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[SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( February 25, 2023 [View in browser]( So, which edition will you choose? The original Roald Dahl books, or the ones with [nervy, sanctimonious edits]( from the publishers? A week after the Telegraph explosively revealed that [Dahlâs classics have been quietly amended]( (Augustus Gloop is no longer âenormously fatâ but, simply, âenormousâ), [Puffin Books has rowed back after criticism for Queen Consort Camilla](. It will now publish the books in two formats: as they were written, and in versions for âchildren who may be navigating written content independently for the first timeâ. It was a bizarre attempt to sand the edges off a writer who is treasured precisely because his stories are a bit horrible â although I am semi-miffed that my first edition copy of Matilda has now crashed in value. In less controversial news, we are definitely approaching spring jacket time. If you need a bit of inspiration to get outdoors this week, I highly recommend [this piece](, from Alice Vincentâs new book Why Women Grow,[about how Vanessa Bell tended to the garden at Charleston](. The Sussex farmhouse is one of my favourite places, and, as Alice says, always makes me want to paint squiggly patterns on my cupboards. I also loved [this gorgeous piece from Chloe Ashby](, about what itâs like to be in a relationship with another artist. She spoke to married couple Idris Khan and Annie Morris, who are married and exhibiting together for the first time. I went to their studios in East London last year and itâs pretty incredible how there are two entirely different artistic worlds going on in rooms next door to each other. And this weekâs big exhibition was David Hockneyâs hi-tech immersive show, which [our critic Mark Hudson was blown away by](. Charleston is a 16th-century farmhouse based in the Sussex Downs (The Charleston Trust/James Bellorini) Otherwise, itâs been a week of questions. After the Baftas, we all wondered: [what thing did Angela Bassett do](? In our State of the Arts column, Adam White asked:[what on earth it takes to kill a movie franchise these days](? And, say it ainât so: [does Succession really have to finish at the end of the next series](? Have a great weekend, Jessie [@jessiecath]( What to do this weekend Exhibition | [Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons, Hayward Gallery]( Biggest showing to date for the British sculptorâs creepy, claustrophobic and[utterly compelling immersive installations](. Whether you find yourself under a sand dune, walking in on a black mass or behind the desk in some seedy van-hire office itâs as though the original occupants have only just left the building. Mark Hudson | Chief Art Critic Theatre | [Medea, @sohoplace]( Since it opened at the end of last year, @sohoplace has been steadily gathering steam as a go-to venue for smart, starry productions. After Josie Rourkeâs As You Like It at the end of last year, Dominic Cookeâs staging of Medea has garnered glowing reviews, with powerhouse performances from Sophie Okonedo and Ben Daniels. [Our critic Alice Saville described it]( as a âsubtle, brilliant stagingâ, that makes one of the most deplorable anti-heroines of Greek drama feel âentirely humanâ. Jessie Thompson | Arts Editor [@jessiecath]( Film | [Cocaine Bear]( Mean robot girl M3GAN may have dominated January pop-culture discourse, but February is all about a bear on class-As. Hollywoodâs hottest new star is the anti-hero of Cocaine Bear, a stranger-than-fiction dark comedy inspired by a bear in Georgia in 1985 who consumed multiple bags of coke dropped out of a plane by a prolific drug baron. Director Elizabeth Banks fudges the facts a little from there, her film transforming into a [wacky âkiller-bear-run-amokâ thriller](. Alden Ehrenreich, Margo Martindale and the late Ray Liotta star. Adam White | Film Editor [@__adamwhite]( TV | [Unforgotten]( Cold-case drama Unforgotten is [back for a fifth series]( â but itâs got a painful Nicola Walker-shaped hole in it. In this season, Sanjeev Bhaskarâs detective is joined by a new sidekick, Sinead Keenan, who was brilliant in Little Boy Blue. If anyoneâs able to fill Walkerâs shoes, itâs her. Although the actor did recently admit that when sheâd seen that Walker had been killed off, her first thought was, âGod, woe betide anyone who takes that on.â Ellie Harrison | TV Editor [@Ellie_Harrison]( Books | [Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors]( Coco Mellorsâ [debut novel](, about the relationship between a beautiful young British artist and her older, ad agency boss husband, is a book made for binge reading. All the inevitable Sally Rooney comparisons have already been made, but her compulsive debut made me think more of a mix between Patricia Lockwood, Lorrie Moore and Hanya Yanagihara. Itâs out now in paperback â expect to see it on many a sun lounger this summer. Jessie Thompson | Arts Editor [@jessiecath]( [The Saturday Interview â Jemima Khan]( [Oscars image]( Jemima Khan's first feature film 'What's Love Got to Do with It?' is in cinemas this weekend (Chilli Media) [Jemima Khan]('s first feature film, What's Love Got to Do with It?, is [one of the best romcoms]( I've seen in years. This week,[I talked to her]( about the 12 years she spent writing the film, her time in Pakistan, her friendship with Pakistan, and her experiences with the tabloid press in the Nineties. Khan and 'What's Love Got to Do with It?' director Shekhar Kapur (Shutterstock/Gennaro Leonardi Photos) Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below⦠Weâre speaking at the offices of StudioCanal, who are distributing the film; such locations can make interviews feel stuffy and uninspiring â but not today. âTurn around and have a look behind you,â Khan says, a sparkle in her eye. A vigorous exercise class seems to be happening in the building opposite. âThereâs some quite enthusiastic pelvic thrusting going on over there!â she says, bursting into laughter. Khan gives the sense of being a âLook at that!â person, ready to spot things that will make her friends giggle, or whisper something gossipy in your ear. The kind of person you could concoct plans with, too â as she did on the way back from a holiday with a girlfriend. The pair made a deal, on the return flight home, that they would each write a film; at the premiere, her friend reminded her of the conversation. Friendship is the foundation of Zoe and Kazâs story in Whatâs Love Got to Do with It?, and Khan has very good friends, too. When I say the film made me think of brilliant British films such as Bend It Like Beckham, she shows me a picture of its director, Gurinder Chadha, screaming with delight at a poster of Whatâs Love... on the side of a bus. At a mention of my love for Mamma Mia 2, she squeals that she wants to tell its director and writer, Ol Parker, straight away. Parker was one of the first people to see the script for Whatâs Love, and encouraged her through many drafts. âI genuinely donât think I would have had the confidence to keep going if it hadnât been for Ol Parker,â she says. âWhen I first showed him, my self-esteem was a bit shot, and he read it and was really lovely.â [Read the full interview here]( Weekend Shelf-Care Weekend Shelf-Care Rebecca Makkai Rebecca Makkai counts Jennifer Egan, Andrew Sean Greer and Rumaan Alam as cheerleaders for her new novel, a campus murder mystery set in the Nineties â and thatâs a pretty cool gang to have on your side. Her blockbuster The Great Believers, charting the impact of the Aids crisis on a group of young men, was one of my favourite lockdown reads â so I can't wait for this one. A book I recently read and loved is⦠The Door, by the Hungarian author Magda Szabo. I'd been meaning to read it for years, but was worried it wouldn't be as great as everyone made it out to be. It absolutely blew me away. My three fantasy literary dinner party guests would be⦠Dorothy Parker, for the snark; the children's author Lois Lowry, my first love; and James {NAME}, who I'd probably be too nervous to talk to. Not finishing books: my stance is⦠Wait, reading them, or writing them? I'm absolutely not going to finish reading a book I don't love, unless I'm obliged to for a review or something. As for writing: I've finished writing every book I've gotten to page 50 on. If I'm that far in, I'll see it through and then wrestle it into shape. My writing routine is⦠I don't have one, as I don't believe in them. I work when I can, and I can't be precious about it or nothing will ever get done. I have to be able to write on my phone in the school parking lot. 'I Have Some Questions For You' is out now, published by Fleet Enjoying this newsletter? 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