Steve McQueen, Tracey Emin, Steve Coogan, Adjoa Andoh, Danny Dyer, Jesse Darling and many more spell out what must be done to restore Britain’s cultural lifeblood, from ending elitism to supercharging libraries – and flooding schools with music

Leading authors including Bernardine Evaristo, Armistead Maupin and Alice Roberts recommend books to read this summer

Authors, critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

Leading authors recommend the best recent books, from a forbidden love affair at the Western Front to a murder mystery set in Egypt

The author on Vladimir Nabokov’s footnotes, James Baldwin’s essays and returning to Hilary Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety

Authors recommend their favourite recent reads, from addictive novels and fascinating cultural history to a game-changing graphic memoir

Katherine Rundell’s engaging and playful biography of the metaphysical poet demands – and rewards – your attention

From polar bears to murder mysteries, Katherine Rundell’s picks will make long days feel shorter and a small world seem larger

As His Dark Materials comes to TV, the prize-winning children’s author Katherine Rundell looks at how a scrappy girl became one of literature’s best-loved characters

A hymn to the energising brilliance of children’s literature