Friday, April 24, 2026

Machiavelli’s conception of power and agency in 'The Prince'

Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli by Santi di Tito

Machiavelli’s conception of power and agency in 'The Prince'

The role of fortune in political success

8 FEBRUARY 2026,

This analysis explores how Niccolò Machiavelli conceptualizes fortune (fortuna) in the success or failure of a political leader in The Prince. Drawing upon key historical references and philosophical reasoning, it examines how Machiavelli balances the unpredictable nature of fortune with the decisive qualities of virtù—an individual’s capacity to act wisely, courageously, and decisively in ever-changing political landscapes. Through the lens of Renaissance politics and human nature, the text reveals how rulers can, and must, bend fortune to their will to secure political stability and personal power.

Skulls displayed at the Nyamata Genocide Memorial Site in Nyamata, Rwanda

The Rwandan genocide: causes and global response

A tragic legacy of colonialism and international indifference

8 MAY 2025,

AYBIKE PIYADE

The continent of Africa is considered the birthplace of humanity, it has become a continent where crimes against humanity have been committed extensively. Crimes against humanity committed on the African continent, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, also commonly known as Black Africa, have often been seen by the world community as a familiar, usual, and customary part of tribal conflicts and civil wars. In 1994, the press described the genocide in Rwanda as a tribal war between ethnic groups. This definition, which was often seen in the Western press in those years, makes clear the West's stance and its unresponsiveness to crimes against humanity in Rwanda or anywhere else in the world outside of its interests. The genocide in Rwanda took place in a very short period of about 100 days in 1994.

Illustration by Triunfo Arciniegad

The Cat
By Juan Carlos Onetti

Many unpleasant things can be said or imagined about John. But I never suspected him of lying; he had too much disdain for others to invent a fable that would put him in a favorable light.

Susan Choi and Lily King shortlisted for Women’s prize for fiction

The US writers join four debut authors in demonstrating ‘the complexity and beauty of the female experience’, said chair of judges Julia Gillard

David Malouf
Ulf Andersen

David Malouf, Australian author of Remembering Babylon and Ransom, dies aged 92

Acclaimed Brisbane-born writer was known for his work exploring his own childhood, great myths and colonial Australia

Sian Cain

Thursday 23 April 2023

David Malouf, the acclaimed Australian author of books including Ransom, An Imaginary Life and the Booker prize-nominated Remembering Babylon, has died aged 92.

Zombies of Capital: On Reading Ling Ma’s Severance

Written On 10 June 2020. Posted In Article, Work Of Arts.

Author: Ivan Franceschini

Capital is dead labour, that, vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks. The time during which the labourer works, is the time during which the capitalist consumes the labour-power he has purchased of him.

Karl Marx, Capital Volume One (1867)

Ghost Stories by Siri Hustvedt review – life after Paul Auster

Siri Hustvedt

REVIEW

Ghost Stories by Siri Hustvedt review – life after Paul Auster

What’s it like to lose your partner of more than 40 years? The novelist and essayist reflects on going from ‘we’ to ‘I’

Sukhdev Sandhu

Tuesday 21 April 2026

Siri Hustvedt
Photo by Chris Buck

‘After all the horrible things we’ve been through,’ he said to me, ‘if I die of cancer, it will make a bad story’: Siri Hustvedt on losing Paul Auster

First there was the double tragedy that tore the family apart – then came a deadly diagnosis. The writer reflects on life after the death of her novelist husband

Siri Hustvedt
Sunday 19 April 2026

Iam alive. My husband, Paul Auster, is dead. He died on 30 April 2024, at 6.58pm here in the Brooklyn house where I am now writing these words. He was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in January 2023. But before that, in early November 2022, Paul had a CT scan in the emergency room at Mount Sinai West hospital. The radiologist spotted a mass in his right lung and noted it might be cancer.

Siri Hustvedt

Siri Hustvedt to write a book about her late husband Paul Auster

This article is more than 1 year old

The American writer is 120 pages into a memoir about her relationship with the New York Trilogy author, entitled Ghost Stories

Lucy Knight

Thursday 17 October 2024

Siri Hustvedt has revealed that she is working on a memoir about her late husband, Paul Auster, author of the acclaimed New York Trilogy.

This article is more than 24 years old

New York: Big, bad and back to its ballsy best

This article is more than 24 years old

The distinguished writer Siri Hustvedt lives with her husband, novelist Paul Auster, in Brooklyn, a few minutes over the East River from the site of the Twin Towers. Here she looks back on the terrible wound inflicted on her city and its power of survival

The Child Who Was Wild by Michael Rosen

Illustration by Enki Bilal

The Child Who Was Wild

by Michael Rosen

Once there was a woman, a young, young woman
She ran from the city, the old, old city
She ran to the woods, the deep dark woods
She wasn’t seen for days. Days, weeks and months.
She came out of the woods, the deep dark woods
She came with a child, a child who was wild.
She brought the child to the city, the old, old city
He grew and he grew and he grew and he grew
Out of his hands grew shoots: green shoots and leaves
Out of his shoulders grew the lily and the rose
His hair was the blossom that blows in the wind,
He stood in the city, the old, old city
with the leaves and the flowers and the blossom
falling, falling, falling on grey, grey gravel.

‘Every time I write, I doubt myself’: Michael Rosen at 80 on deep grief, self-belief and chocolate cake

Michael Rosen

THE BIG INTERVIEW

‘Every time I write, I doubt myself’: Michael Rosen at 80 on deep grief, self-belief and chocolate cake

As told to Lucy Knight

The children’s author answers questions from readers, friends and writers on losing his son Eddie, surviving Covid, who he’d invite to his perfect birthday dinner and where he goes for inspiration

Monday 20 April 2026

Whether you know him from reading his classic picture book We’re Going on A Bear Hunt as a child, from his viral YouTube videos or his tireless support for children’s literacy and the NHS, Michael Rosen has been a household name in the UK for decades. As he turns 80, we gave his peers and Guardian readers the opportunity to put to him the questions they’ve always wanted to ask.

Karol G performing in Coachella
Photo by Amy Harris

Review

Karol G at Coachella review – electrifying set destined for festival’s hall of fame

Empire Polo Club, Indio, California
With dazzling choreography and head-spinning set pieces, the Colombian star delivered a victorious statement of Latin pride

Adrian Horton

Monday 13 April 2026

Late on the final night of Coachella’s first weekend, after more than a dozen songs, several glorious costume changes and some of the most luscious choreography ever seen in a headliner set, the Colombian superstar Karol G finally introduced herself in English: “I am Carolina Giraldo from Medellín, Colombia, and today, I am the first Latina woman to headline Coachella,” she said to deafening cheers from a crowd dotted with the flags of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia and other Latin nations. “I’m very happy and very proud,” she added, but “at the same time, it feels late. There has been 27 years of this festival.” Both sincere and pointed, her remarks recalled Beyoncé in 2018, thanking the festival for allowing her to be the first Black woman to headline: “Ain’t that ’bout a bitch?”

Friday, April 24, 2026