

Every once in a while a performance of a play comes along that defines the genre or the playwright for you. It is the measure by which you judge all future productions of the same …

by Adam E. Smith
The basement at the Leicester Square Theatre has been transformed into a cheap garden centre. Black and white chessboard lino, limp hanging plants and a trickling water feature decorate the tiny space. …

by Rebecca Lee
When you can buy books from aisle 2 of your weekly supermarket sweep, why bother going into a bookshop? Or why can’t you just go on Amazon?
A regime change at Waterstones is planning …

Books take time to make. As you will know from all those doomed university essays (why is 2,000 words so many?), word counts are pesky things and books need at least 30,000. We also need …

Paper rules.
I’m not talking about in books themselves – digital is coming, get used to it – I’m talking about in publishing. In the office. In our daily working lives.

By NFTU Arts Features Editor Michael Amherst

1. There seems to be some disagreement within the frontbench team on which department’s budgets are ring-fenced; Vince Cable has said no departmental budget is ring-fenced whilst David …

The writer’s road from initial idea to book-in-hand-of-reader is long and arduous. But we have come to the end of the beginning of the ‘Inside Publishing’ mini-series on How One Gets Published.

Review by Adam Smith at the Union Theatre
While the political and moral merits of the so-called war on terror still inspire fierce argument, one gain is undisputed: the controversial conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have …

by Rebecca Lee
Are you feeling tough? Because what’s coming might seem pretty brutal.

So, you’ve written a book, you’ve researched agents to submit it to, carefully followed their submission guidelines and sent off your precious …

At the corrupt, blood-drenched core of a decent gangster story there has to be a tragedy. Tragedy is in the very nature of the genre, just as power is the life-force of a respected gangster. Manor …

In the first of a series, NftU arts blogger, Michael Amherst, quizzes Conservative Shadow Culture Minister, Jeremy Hunt, on the Tories policies for the arts.

So, you’re a writer. You have written something you want other people to read. You would like it to become a book, with a cover and pages and on sale in bookshops (physical or virtual). …

An occasional series where writers and creatives in different fields tell us how it feels.
99% perspiration, 1% representation
by Anna Clair
When I was seven years old, I remember being passionately jealous of Jayne Fisher, a child …

Shakespeare’s Globe recently announced its forthcoming production of Henry VIII, the play during which an errant cannon caught fire and eventually razed the original theatre to the ground. Assuming that bad luck can’t strike twice, the …

This week I’m looking at two short films. Neither of them is available to watch or download online. Neither of them is available to buy in HMV (although you can order Oscar and Jim through …