Cloud Atlas at 20: What makes a novel tattoo-worthy?
Every author wants to write a book like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. Two decades after it first hit the shelves, the author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow celebrates its daring, dazzling appeal
September 2022
Tom Hanks thinks he’s only made four ‘pretty good’ movies. Which are they?
The actor recently said he only sees four of his films as better than the rest, requiring a deep dive into which ones he might and might not be talking about
August 2021
I went looking for ordinary coincidence in the world, but what I found was extraordinary
Nick Earls
How many everyday wonders do we miss because we’ve blinded ourselves to the inevitability of chance?
July 2020
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell review – endless prog rock noodling
The acclaimed author of Cloud Atlas hits a bum note with this hackneyed story of a band in the late 1960s
September 2019
‘What’ll happen if I try this?’: David Mitchell on writing Cloud Atlas
Bold and ambitious, this wildly inventive novel blurred genre boundaries in six interlinked stories. The author reveals his inspirations
May 2019
The other side of Black Mirror: literary utopias offer the seeds of better real life
Sandra Newman
The rule of cynics and nihilists has led us to a dangerous place, where everything from healthcare to wind farms is declared intrusive, big-state meddling
July 2015
On my radar
On my radar: novelist David Mitchell’s cultural highlights
The author on Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the best noodles outside Japan, and how he plans to catch the sunlight in Norway
January 2015
Books blog
Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week?
Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them
August 2014
A life in ...
David Mitchell: 'I've been calling The Bone Clocks my midlife crisis novel'
The Books Interview: Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell is back with another multi-stranded, time-hopping epic, and he is favourite to win the Booker prize
July 2014
The Observer profile
David Mitchell: a storyteller of infinite richness
Profile: For the Cloud Atlas novelist, famed for playing with form, writing a short story on Twitter is just his latest challenge. But this is only the prelude to the big event, his eagerly awaited new novel
August 2013
The Illusion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy – review
The story of five characters and the revelation of the bonds between them gets lost in the endless striving for beauty and significance, writes Chris Power
June 2013
Tom Hanks to star in adaptation of A Hologram for the King
Cloud Atlas co-director Tom Tykwer will reunite with star for film of Dave Eggers's novel about struggling US businessman
February 2013
Philip French's film of the week
Cloud Atlas – review
Film of the week: So David Mitchell's novel was filmable after all – but will you want to see it twice? asks Philip French
David Mitchell: 'I don't want to project myself as this great experimenter'
David Mitchell never imagined his novel Cloud Atlas, with its labyrinth of interlocking stories, could be adapted for the screen. So what made him entrust Hollywood with the challenge, asks Stuart Jeffries
James D'Arcy: 'I delivered my first line and Anthony Hopkins burst out laughing'
Ryan Gilbey: The star of Hitchcock is versatile, nuanced and passionate. Yet James D'Arcy is so self-deprecating, he says he once got a Hollywood audition only because they thought he was Colin Firth
January 2013
Glasgow film festival lifts curtain on biggest programme
Cloud Atlas, partly filmed in the city, and Stoker are among 360 films to be screened at 27 venues in event's busiest calendar
June 2011
Cloud Atlas to be filmed in Berlin as city eyes starring role in movies
City hopes £62m adaptation of David Mitchell's book will become first German blockbuster
June 2010
Book club
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Week four: readers' responses
Book club
Guardian book club: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Week three: David Mitchell on writing Cloud Atlas
Book club
Guardian book club: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Some readers found David Mitchell's Booker-nominated metafictional fooling to be gimmicky, but I loved the fun cliffhangers. What did you think?
