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A person in lacy red dress and flaming red hair holds a book.

Pride, pages and performance: Why drag story time matters more than ever

Phillip Joy, Mount Saint Vincent University; Andrea Fraser, Mount Saint Vincent University, and Conor Barker, Mount Saint Vincent University

Women stand holding trophies against a rainbow background.

Why we still need a women’s prize for fiction

Binhammer, Katherine, University of Alberta; Kanika Batra, Texas Tech University; Maryse Jayasuriya, Saint Louis University, and Theo Gray, University of Alberta

People in fancy clothes on a red carpet.

The Handmaid’s Tale reflects Margaret Atwood’s eerie talent for reading the palm of power

Sharon Engbrecht, University of British Columbia

Here We Are: how silence defines Stephen Sondheim’s last musical

Ben Macpherson, University of Portsmouth

A group of actors on stage in various guises, male and female.
Sirens: The dark psychology of how people really get drawn into cults

Joy Cranham, University of Bath

Simone checking staff for imperfections.
How visionary Beach Boys songwriter Brian Wilson changed music – and my life

Jadey O'Regan, University of Sydney

Five boys holding a surf board.
For both artists and scientists, slow looking allows surprising connections to surface

Amanda Bongers, Queen's University, Ontario and Madeleine Dempster, Queen's University, Ontario

Painting of flowers next to an abstract model showing colour in lines and shapes that echo the shape of the flowers.
Should global media giants shape our cultural and media policy? Lessons from satellite radio

Should global media giants shape our cultural and media policy? Lessons from satellite radio

Brian Fauteux, University of Alberta

A group of people look in different directions, in the background people march, their heads replaced by magazine covers. An image of former Canadian PM Brian Mulroney is centre.

Tax Canadian movies? Why culture has always been at the centre of trade wars

Sarah E.K. Smith, Western University

A painting of a nature scene: trees, a river and rocks. On either side of the river bank, about ten men sit and some are holding opened up scrolls of paper

A 16th-century Chinese writer spoke of workplace burnout, leaving a blueprint for radical acts of rest

Jason Wang, Toronto Metropolitan University and Xiao He, University of Toronto

A woman and man staring straight ahead, lying against pillows.

In Paying For It, ex-lovers reimagine friendship, family and the meaning of sex work

Ummni Khan, Carleton University

Trump’s tariff threat to foreign films overlooks the value of multilingual cinema

Gaelle Planchenault, Simon Fraser University

A woman in red stands in on the red carpet, with the press dressed in black behind her.
Canada’s identity is at stake if we don’t equitably fund and support its music now

Rosheeka Parahoo, Western University

A woman at a podium with Canadian flag behind her.
A plaque on a brick wall says 'surrender of the Tecumseth irregulars.'

‘Pax Americana’ in Toronto: How speculative art can help us navigate threats

Pascal Michelberger, Western University

A man standing at an easel drawing a bicycle.

‘STOP the American takeover of Canada!’ — Inspiration and humour from a London, Ont. art movement

Ruth Skinner, Western University

The black fun pioneer Sly Stone dressed in white on stage at Woodstock in 1969.

Sly Stone: influential funk pioneer who embodied the contradictions at the heart of American life

Adam Behr, Newcastle University

The rebrand that went full circle: HBO Max to new HBO Max

Omar H. Fares, Wilfrid Laurier University

a smartphone displaying the words HBO Max
All the Shakespearean references in The White Lotus season three explained by an expert

Emily Rowe, King's College London

Walton Goggins in a Hawaiian shirt
‘Saving Face’ is a romcom that tenderly depicts the experiences of queer Asians

Eva Cheuk-Yin Li, Lancaster University

Two women dancing
‘And Just Like That…’ gives middle-aged women something media rarely does — a portrayal of their sexual lives

Marie-Agnes Parmentier, HEC Montréal; Catherine A. Coleman, Texas Christian University; Katherine C. Sredl, Loyola University Chicago, and Linda Tuncay Zayer, Loyola University Chicago

Screenshot from a television show of two white woman having a conversation at a table in a restaurant
An old black and white photo of a man in a full suit and hat

Black style and resistance: The Met Gala, dandyism and blackface in Canada

Cheryl Thompson, Toronto Metropolitan University

A Black model stands next to a computer screen showing an AI replica of her.

Fake models for fast fashion? What AI clones mean for our jobs — and our identities

Jul Parke, University of Toronto

A group of five people standing together with the words A minecraft movie written above them.

Why film adaptations of popular video games often fall flat

Jason Hawreliak, Brock University

‘Adolescence’ on Netflix: A painful wake-up call about unregulated internet use for teens

Martina Calçada Kohatsu, McGill University

A man holds his head while a youth leans on his fist in a grim cinderblock room with dim lighting.
‘Adolescence’ pulls in audiences with its dramatic critique of teenage masculinity

Michael Kehler, University of Calgary

A young boy wearing a t-shirt looks at the camera.
A woman holds a statue at a microphone.

Elisapie’s Juno-winning album: Promoting Inuktitut through music

Richard Compton, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Sarah Angiyou, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)

A woman in a red blouse at a podium speaking into a microphone holding up her finger.

How Lady Gaga acts as a custodian of hope

M. Tina Dacin, Queen's University, Ontario

A black woman with her hair braided into a crown shape in a grey and white suit dress holds a grammy award in one hand while smiling

Doechii’s Thom Browne look at the Grammys bridged street culture and luxury fashion

Pierre-Yann Dolbec, Concordia University

How Shakespeare can help us put meaning back in money

Paul Yachnin, McGill University and Laurette Dube, McGill University

Painted portrait of a man with trim beard wearing lace collar.
Grateful Dead at 60: three folklore tales that inspired the band’s music

Max Bowden, University of Essex

Grateful Dead, six men standing outside of a gig venue.
Flag with maple leaf and flag with stars and stripes spotlit by lights at night.

How Donald Trump’s trade war against Canada reveals tensions inherent in friendship

Jason Wang, Toronto Metropolitan University

A man in fur hat with a Canada hockey sweater and a hockey stick skating.

Elbows up, Canada: Musical responses to Trump’s Canada threats

Emily Abrams Ansari, Western University

A man with curly hair and his palms held up.

How satellite radio predicted the cultural, musical and technological shifts that now define our times

Brian Fauteux, University of Alberta

With its executive order targeting the Smithsonian, the Trump administration opens up a new front in the history wars

Jennifer Tucker, Wesleyan University

Painting of man in suit with red tie sitting in a chair.
Too distracted to watch? Netflix has the perfect ‘second-screen’ show for you

Daphne Rena Idiz, University of Toronto

A phone showing Netflix seen against another screen showing viewing options.
Ancient scrolls are being ‘read’ by machine learning – with human knowledge to detect language and make sense of them

C. Michael Sampson, University of Manitoba

Dense ancient lettering across a scroll.
Can animals make art?

Shawn Simpson, University of Pittsburgh

Pieces of blue plastic surround a bird who stands in an archway created with sticks.

A painting of a Black man and woman, the man holds the woman in his arms. Words at the top read: Gone with the macho

While Hollywood ignored stories of Black resistance, Cuban filmmakers celebrated Black power

Philip Kaisary, Carleton University

A mural depicts a man's face next to the quote 'please I can't breathe.'

Art as resistance: A digital archive documents how protest arts address police violence

Taiwo Afolabi, University of Regina and Friday Shina Gabriel, University of Regina

Film & TV

Two monks in saffron robes stand before Buddha icons arranged along the front and side walls of a temple.

What ‘The White Lotus’ gets wrong about the meaning and goals of common Buddhist practices

Brooke Schedneck, Rhodes College

Val Kilmer’s macho action figures held a melancholy just below the surface

Aaron Humphrey, University of Adelaide

Actor Val Kilmer is photographed by paparazzi at a red carpet event in 1997. He has red shades on, and a mic in front of his face.
‘Decolonizing Lens’: Winnipeg and virtual film series reflects the beauty of Indigenous worldviews

Jocelyn Thorpe, University of Manitoba and Kaila Johnston, University of Manitoba

Girls standing on a porch surveying space and smiling.
Reel resistance: Netflix’s removal of Palestinian films adds to the erasure of Palestine

Chandni Desai, University of Toronto

a woman looks directly into the camera as she puts a candy into her mouth.
Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine As Light’ disrupts popular narratives of Mumbai

Anmol Dutta, Western University

two women standing next to each other looking into a red electrical kitchen appliance

Reading & writing

Stack of books

Women’s prize for fiction 2025: six experts review the shortlisted novels

Éadaoin Agnew, Kingston University; Alexandra Peat, University of Galway; Elizabeth J Kuti, University of Essex; Manjeet Ridon, De Montfort University; Rehana Ahmed, Queen Mary University of London, and Yianna Liatsos, University of Limerick

Indigenous-authored novels: 5 great contemporary reads for young adults

Jennifer Brant, University of Toronto; Erenna Morrison, University of Toronto; Gayatri Thakor, University of Toronto, and Meagan Hamilton, University of Toronto

Books seen by a windowsill next to a mug with a butterfly on it.
‘Iyashikei’ healing manga comforts readers with attention to small joys

J. Andrew Deman, University of Waterloo

A smiling girl holding a phone and doing a selfie.
Philosopher Hannah Arendt provokes us to rethink what education is for in the era of AI

Paul Tarc, Western University

A woman smiling in a suit.
The Great Gatsby at 100: the Jazz Age novel that helps explain Trump’s America

Alexander Howard, University of Sydney

The Great Gatsby at 100: the Jazz Age novel that helps explain Trump’s America
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s new book Dream Count explores love in all its complicated messiness

Daria Tunca, Université de Liège

An African woman with an elaborate hairstyle smiles broadly as she poses near a vintage staircase, wearing a black skirt and an orange blouse with winged shoulders.
Representing Gaza: Artists are using social media-based comics as resources and resistance

Amy Mazowita, Concordia University

A group of crescent moons against a dark night sky. Each of the moon's has the face of a murdered Palestinian, and the moons appears to be wrapped in white cloth. The ruins of Gaza are spread on the ground below.

Fashion & style

Congo’s stylish sapeur movement goes beyond fashion – 5 deeper insights

Sylvie Ayimpam, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)

Two men pose in suits against the backdrop of a corrugated iron wall
Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London celebrates the optimism, hedonism and style of the new romantics

Naomi Braithwaite, Nottingham Trent University

Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London celebrates the optimism, hedonism and style of the new romantics
10 years after the Rana Plaza collapse, fashion has yet to slow down

Verena Gruber, EM Lyon Business School and Marie-Agnes Parmentier, HEC Montréal

10 years after the Rana Plaza collapse, fashion has yet to slow down
How sportswear fashion is indebted to Indigenous and African American cultures

Dr. Henry Navarro Delgado, Toronto Metropolitan University

How sportswear fashion is indebted to Indigenous and African American cultures

Music

A man looking down in concentration to a piano.

Oscar Peterson: Cherishing a legacy of technical virtuosity and soulful swing

Barrington Coleman, Carleton University and James Deaville, Carleton University

Senegal’s female rappers aren’t letting obstacles get in their way – who the rising voices are

Mamadou Dramé, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar

Five women on a stage, in a row, playing musical instruments and smiling, traditional cloth on their heads and flowing robes on.
A Complete Unknown: Chalamet’s brilliant performance captures the elusive essence of a young Dylan

Daniel O'Brien, University of Essex

A lone male figure in sunglass and skinny suit walking down a 1960s NYC street at night
When a child prodigy composer matured into a noblewoman, her legacy got complicated

Amanda Lalonde, University of Saskatchewan

Lithograph of a young girl in profile.
It’s thrilling to see female-led groups like The Beaches claim space in rock culture at Junos 2024 and elsewhere

Jacqueline Warwick, Dalhousie University

A woman on a stage in sunglasses holding a bass guitar with one arm extended in the air.
Prodigy’s personal mythology: Remembering the ‘fallen angel’ of Mobb Deep

Marcus Evans, McMaster University

Two Black men pose for a photo on a sidewalk.
The triumph of vinyl: Vintage is back as LP sales continue to skyrocket

Josh Greenberg, Carleton University

A hand seen flipping through records and the word 'midnights' is seen on one album.

Exhibits & visual culture

A colorful mural shows two blue figures with burst of yellow on their bodies facing groups of people on opposite sides of the page.

An artist traces her choices under Putin’s Russia – from resistance to retreat to exile – one mural at a time

Stephen Norris, Miami University

Seeing histories of forced First Nations labour: the ‘Nii Ndahlohke / I Work’ art exhibition

Mary Jane Logan McCallum, University of Winnipeg and Julie Rae Tucker

A scultpture installation seen on a gallery wall showing various objects in the shape of a cross with objects related to manual labour alongside the horizontal axis, such as a saw, pitchfork, washing board and scissors.
Artists bring human richness at times of strife — and need to be allowed to speak about the Israel-Hamas war

Lowell Gasoi, Carleton University

A person with umbrella seen in front of a building with wide steps and many glass panes that says Art Gallery of Ontario.
African safaris and colonial nightmares: a visit to artist Roger Ballen’s latest show

Tinashe Mushakavanhu, University of Oxford

A mannequin wearing a stuffed lion's head as a hat. The lion holds two bags, each with a humanlike head in them.
How Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan influenced today’s multi-sensory museums

Gary A Genosko, Ontario Tech University

Images of horses seen projected on a building with silhouetted figures.
Photographer Louis Carlos Bernal memorialized the barrios at the US-Mexican border

Rebecca Senf, University of Arizona

Sepia portrait of middle aged man standing in front of a desk with his hands on his hips and a camera hanging from his neck.
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words at the British Library is unmissable

Diane Watt, University of Surrey

Medieval drawing of group of nuns

Ideas & history

Image of a man seen on top of a television with his own image, repeated three times

6 ways AI can partner with us in creative inquiry, inspired by media theorist Marshall McLuhan

Gordon A. Gow, University of Alberta

How existential philosophy can help you to cope with anguish

Luca Costa, University of Oxford

Painting of a woman sitting alone in a cafe looking glum.
How rebellion against moralizing has become a surprising rallying point for the political right

Alexis Shotwell, Carleton University and Kilian Jörg, Freie Universität Berlin

A man in a dark suit and U.S. flag pinned on his lapel gesturing with his finger pointed.

Christian nationalism in the U.S. is eerily reminiscent of ‘dominionist’ reformers in history

Gary K. Waite, University of New Brunswick

A drawing of four men dressed in 17th centry clothing walking in a row carrying swords
How the Middle Ages are being revisited through Indigenous perspectives

Brenna Duperron, Dalhousie University

A thatched building.
Looking for Indigenous history? ‘Shekon Neechie’ website recentres Indigenous perspectives

Mary Jane Logan McCallum, University of Winnipeg; Robert Alexander Innes, McMaster University, and Susan M. Hill, University of Toronto

A belt woven with six rows of bead.
Stop dissing pessimism — it’s part of being human

Ignacio L. Moya, Western University

A frowny face against gray seen against a smiley face against yellow