Growing up in postwar Birmingham meant there was very little to do. My parents took the view that anything enjoyable was best avoided. But they gave me two precious gifts. The first was a constant ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

A few stanzas from the end of Chaucer’s long poem “Troilus and Criseyde,” the author interrupts his story to indulge in a bit of reception anxiety. “Go, litel book,” he bids the manuscript that’s soon ...

You can talk to the chatbot like it's a friendly acquaintance, and it'll help you get a lot done. Amanda Smith is a freelance journalist and writer. She reports on culture, society, human interest and ...

Java Development Kit (JDK) 26, a planned update to standard Java due March 17, 2026, has reached the initial release candidate (RC) stage. The RC is open for critical bug fixes, with the feature set ...

I hope you’ve got plenty of shelf-space set aside this year, because many of the biggest names in books have new titles on the way in 2026. Over the next few months of winter and spring, that includes ...

In June 2025, Karen Read was acquitted of murder after being a suspect in her boyfriend John O'Keefe's January 2022 death Jordana Comiter is an Associate Editor on the Evergreen team at PEOPLE. She ...