Sometimes it seems like there are two people called Jonathan Franzen: the successful, acclaimed novelist, and his evil twin. This can be the only explanation for why he polarises otherwise like-minded people in a way that even Donald Trump or Meghan Markle can't. - BBC
"As a mainstay of the loose aggregation of Nashville session professionals known as the A-Team, (he) played on many of the landmark country hits of his day. … Each typified the intuitive, uncluttered style of playing that came to characterize the less-is-more Nashville Sound." - The New York Times
"As we emerge from the shadows of the past two years, this class of 25 Fellows helps us reimagine what's possible," said MacArthur Fellows managing director Cecilia Conrad in a statement. " - NPR
"The Taliban are being pressured on many issues like women's rights and journalists' safety, but there are no discussions about the rights and safety of artists. We can't raise our voice here, we are in hiding." - The Art Newspaper
For devotees of Stevens’s classic material, it can feel as though he’s making amends for having walked away from his music all those years ago. But is that really fair? Or true? - Washington Post
Atkins had been thinking for years about writing a memoir. "But it was only once the pandemic hit ... that she was able to get on with doing so. 'I’m ashamed to tell you that I had a wonderful lockdown,' she says. 'I absolutely loved the whole thing.'" - The Observer (UK)
As in, every single day. All the better to celebrate life, says the performance artist. "You have to think about what you’re going to leave society: as an artist you have that obligation. Because if you have a gift, you have to handle it carefully." - The Guardian (UK)
The NYT overlooked Varo (though anyone who's taken a 20th century art history course surely does not understand how) when she died. The Spanish surrealist's "style was reminiscent of Renaissance art in its exquisite precision, but her dreamlike paintings were otherworldly in tone." - The New York Times
Mraz's "deft, versatile work anchored the recordings and performances of generations of artists, from Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie more than 50 years ago to Cyrus Chestnut and Joe Lovano in this century." - The New York Times
Bird Runningwater has built upon the organization’s foundations of Indigenous inclusion, helping to develop a pipeline of Indigenous creative talent and expand their cultural reach across storytelling both in the U.S. and beyond. - The Hollywood Reporter
Robert Gentile, a mob figure who did several stints in prison on unrelated charges, refused for decades to speak with FBI agents about the 1990 theft — even after a handwritten list of the stolen artworks, with estimated values, was found in a raid on his home. - Artnet
It's that humor, a sense of optimism and her beloved piano that have buttressed and comforted this centenarian through an often difficult life. Maze has just released her sixth album at the age of 107. - NPR
Over 60 years, he was a master of self-reinvention: Air Force navigator; cable-car operator in San Francisco; indie filmmaker; author (in English and French); playwright, composer, and TV writer (nine Tony nominations and an Emmy); the only Black floor trader at the American Stock Exchange. - The Washington Post
He didn't start the battle itself, but he was the top military man in Algeria's war of independence. When that was won, the new government wanted a movie about it. So Yacef found director Gillo Pontecorvo and co-produced and starred in the 1966 film. - The New York Times
