When Michael Dobson wrote about the printing of Shakespeare’s First Folio for the London Review of Books, he described it as a ‘series of headaches’. When we tried to replicate those 17th century methods to celebrate the anniversary of the First Folio with our own Shakespearean print, we discovered how true that was.
In her writing about food for the London Review of Books in the 1980s, Angela Carter found a potent subject for her unique combination of savage wit and political commentary. In this film, Marco Alessi revisits these pieces and, with Susannah Clapp and Edmund Gordon, explores their humour, style and intellectual background.
James Meek reports from Mykolaiv and the area of southern Ukraine that has become a crucial battleground in the war, as Russian forces seek to maintain control of the land they’ve occupied west of the Dnieper, and the Ukrainians try to push them back across the river.
How many Stanisław Lems were there? Five (at least), according to Jonathan Lethem. This short film, adapted from Lethem’s recent piece for the LRB, takes a voyage into the Lem cosmos.
Anthony Wilks's film traces the connections between the events of Eric Hobsbawm’s life and the history he told, from his teenage years in Germany and his communist membership, to the jazz clubs of 1950s Soho and the makings of New Labour, taking in Italian bandits, Peruvian peasant movements and the development of nationalism in the modern world along the way.
Alan Bennett examines his wardrobe, in his 2019 Diary.
Watch how the LRB used to be put together, with scalpel and glue.
Ben Campbell traces the history of the London Review of Books through its typography and cover art.
Alan Bennett reads from his short story, ‘The Uncommon Reader’, first published in the LRB in 2007, in which HM the Queen drifts accidentally into reading.
Jonathan Rée considers Kierkegaard’s unfinished work, Johannes Climacus, about a student who falls in love with thinking.
Philosopher Jonathan Rée unravels the story within Spinoza's knotty work of 17th century rationalism, the Ethics
Following the fire at Grenfell Tower, Anthony Wilks investigates the culture of Kensington and Chelsea Council and where it came from.
Alan Bennett finds similarities between Love Island and the Bloomsbury set.
Sheila Fitzpatrick considers how the Russian Revolution is viewed by the Russian government and academics in the West.