In brief: Piglet; Free Play; A Spell of Good Things – review
A bride’s wedding day preparations go awry in a propulsive page-turner; a violinist’s inspirational guide to everyday creativity; and a moving Dickensian tale of two citizens in Nigeria
‘Gloom is good’: after my wife died I found solace in poetry and music
You can’t fight death, sickness, ageing and life’s various indignities, but you can play very loud rock’n’roll
On my radar: Kiell Smith-Bynoe’s cultural highlights
The actor and comedian on an R&B gem, comedy without the drama and why he loves an old-school market
Blue Giant review – electrifying animation captures the ecstasy of live music
A sublime score from Hiromi Uehara drives this coming-of-age-anime, which brings three young jazz musicians to life with spectacular imagery
On my radar: Jake Shears’s cultural highlights
The American musician, formerly of Scissor Sisters, on erotic Hollywood, video game sleuthing and unidentified flying objects
Where We Come From by Aniefiok Ekpoudom review – a social history of British rap
This unusual account of a musical movement eschews grand narratives and embraces the small-scale
Phew, Eh Readers? The Life and Writing of Tom Hibbert review – the PG Wodehouse of pop journalism
As this collection illustrates, the late Smash Hits and Q scribe was an inimitable master of mischief whose interviews skewered everyone from Bros to Margaret Thatcher
On my radar: Margo Price’s cultural highlights
The US country star on learning a new instrument at 40, her favourite place to eat in Nashville and an app she’s happy to have send her to sleep
The Sterns Are Listening by Jonathan Wells review – a tight and taut family drama… with a punk soundtrack
In the US poet and memoirist’s debut novel, dark secrets are leavened by rich language and comic invention
‘Life is about creating yourself’: on Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine
The Dylan Center in Tulsa offers a read as endlessly fascinating, as vital to the American story, as its subject himself
Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir to be posthumously published this autumn
Book co-written with the star’s daughter Riley Keough promises to reveal ‘the complexity of being a Presley’
Unruly by David Mitchell review – a Horrible Histories with added swearing
Tales of familial hatred, infidelity, murder and spectacular incompetence, in a joyfully narrated history of England’s kings and queens
‘Floored’ union leader called AOC new Springsteen after shock primary win, book says
New York progressive star among subjects of The Rebels, survey of the modern US left by Joshua Green
Christopher Hood obituary
Other lives: Author of comic novels and plays who later focused on singing for local blues bands and appearing in amateur dramatics
On my radar: Alex Horne’s cultural highlights
The co-host and creator of Channel 4’s Taskmaster on the British equivalent of Hamilton, the charm of Radio 3 and a cool comedian’s scattergun memoir