Saturday, May 23, 2026

Pius XII / between silence, strategy, and survival

Pope Pius XII visiting Piazza San Giovanni after the bombings of Rome on 13 August 1943

Pius XII: between silence, strategy, and survival

Tracing the life, rise, and complex wartime role of Eugenio Pacelli in an era of global upheaval

15 JANUARY 2026,

So, who was Pius XII? Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Pacelli became Pope Pius XII on March 2, 1939. His parents were Virginia Graziosi and Filippo Pacelli. His father was dean of the consistorial lawyers, and his brother, Francesco, was a jurist of the Holy See and member of the Vatican Commission that prepared the editing of the Lateran Pacts, an agreement with the Italian State that legally separated the Vatican from the nation of Italy and compensated the Vatican for the loss of the Papal States conquered by the Kingdom of Italy in 1870. The Vatican City was all that was left of the Church’s holdings and was legally separated into its own sovereign country in an agreement with the Prime Minister, Benito Mussolini, in 1929. The Pacelli family was very familiar with the safe and slow judicial offices of the Roman Curia.

Monument to Pius XII (Mar 2, 1939-Oct 9, 1958) Eugenio Pacelli by Francesco Messina, 1963

Gary L. Krupp: the other story of Pacelli

What newly examined documents reveal about Pius XII, the Vatican, and Jewish survival under nazi pressure

15 APRIL 2026,

BRENDA LEE BOHEN

Rome, 1929: Mussolini said that the Jewish people have been in Rome since the time of the Etruscan kings. He suggested that maybe the Roman Jews provided the clothes after the Sabine women were taken. There were thousands of Jews during the time of Augustus, and they were asked to mourn at Caesar’s funeral pyre. They will be left undisturbed.

Cover of the book Michelangelo and the dream of the Sistine Chapel co-authored by Valentina Ansuini and Jade Bajeot and Illustrated by Sabrina Gabrielli

Michelangelo and the Dream of the Sistine

An illustrated children’s book about Michelangelo and his challenging work in the Sistine Chapel

15 MAY 2026,

BRENDA LEE BOHEN

Children are usually exposed to history through fragments of information: historical dates to learn, historical figures to summarize, and masterpieces of arts seen as cultural references far removed from real life. However, history can be made more interesting with storytelling, images, and the element of intrigue. These notions are central to the book entitled Michelangelo and the Dream of the Sistine Chapel written for children and illustrated by Sabrina Gabrielli along with co-authors Valentina Ansuini and Jade Bajeot. Although it can be treated as another typical biography book or museum guide, this project fits into larger debates about childhood engagement with history and art history museums.

Erdal İnci and the Kariye / Preserving a Byzantine legacy

The southern dome of the inner narthex of the Chora Church in Istanbul, Turkey, features stunning Byzantine mosaics depicting Christ, Istanbul, Turkey

Erdal İnci and the Kariye: preserving a Byzantine legacy

A contemporary artist's perspective on the historical layers of the Chora

13 APRIL 2025,

IDIL BURKUTOGLU

The Kariye Church, the main surviving church of the Khora Monastery, dates back to the sixth century and is one of the most important monuments of Byzantine art due to its magnificent mosaics and frescoes. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Historic Areas of Istanbul. The name "Khora" possibly refers to the area's rural nature, as "Khora" means "country" or "outskirts." In the Ottoman period, it was known as Kariye, which could relate to the word "karye," meaning "village." Some of the representations of the Virgin Mary and Christ inside the church carry the "Khora" attribute, suggesting possible mystical meanings beyond the word’s literal meaning.

Embedded skull and bones details, Ossuary Chapel, Church of San Bernardino alle Ossa, Milan, Italy

Sacred bones: the macabre beauty of San Bernardino alle Ossa

Milan’s haunting chapel of bones and the deep reflection on mortality

13 MARCH 2025,

IDIL BURKUTOGLU

Nestled in the heart of Milan, Italy, the Santuario di San Bernardino alle Ossa is a striking testament to both the macabre and artistic ingenuity. The origins of both the ossuary and the Church of St. Bernardino date back to the 13th century. In 1145, a hospital was built near the basilica of St. Stefano at what is now Via Brolo. A cemetery was created in front of the basilica to bury those who died in the hospital, but after a few years, the available space became insufficient.

Ai Weiwei, In search of humanity, exhibition view (detail). Courtesy of Kunsthal Rotterdam

The power of intersection

30 Sep 2023 — 3 Mar 2024 at the Kunsthal Rotterdam in Rotterdam, Netherlands

IDIL BURKUTOGLU

Typically, when the term "intersection" is mentioned, people often think of it as a point — a singular moment where two or more objects meet or cross. This could be a place where two lines intersect, or where a car reaches an intersection in the road. It’s easy to imagine it as a specific, single event, a point of interaction or connection. However, the concept of "intersection" can be much broader, especially in three-dimensional space. While the intersection of two lines will always be a point, when it comes to planes, the intersection becomes more complex. For instance, when two flat planes (such as a wall and a floor) meet, they don't just meet at a point; they create a line of intersection. This is where the planes continuously meet, forming a line that extends across the planes, rather than being confined to a single spot.

Where to start with / Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout

Where to start with: Elizabeth Strout

This article is more than 10 months old

A guide to the Pulitzer-winning novelist’s tales of small-town life, family secrets, and fraught relationships

American author Elizabeth Strout has captured millions of readers’ imaginations with her small-town stories of ordinary people with rich inner lives. Her novels – often set in Maine, where she grew up – have won her a Pulitzer and got her shortlisted for the Booker and, this year, the Women’s prize for fiction. Joe Stone gives us a tour of her interconnected oeuvre.

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout review – readers will delight in these new characters

The Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton author branches out with the tale of a Massachusetts teacher haunted by trauma

Claire Adam

Monday 27 April 2026

The American author Elizabeth Stroutfamously persisted throughout years of rejection to publish her first novel when she was in her 40s, and the hard work has certainly paid off. She won a Pulitzer prize in 2009, and has been nominated multiple times for the Booker and Women’s prizes. The Things We Never Say is her 11th book.

Books to look out for in 2026 – fiction

This article is more than 4 months old

Maggie O’Farrell, Yann Martel and Julian Barnes are among the authors publishing new novels this year

Justin Jordan

Saturday 27 December 2025

The beginning of the books calendar is usually dominated by debuts, but January 2026 sees releases from some of the year’s biggest authors. Known for his surreally bittersweet short stories, George Saunders has written only one novel so far – but that one won the Booker prize. The follow-up to 2017’s Lincoln in the Bardo, Vigil (Bloomsbury) focuses on an unquiet spirit called Jill who helps others pass over from life to whatever comes next. She is called to the deathbed of an oil tycoon who is rapidly running out of time to face up to his ecological crimes, in a rallying cry for human connection and environmental action. Ali Smith’s Glyph (Hamish Hamilton) is a companion to 2024’s Gliff, and promises to tell a story initially hidden in that previous novel. Expect fables, siblings, phantoms and horses in a typically playful shout of resistance against war, genocide and the increasingly hostile social discourse. And in Departure(s) (Jonathan Cape), Julian Barnes announces his own – this blend of memoir and fiction, exploring memory, illness, mortality and love across the decades, will be his last book. “Your presence has delighted me,” he assures the reader. “Indeed, I would be nothing without you.”

Into the Light by Rachel Cusk

Black-and-white sketch of evergreen trees reflected in a river, as seen through a window — Illustration by Damien Cuypers

FICTION

Into the Light

by Rachel cusk

THE ARTIST B was married three times, two of them to the same man, though on the latter occasion his right leg was missing. In the years of their separation an accident had occurred that required the leg to be amputated. For social events he used a prosthetic limb that was awkward and uncomfortable to wear. It was at one of these that their second meeting, after fifteen years of absence, had taken place.

FICTION

Junk

by Jenny Erpenbeck

Translated by

Kurt Beals

OF COURSE IT’S NICE when the eye can be at peace, when it doesn’t get tangled up in knickknacks, when the drawers open silently and then close again as if by magic. It’s nice to have bare tables where no dust falls, only light. It’s nice when everything is made of glass and you can see through it, because nothing else is there. Emptiness is nice. Who doesn’t like to make a purchase if the salesman places a single pair of trousers on a frosted glass countertop lit from below? Then those trousers are the last thing on earth that casts a shadow, and the counter with its bluish shimmer turns out to be an altar that extends from Berlin to Vienna, from Vienna to Tokyo, from Tokyo to New York, and from New York perhaps to heaven or hell, gradually narrowing as it disappears from view.

Black-and-white sketch of two pairs of glasses, one atop the other — Illustration by Damien Cuypers

FICTION

Crossings

by Bryan Washington

FIRST I SPOT HIM holding hands with his husband.

I’d have caught him anyway. PDA is so rare in broad daylight in Tokyo, let alone between men. He’s grown a beard. Clipped the hair on his head. And also, he’s more muscular than when we were together, like some kind of porn-star blow-up doll.

The mysterious life of Connie Converse, the brilliant singer who was ignored — and then vanished

Connie Converse during Christmas 1955, in Schenectady, in New York.SISTEMA NACIONAL DE PERSONAS DESAPARECIDAS DE ESTADOS UNIDOS

The mysterious life of Connie Converse, the brilliant singer who was ignored — and then vanished

A reissue brings back the recordings of an artist who reached Greenwich Village before Bob Dylan or Joan Baez, only to disappear shortly after turning 50

Bruce Dickinson at an Iron Maiden concert in 1983. On the left, guitarist Dave Murray and bassist Steve Harris.MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES (GETTY IMAGES)

Iron Maiden: The heavy metal band that still drives audiences wild 50 years later

The legendary metal band is celebrating half a century at the height of their popularity, and has also just released the documentary ‘Burning Ambition’

Saturday, May 23, 2026