Rebecca Laurence

From imagined futures to mid-life stories and the return of the erotic – here are our recommendations for the best offerings of the season in books, film, TV shows and more.

Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe star in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Oscar-tipped fantasy, Poor Things, which has drawn attention for its sex scenes – but are they what they seem?

As the entertainment industry closes and the world moves indoors, BBC Culture explains how it will continue to bring readers the best arts stories from around the globe.

The tragic horror has done more than any other story to shape modern anxieties. But it’s what it tells us about compassion that we need now more than ever.

The Augsburg Book of Miraculous Signs reveals a 16th Century society gripped by anxieties that we can relate to in the 21st Century, writes Rebecca Laurence.

When the writer Lauren Collins began learning French, she had no idea how it would change her life. Rebecca Laurence looks at the benefits and pitfalls of bilingual relationships.

Sinead O’Connor, who had a hit with Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U, believes it is an enduring song about loss. It’s taken on a new meaning after his death, writes Rebecca Laurence.

With Straight Outta Compton, NWA brought the brutal soundtrack of the LA streets to the mainstream. It was a sound not everyone wanted to hear, writes Rebecca Laurence.

On 11 August 1973, a ‘back to school jam’ in New York’s West Bronx kick-started a movement and birthed a whole culture, writes Rebecca Laurence.