She has an undeniable body of work, first-name-only recognition status, and now a Nobel Prize. Why is it so hard to love or hate Alice Munro’s writing in intellectual terms rather than personal ones?

Sleepy Madison and Leather Space Man were childhood friends, but even that meant nothing in the glare of fame.

There’s a great tradition, from Poe to The Wire, of the crime drama that forgets it's a crime drama—and concerns itself, instead, with the minutiae of its characters’ lives. The author’s favourite book of 2013, Keith Ridgway’s Hawthorn & Child, is a model of the genre.

While Nelson Mandela sat in prison, cultural authorities in South Africa clamped down on “subversive” music, banning albums and raiding gigs. Warrick Sony’s Kalahari Surfers, however, found a way through.

To those deemed worthy, six weeks at the MacDowell Colony bring new work, friendships, and great meals. Compare this to the Canadian model, in which artists (even emerging ones) receive just enough to live on from governments. Which way works best?