Notebooks

Notebooks are snapshots from our writers, reflecting on current affairs and underappreciated aspects of culture and history.

Sometimes when a tale concludes we want to know what happens next to fascinating characters. Even Shakespeare leaves his readers wondering.

It is often said that the city is like an organism – now lethargic, but soon to burst forth with renewed vigour.

The fine hand of the artist and the musician has gone a long way for some of history's great and terrible figures.

George Herbert's architectural approach to poetry is ideal reading when stuck indoors.

Few historical figures have left such a lasting impression on such a variety of cultures as Alexander the Great.

Seamus Heaney’s poems are a valuable, moving register of individual intimacy and national pain.

Georgius Agricola's De Re Metallica gives us a fascinating insight into the late medieval view of metal and its uses.

Cricket was one of the few sports that was played near-normally this summer - its modern form is a welcome emblem of global connection.

The Camden Town Group capture both the claustrophobia and possibilities of domestic life.