With then-business partner Nicholas Grimshaw, he rode Britain’s “high-tech Modernism” wave of the 1970s to prominence. But he tired of that movement’s austere aesthetic and went on to design landmarks of London’s postmodern architecture such as the headquarters of TV-am and the intelligence service MI6. - The New York Times
Naghma, despite the popularity she achieved early in her career, faced many difficulties in conservative Afghan culture even before the rule of the Taliban. In the 1990s, mujahideen rebels murdered her sister and she fled the country. She’s been a cultural treasure for the Afghan diaspora ever since. - The New York Times
Loves: Baroque music, textiles “from all over the world,” real estate listings from across the world. Oh, and candy. "Am I not human?” - The New York Times
First of all, it was a surprise - to HBO. “It was very clear that they had been having meetings for Phase 1, and I had not been included in those meetings 'cause nobody thought I was going to be nominated for an Emmy.” (See the full interview here.) - NPR
On June 15, 1895, the Irish poet and playwright was excluded from the British Museum’s Reading Room, the precursor to the British Library. The museum revoked his access after Wilde’s trial and conviction for gross indecency, a Victorian-era crime used to punish men for relationships with other men. - The New York Times
In 1972, as host of All Things Considered, she became the first female anchor of a nightly national newscast. She co-hosted the show for 14 years before becoming the founding host of Weekend Edition Sunday. And she inflicted her mother-in-law’s horrifying cranberry relish recipe on countless victims. - The Washington Post (MSN)
Active as a concert singer as well as in opera, she was for some years a mainstay at the Met, Covent Garden, Salzburg, Glyndebourne, and especially the Netherlands Opera. She was known for Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini as well as a landmark portrayal of the title role in Janáček’s Jenůfa. - Moto Perpetuo
The actor who brought so much manic energy to Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror), Wadsworth the butler (Clue), and Pennywise the clown (Stephen King’s It) talks about his career, his recovery, and his mother (on whom Curry based Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s exit from the refrigerator with the bloody axe). - The Guardian
That much will certainly be made clear in a massive Richter retrospective opening this month at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. Comprising some 250 objects, it is the largest survey of his work to date, exceeding MoMA’s landmark Richter show in 2002. - ARTnews
“(She and her husband, Dan,) through their distribution company, New Yorker Films, and such prominent Manhattan theaters as … Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, were a prolific force behind the transformation of movies in the 1960s and ‘70s from popular entertainment to an art form regarded with the seriousness of literature or painting.” - AP
The Oscar-winning director and actor with the most iconic American screen presence since Gary Cooper is now brawling with his castmates, getting sued by his crewmembers and, in recent months, giving paid keynote speeches at bakery and veterinarian conventions. - The Hollywood Reporter
Griffin was “an influential poet, playwright and prolific feminist author who pioneered a unique form of creative nonfiction, blending propulsive, poetic prose with history, memoir and myth.” - The New York Times
Keaton was the star of Annie Hall, for which she won an Oscar, and many other Woody Allen movies; she was also an Oscar nominee for Reds, Marvin’s Room, and Something’s Gotta Give. And then there were her iconic roles in the Godfather movies. - The Hollywood Reporter
“(He) enjoyed a wide-ranging career as a theatre and opera director without any of the obvious attributes for being so – no university or musical education, no artistic background, no connections – yet he succeeded over many decades in opera houses around the world, and for 10 years at the Royal Shakespeare Company.” - The Guardian
Among the arts folks who won this year’s $800,000 no-strings grants are playwright Heather Christian, photographers Tonika Lewis Johnson and Matt Black, artist/filmmakers Garrett Bradley and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, artist/curator Gala Porras-Kim, composer Craig Taborn, author Tommy Orange, cartographer Margaret Wickens Pearce, and traditional Wabanaki basket weaver Jeremy Frey. - NPR
