On the night of Boxing Day 2021, my dad's body was found near a Cardiff hostel. His death, at 55, was as sudden as it was not. For years, alcoholism had been changing the shape of his heart. He died less than a mile from his old office; top law firm, equity partner. Four miles from our once tight-knit home in a leafy neighbourhood.
"Through playing her, I was able to get the courage to make the changes that I wanted to make in my life, to really go after the version of my life that I felt like I was meant to live. And when the show came out, I became acutely aware of women all over the world that were feeling very similarly,"
It is embedded in how I live. Specifically, writing everything that I dream of, and everything that fails me, all of the emotional reality. Often, there are things I'm afraid to say, and then I put them in my writing, and they're said. Then I can say it! I can read it in the book, and people aren't that shocked by it. Often, what people are shocked by has nothing to do with what I'm afraid of.
Trans trailblazer Dylan Mulvaney is no stranger to being iconic, and her birthday gives us the perfect excuse to celebrate her. The stage star has gone from strength to strength after she first entered the scene with her now-infamous "Days of Girlhood" social media series documenting her transition. Today (29 December) marks the icon's 29th birthday, and in honour of her role as a trans activist, we've highlighted some of her best moments from this year. Her debut book Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer, which is a collection of journal entries from her first-year transition, was released on 11 March this year.
Mainstream comedy is frankly in a bit of a lull right now. Sitcoms and theatrical comedy movie are disappearing, few comic novels are getting published, and comedy podcasts are just comedians interviewing other comedians. It's perhaps of little surprise, then, that the best nonfiction comedy books released in 2025 were focused on the past - comedy's history, themes, and steadfast examples of greatness and insight.
Jillian Lauren has filed for divorce for from Weezer bassist Scott Shriner after 20 years of marriage, according to TMZ. She cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their separation. Back in April of this year, Lauren was arrested and charged with attempted murder after allegedly firing a gun at police who were pursuing three suspects in a hit-and-run chase in Los Angeles.
My earliest reading memory I was six, and in the lounge in my first home in Manchester. I was sitting cross-legged on the grey carpet, in 1977, when I finished reading whichever of Enid Blyton's brilliant Secret Seven mysteries contains the mind-blowing (genuinely, for a six-year-old) twist that Emma Lane turns out to be a road and not a person.
Then I quickly realized, yeah, trying to tell stories about this history in 200-word bits didn't make any sense,
From Soundgarden's humble beginnings manifesting grunge in Seattle's beer-soaked punk clubs to their revered status today as rock icons, the band's journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. In A Screaming Life, founding member and guitar god Kim Thayil goes backstage to introduce the band that fearlessly pushed the boundaries of rock, invented a new genre, and amassed fervent fans from every corner of the world.
Palestinian writer Atef Abu Saif could hardly hide his outrage. The Israeli military had destroyed not just buildings, but an entire culture, he told DW. He wants to use the medium of writing to save whatever is still salvageable. But what can you save in a war-torn wasteland? All that remains are memories, the author says. Saif is among the best-known Palestinian writers, his reputation derived in part from the fact that he served as the Palestinian Authority's Minister for Culture from 2019 to 2024,
Christine Brown Woolley grew up in Utah with a dad and two moms, in a polygamist community called the Apostolic United Brethren. When she became an adult, she joined a polygamist marriage as a third wife, helped raise more than a dozen kids, and became co-star of the TLC reality show Sister Wives. Fast forward to 2025, and she has left her marriage and her polygamist faith.
"I did think it was risky and indeed it was," Curry said when asked about taking on the role half a century ago. "But I like risky. I would choose risky over anything. That's the best way to be," the actor added.
I've bought and flipped through a couple of memoirs lately from popular recording artists. Tens of millions of people stream their music on Spotify every month. It's not surprising that traditional publishers would offer them book deals. What's surprising, at least to me, is how boring they are. One artist seemed to put little effort into the book; a ghostwriter did the heavy lifting. When the artist does interviews, he seems to be talking about nothing. The book feels the same way.
There isn't a soul on the streets of Chelsea on a Sunday in summer. The residents of this New York neighborhood once an industrial area in lower Manhattan, now transformed into a haven for bohemian bourgeois have abandoned their luxurious lofts overlooking the High Line to retreat to their beach houses in the Hamptons.
'The others are about a specific artist or the history of curating ... [My French publisher Seuil] felt it might be of interest to do a personal book but there was never the time. At least at the beginning of lockdown, before all the Zoom calls started, there was a bit of time! The death of my mother was also an important aspect.'
"And I remember standing inside the house looking through the window as my stepdad pulls my mom in for a slow dance," Ronson says. "And I just stood there watching the scene, slightly drunk off this feeling of like, 'Oh my God, this is my music playing out there.' But also it was ... like the first time in my life I genuinely have a memory of having done something right."
I have just finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert's new book and, like most of the internet, I have thoughts. Before I dive in though, let me tell you where I stand on Gilbert because after over two decades in the public eye, three novels, four memoirs, two film adaptations and millions upon millions of dollars, Gilbert is literary Marmite.
