Cultural Capital: Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith gave a speech last night at a pub in Kensal Green, very close to the local library she hopes to defend. Public appearances from Smith are rare these days, and her most recent appearance is testament to her strength of feeling on the subject of library closures.

Smith delivered a robust defence of the value of public libraries. Books are a form of education, ... read more

A small, incidental pleasure (among many larger ones) of reading the London Review of Books is the occasional editorial intervention in the "In the next issue" notice on the contents page. In the current edition of the paper, alongside advance warning of pieces by Perry Anderson, David Trotter and James Lever, the editorial voice announces that "We've given up hope of James Wood on Lermontov".

I seem to remember ... read more