In Gaza, as in Britain, we need justice, not punishment
Letters: Ruth Baker on Ben Okri’s new poem Gaza, the international court of justice and the UK general election
January 2024
Tom Parker Bowles picked for mini library project championed by his mum
Tom Parker Bowles among 21 writers providing snapshot of contemporary literature in initiative supported by the queen
September 2023
Audiobook of the week
Tiger Work by Ben Okri audiobook review – dispatches on a post-apocalyptic world
Ashley Zhangazha narrates a collection of essays, poems and short stories that rail against human inaction in the face of environmental catastrophe
June 2023
Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Anna Wintour honoured in king’s birthday list
Knighthood for late novelist Amis is dated 18 May as honours cannot be given posthumously
March 2023
Ben Okri on swapping novels for painting: ‘Could these two great rivers of creativity merge?’
The Booker winner has teamed up with Scottish colourist Rosemary Clunie – to follow in the footsteps of word-and-picture masters Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jenny Holzer
January 2023
More than 100 writers sign letter in solidarity with jailed UK climate activists
Ben Okri, Simon Schama, Helen Pankhurst and AL Kennedy among those saying they ‘stand with’ protesters
March 2022
Booker winner Ben Okri rewrites published novel to drive home message on slavery
The author tells why he spent five years on a new draft of his 2008 novel Starbook to give more emphasis to one of its key themes
January 2022
Centenary recording of Ulysses to be read by Eddie Izzard, Margaret Atwood and others
More than 100 writers, artists, comedians and musicians will voice James Joyce’s seminal novel in celebration of its publication a century ago
December 2021
Today in Focus
Revisited: Britain’s rich history of black literature
In Black History Month we brought together star authors Ben Okri, Candice Carty-Williams and Caleb Azumah Nelson to discuss the past, present and future of black writing
November 2021
Writing the wrongs of the climate crisis
Tony Allen: A Retrospective review – sprawling tribute gets the crowd on its feet
October 2021
Today in Focus
Britain’s rich history of black literature
For Black History Month we’ve brought together star authors Ben Okri, Candice Carty-Williams and Caleb Azumah Nelson to discuss the past, present and future of black writing
August 2021
The week in theatre: Anything Goes; Changing Destiny – review
Changing Destiny review – Ben Okri’s sketchy foray into ancient Egypt
May 2021
Reopening culture
From McKellen’s Hamlet to a comic Hullabaloo: what to see as theatres and comedy clubs reopen
As stage shows return, we pick the best post-lockdown offerings – featuring Egyptian gods, rebelling vicars, dancing youths ... and Ian McKellen playing the Dane at 82
March 2019
Books that made me
Ben Okri: ‘I began Don Quixote as one person and finished as another’
The author on his mother’s storytelling, cheering up with Oscar Wilde and why he always finishes books
February 2019
The Freedom Artist by Ben Okri review – visions of dystopia
An enigmatic fable about a ‘post-truth’ city where books are banned from the author of The Famished Road
Book of the day
The Freedom Artist by Ben Okri review – wake-up call of a world without books
A society sleepwalks towards destruction in Okri’s deeply felt allegorical novel
Grace Wales Bonner: ‘I’m a fashion designer making art – it could be seen as silly’
From menswear to art, the polymath speaks about creative fluidity and ritual
January 2019
Life on a plate
Ben Okri: ‘If you’re hungry, books seem full of feasts’
The writer on living on the streets in London, eating in a cellar during the Nigerian civil war, and fasting while writing
