Toasting the arrival of 2026 might feel redundant for some creatives. The seventh year of the 2020s is likely to bring even more of a challenging time in creative teams and AI slop (yes, we’re fun at parties). But it’s worth us all trying to be a little more ‘glass half full’ about the year ahead. After all, there’s been a genuine shift towards going offline, with buzzy raves and dating events across the globe increasingly setting the bar for banning phones and encouraging people to live in the moment. Magazines, too, are relaunching and, if you ignore the whole ‘performative’ pejorative, we’re all reading more than ever.
Wherever you may find yourself in the world throughout the year, there’s an endless array of culture to immerse yourself in. It’s why, at Service95, we have pored over line-ups, schedules and release calendars to find the best new films, albums, tours, books, plays, exhibitions and the rest of it. This list will inspire even the most jaded of creatives, so pull out your planner: your new calendar is ready.
The Film & TV Releases To Look Out For In 2026
The Rundown: Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, this harrowing docudrama follows workers at the Palestine Red Crescent Society as they race to save Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl living in Gaza. It poignantly uses a real-life audio recording from an emergency call made by Hind, refusing to let the viewer shy away from the horrors that unfold. Service95 recently spoke to actor Saja Kilani about the film, its impact and the responsibility of telling this story – a powerful conversation you can watch here.
The Cultural Pull: It earned a 23-minute standing ovation at Venice Film Festival in September and will, hopefully, feature in the Oscar nominations.
The Details: Cinemas / 16 January / UK
2. Industry Season 4
The Rundown: Sure, you’ve been reading about how to lower your cortisol levels all year, but sack that off and watch the new season of finance drama Industry anyway. Pierpoint London might now be liquidated, but the stakes will be just as high for Harper, Robert, Yasmin and co as they navigate sex, drugs and more sex and drugs.
The Cultural Pull: It’s a masterclass in narrative tension and last year’s season finale was one of the best, seriously, of all time.
The Details: iPlayer / now / UK and HBO / now / US
3. The Drama
The Rundown: The Drama is a movie promoter’s fever dream. Produced by A24, it sees the engagement between British museum director Charlie Thompson (Robert Pattinson) and publisher Emma Harwood (Zendaya) unravel days before their wedding. Expect, well, drama – and endless hype.
The Cultural Pull: Alana Haim, the baby sister of HAIM who is carving out a killer career as an actor (Licorice Pizza, The Mastermind, One Battle After Another), features.
The Details: Cinemas / 3 April / UK
4. Wuthering Heights
The Rundown: Brontë enthusiasts will decry Emerald Fennell’s new Wuthering Heights adaptation as a bastardised version of the classic novel. But with Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie leading an ensemble cast and excitement mounting, any criticism is unlikely to trouble the Saltburn director too much.
The Cultural Pull: The soundtrack by Charli XCX is an artful tangent from her Brat era, featuring dark wave lead single House with John Cale.
The Details: Cinemas / 13 February / UK
5. The Moment
The Rundown: While Brat summer might seem like a hackneyed fever dream, new mockumentary The Moment will get us all nostalgic for a certain shade of green. Produced by Charli XCX, it follows a popstar gearing up for a headline tour (sound familiar?) and the inevitable messiness that ensues.
The Cultural Pull: With (deep breath) Charli XCX, Jamie Demetriou, Alexander Skarsgård, Kylie Jenner, Rachel Sennott, Mel Ottenberg, Shygirl and Tish Weinstock all starring, The Moment will be impossible to ignore.
The Details: Cinemas / 30 January / UK
6. Landmarks
The Rundown: Premiered at Venice Film Festival in August 2025, this documentary from Lucrecia Martel interrogates the murder of Indigenous campaigner Javier Chocobar, who was shot dead in 2009 while defending his ancestral land in Argentina.
The Cultural Pull: Landmarks, which won the coveted best film award at the BFI London Film Festival, urgently sounds the alarm to protect the rights of Indigenous people in Latin America.
The Details: Cinemas / Date TBC, 2026
7. Werwulf
The Rundown: Following the sleep paralysis demon of Nosferatu, auteur Robert Eggers is back with this new spinechiller starring (shock, horror) Lily-Rose Depp and Willem Dafoe as well as Aaron Taylor-Johnson. This time, it's set in a 13th-century English village, which is being terrorised by a lupine spectre.
The Cultural Pull: Eggers is set to inspire filmmakers all over again with his compelling cinematography.
The Details: Cinemas / 25 December / UK
8. Victory Lap Training Mode Volume.1
The Rundown: It’s 25 years since grime first burst on to the UK rap scene, but the game is alive and well. Case in point is Training Mode Volume.1, a new film inspired by the grainy energy of old-school Risky Roadz DVDs. It features cyphers from the likes of Novelist, Kibo and Niko B.
The Cultural Pull: Victory Lap is concrete proof of the power of community radio, repped by Dave, Clint, Central Cee and others. Lock down your aerials.
The Details: Online / Date TBC, 2026
9. Euphoria Season 3
The Rundown: Love it, hate it, stan it, Euphoria changed pop culture when it hit the small screen in the summer of 2019. The ridiculously stacked cast – Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, Maude Aptatow – is back for a third season of outrageous hedonism.
The Cultural Pull: One teaser photograph shows Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) rolling balls of mince into burgers, while wearing a Prada polo, staring dead into the camera. What more do you need to know?
The Details: Sky/Now TV / April 2026 / UK and HBO / April 2026 / US
The Music Moments & Releases To Note In 2026
10. Smerz Goes On Tour
The Rundown: Norwegian pop duo Smerz have been a slow burner in the music world, releasing their first EP back in 2016. But their patience has been rewarded with a recent buzz and co-signs from the likes of Vogue and THE FACE. Catch them on tour in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland before they go mega.
The Cultural Pull: The Scandi pop scene is an endless geyser of creative energy. Smerz is another premium export, deftly layering sonic textures.
The Details: Tour / February to June / Australia, New Zealand, Europe
11. Geese Also Heads On Tour
The Rundown: Unless you’ve been living in a coastal wetland, you will have heard of Geese. Fronted by genuine prodigy Cameron Winter, the Brooklyn-based outfit have earned a cult following for their all-filler LP Getting Killed, the most urgent record of 2025. Don’t even entertain missing their European tour.
The Cultural Pull: Drowning out guitar music’s pallbearers, Geese have earned adulation from indie kids across the world – and created an entire subculture in the process.
The Details: Tour / March / Europe
12. Peckham Palais Reopens
The Rundown: Southeast London clubs like The Carpet Shop, Peckham Audio and JUMBI have recently risen from the ashes of Peckham’s vacant smoking areas (rest in peace, Rye Wax) and reignited the scene. Now, the legendary Peckham Palais is being reopened after 15 years out of the game, ready to play host to Southeast London’s most discerning selectors (the opening night features Bitter Babe, DJ Python, Pearson Sound and rRoxymore).
The Cultural Pull: Night Tales and Netil360 are the brains and brawn behind the restoration of the 11,000-square-foot venue and have kitted it out with a Funktion-One sound system. Palais will be a super-strength magnet for Peckham creatives.
The Details: Launch party / 7 February / UK
13. Rosalía’s Global Tour Is (Almost) Here
The Rundown: Rosalía’s august, classical-inspired fourth album LUX is a symphony in numbers: it was recorded in 14 languages, across 10 studios with a huge list of credited collaborators including the entire London Symphony Orchestra. Fittingly, her world tour features an audacious list of 57 dates around the globe (sadly, no stop-off at Berghain).
The Cultural Pull: LUX is the most inviting gateway into classical music the pop world has seen, a triumphant crossover LP that proves the aura of the orchestra.
The Details: Tour / March to September / worldwide
14. Open Ground... Opens
The Rundown: When you think of legendary rave hotspots your mind, obviously, wanders to the home of monorail and aspirin, Wuppertal. OK, maybe not, but the 17th largest German town is home to Open Ground, the most hyped-up club of 2025, a juggernaut of the country's underground scene.
The Cultural Pull: Dance-music heads across the globe have been raving about its unique acoustics, stemming from Open Ground’s origins as a Second World War bunker. Bless your ears with the best sounding bass out there for 2026.
The Details: Opening night / 15 January / Germany
15. GHRIME Comes To Ghana
The Rundown: Never one to take his foot off the gas, grime legend Novelist has been visiting Ghana and collaborating with local drill collective Savage 4 to create a new scene. It’s called GHRIME and it’s absolutely mega.
The Cultural Pull: Every time grime passes the mic to rappers from outside of the UK, great things happen (see, for example, the British Brazilian fusion EP BRIME!) so we’re locking into this new creative partnership.
The Details: Ongoing / Ghana
16. NTS Radio’s 15th Birthday
The Rundown: For the last 15 years, NTS Radio has challenged the assumptions of listeners around the world, diversifying music tastes and amplifying new scenes. Now it’s set to welcome its big one-five with a birthday bash with six events featuring Arca, Oneohtrix Point Never and Yves.
The Cultural Pull: NTS has become a key subcultural touchpoint across the entire globe, broadcast from over 50 cities. This is an opportunity to pause for a moment of appreciation and dance like everyone’s listening.
The Details: Party / 13 to 19 April / UK
17. Peaches’ First Album In A Decade
The Rundown: Alt-pop provocateur Peaches has cobbled together her first album in a decade: No Lube So Rude. Teased by the incendiary singles Fuck Your Face and Not In Your Mouth None Of Your Business, it’s shaping up to be a typically fierce release from the Canadian.
The Cultural Pull: A dollar from every ticket of the accompanying album tour goes to Trans Justice Funding Project, indicative of Peaches’ support for queer rights. It’ll be inspiring to see her re-orbiting the pop multiverse during a golden era for the genre.
The Details: Album / 20 February
18. The Black Lights Festival Hits... Blackpool
What It Is: Legendary Greater Manchester club The White Hotel has found a new layover – Blackpool, the battered-around-the-edges, slightly bonkers British seaside town. The likes of A Guy Called Gerald, Blackhaine, Kode9 and Space Afrika are coming to storied venues including the Winter Gardens, Pleasure Beach and the Blackpool Tower Ballroom.
The Cultural Pull: The White Hotel is regularly considered one of the UK’s finest nightlife haunts and for good reason – it’s the real deal. Whatever energy it brings to Blackpool, it will be premier.
The Details: Various venues in Blackpool / 26 to 28 June / UK
The Rundown: Since July 2006, curator, broadcaster and DJ Gilles Peterson has brought an eclectic array of the globe’s finest jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop and house musicians to the French coastal town of Sète. This year the festival celebrates its 20th anniversary with a bounty of beach parties and after-dark shows at Théâtre de la Mer.
The Cultural Pull: Giles Peterson is a true selector, expertly joining the dots between a dizzying range of genres on his BBC Radio 6 Music residency. With last year’s headliners including Sampha the Great, Roni Size and Jeff Mills, it's clear that the 2026 line-up will be shored up with some of the planet’s best artists.
The Details: Various venues in Sète / 28 June to 5 July / France
20. Fuji Rock Festival
The Rundown: Fuji Rock has an automatic elevator pitch; 100,000 punters grooving to 200 of the globe’s best musicians in Naeba Ski Resort in Japan. Held since 1997, its seven main stages (look out for the gorgeously named Field of Heaven) are discoverable through winding walks and picturesque gondola lifts – including, liftspotters take note, the world’s longest.
The Cultural Pull: Aside from the major acts (last year: Four Tet, James Blake, Ezra Collective, Haim and Vampire Weekend) there's traditional Japanese folk art, all-night raving at the Red Marquee and the Oasis, a food market with vendors at the apex of Japanese street food.
The Details: Naeba Ski Resort / 25 to 27 July / Japan
21. Lek Och Bus I Gagnef
The Rundown: How to possibly explain Lek och Bus i Gagnef? Three hours north of Stockholm, this kooky Swedish festival features bizarre party games (inflatable hot dog fight, anyone?), pedalos, skateboarding and all-out raves to local DJs such as DJ Burgerhead who, yes, wears a massive burger on his head. It’s your dream 10th birthday party, and more.
The Cultural Pull: If you want something off the beaten track, this is just the ticket. Hedonism never looked so weird.
The Details: Ängsholns Folkpark, Gagnef / 2 to 4 July / Sweden
22. Flash Festival Tuscany
The Rundown: If you want a real-life slice of la dolce vita, then Flash Festival is the place to head. Overlooking a breathtaking vista of Castiglion Fiorentino in Tuscany, this 1,000-capacity event brings local eats and banging beats (Bradley Zero, Eclair Fifi, DJ Boring and salute have soundtracked previous years) to its Edenic surroundings.
The Cultural Pull: Flash’s ethos is grounded in a desire to bring authentic Tuscan culture to the world, inviting travellers to find each other through music, food, wine and dancing. If you have dreams to start your own microfestival or international party, get a ticket and bring your notebook.
The Details: Podere Sant’Apollonia / 13 to 16 May / Italy
The Fashion & Theatre Events To Have On You Radar In 2026
23. Sancta Opens In Belgium
The Rundown: Yes, it is indeed that scandalous opera about nymphomaniac nuns that left 18 people needing medical assistance for sickness and dizziness in Stuttgart in 2024, back on the road in the gorgeous Opera Antwerpen. Based on Paul Hindemith’s 1922 play, director Florentina Holzinger has the nuns on rollerskates but not skimped on the salaciousness of the original. No wonder it’s filled with so many arts section column inches.
The Cultural Pull: If you’re new to the opera, this is just the ticket. It’s proof that the medium is far from stale and can, in fact, be one of the most boundary-pushing artforms out there.
The Details: Opera Antwerpen / 4 to 9 April / Belgium
The Rundown: Rebecca Lucy Taylor – aka singer-songwriter Self Esteem – is set to make her West End play debut in David Hare’s heady play about a washed-up rock star, directed by Daniel Raggett (Accidental Death of an Anarchist).
The Cultural Pull: Crossover casting is keeping London’s theatre scene alive and kicking. While it can risk becoming a gimmick, enlisting Self-Esteem to feature in Teeth ’n’ Smiles – alongside new songs from her creative arsenal – seems a smart move.
The Details: Duke of York's Theatre / 13 March to 6 June / UK
25. Copenhagen Fashion Week
The Rundown: The ‘big four’ (New York, London, Milan, Paris) are increasingly having their toes stepped on by smaller, more radical runway events. Copenhagen Fashion Week is leading the way and is set to celebrate its 20th anniversary with Nordic designers including Holzweiler, Forza Collective, Rave Review and Sunflower.
The Cultural Pull: CPHFW adheres to a rigid set of sustainability criteria: at least 60% of each label's collection must be made of environmentally conscious materials or deadstock fabric. While sustainable fashion has faded in some circles, Copenhagen continues to demonstrate its worth.
The Details: Various venues in Copenhagen / 27 to 30 January / Denmark
26. The Debt Gala
The Rundown: We sincerely promise that The Debt Gala is more than just an excellent pun. Taking on the lavish decadence of the Met Gala, this Brooklyn-based event invites the fashion-forward to DIY themselves a killer look in the name of clearing debt.
The Cultural Pull: The Debt Gala might be tongue-in-cheek, but it puts its money where its mouth is, eliminating over $2.5million in medical debt for families in need.
The Details: The Bell House / 3 May / US
The Rundown: Georgia, positioned at the intersection of eastern Europe and western Asia, is enjoying deserved appreciation for its rich culture, food and wine. Its fashion week is also offering something novel, spotlighting labels following in the footsteps of expatriates Demna and David Koma.
The Cultural Pull: Tbilisi is one of Europe’s most happening capitals with a distinctive, playful street style of its own. Quelle surprise that the likes of Vogue and Dazed have made Tbilisi Fashion Week a regular fixture on their fashion calendar.
The Details: Various venues / 11 to 13 October / Georgia
The Rundown: Central Saint Martins continues to sculpt the next gen of British designers; and its BA grad show is the ideal place to head for the fashion-forward futurist. Taking place each year in June, it’s where creatives present their work to some of the style world’s most discerning critics.
The Cultural Pull: Such is the pace of fashion, many of the grads build a cult following before their final show (Myah Hasbany, a star of last year’s event, had already designed for singer-songwriter Erykah Badu). This is your chance to get ahead of the curve.
The Details: Central Saint Martins / June / UK
29. Proof Comes to Broadway
The Rundown: Two decades on from a 2005 film adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins and Jake Gyllenhaal, David Auburn’s calculated play Proof – following a student’s descent into mathematical monomania – is back in the spotlight thanks to a new Broadway revival.
The Cultural Pull: 25 years ago, Proof earned plaudits across the board, winning a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. Now, excitingly, it’s set to star Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle in their Broadway debuts.
The Details: Broadway / 31 March / US
The Rundown: London-based artist Harriet Richardson has been building a fanbase (many wearing her viral I Dated Harriet Richardson caps) for her mischievous performance art, ranging from yearning for 1,057 men in a single day to tattooing past lovers’ mothers’ names on to her chest. Now, she’s bringing a new WIP show to Manchester.
The Cultural Pull: Richardson had an annus mirabilis in 2025, holding down a residency in New York, performing at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and publishing a wildly popular book of deleted Instagram pictures.
The Details: Fairfield Social Club / 31 January / UK
The Arts & Culture Exhibitions To Visit In 2026
31. The Antwerp Six at MoMu
The Rundown: For the first time, a new exhibition at MoMu, Antwerp's Fashion Museum, celebrates the work of the Antwerp Six: Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene and Marina Yee.
The Cultural Pull: The boundary-smashing Belgian designers influenced the entire fashion sphere and orbited the work of fellow Belgian legends Raf Simons and Maison Margiela. It’s time they got their flowers from the art world.
The Details: MoMu / 28 March / Belgium
The Rundown: There’s something boldly 1990s about calling an entire exhibition The 90s. Such was the chutzpah of the era, when British pop-cultural optimism was at its peak and an effortlessly cool coterie of artists and designers steered Cool Britannia. Expect a nostalgia overload at Tate Britain.
The Cultural Pull: In a time of creative pessimism and a very broken Britain, looking back to the utopian vision of the 1990s isn’t regressive – it can reanimate the progressive spirit of one of history’s most euphoric decades.
The Details: Tate Britain / 8 October / UK
33. Balkan Erotic Epic Goes On Tour
The Rundown: The inimitable Marina Abramović, 79, returned for Balkan Erotic Epic late last year, turning landmark cultural space Aviva Studios into an orgiastic display of traditional Serbian rituals, radical sexual energy and feminist body politics. Now it’s coming to Barcelona, then Berlin, Duisburg and New York.
The Cultural Pull: This is a chance to see the world’s most successful performance artist in her idiosyncratic element, orchestrating (and cameoing in) a heady celebration of her heritage. In all our talk of lore, this is the real deal.
The Details: The Liceu Opera House / 24 January / Spain
The Rundown: The fifth edition of Lagos Biennial is titled The Museum of Things Unseen, exploring the process of building a museum from scratch and the political act of curation. It's slated to bring together a body of work that meta-dramatically explores the act of making art.
The Cultural Pull: The influence of Lagos Biennial has been groundbreaking; as mapped out in a new book, The Making of an African Capital of Culture, bringing together the contributions of the first four editions of the event. With discourse surrounding curation at an all-time-high, this is a timely interrogation of the museum world.
The Details: Various venues / 17 October to 18 December / Nigeria
The Rundown: Artist Salman Toor has become the toast of NYC thanks to the transportive power of his paintings, portraying queer Brown men with the uncompromising technique of the Old Masters. Now, he’s exhibiting his latest exhibition at The Courtauld in London.
The Cultural Pull: It’s Toor’s first show in Europe, a chance to see a new master at work in the continent that inspired his style.
The Details: The Courtauld Gallery / 2 October / UK
36. BUTTER Art Fair
The Rundown: America’s no-commission art fair returns to Indianapolis to highlight the work of local Black artists, who receive 100% of proceeds from art sales. In its first four years, BUTTER welcomed 60,000 attendees and helped 239 artists sell $1.2million worth of their art.
The Cultural Pull: From 2008 to 2020, about 2.2% of acquisitions at the US’s major museums were by Black artists. BUTTER is an essential initiative to showcase the work of the local creative community via a pioneering economic model.
The Details: The Stutz / 3 to 6 September / US
37. Björk Takes Over The National Gallery Of Iceland
The Rundown: For an artist with one of the most jaw-dropping voices ever, Björk is still criminally unsung in mainstream music. Thankfully, for those who revere her avant-garde arrangements, she’s back and has a takeover of the National Gallery of Iceland.
The Cultural Pull: Echolalia includes an immersive installation based on a new album that’s currently in development.
The Details: National Gallery of Iceland / 30 May to 20 September / Iceland
38. The Opening Of The Museum Of Youth Culture
The Rundown: Originally planned to open in December 2025, the world’s first permanent curation of youth culture is now swinging open its doors in the St Pancras Campus in Camden in early 2026. Ephemera from British cool kids across the decades will be displayed alongside a record store, cafe and gallery.
The Cultural Pull: It comes at a time when youth culture is, rightfully, being appreciated. Later in the year, Danny Boyle promises to “galvanise” the UK and celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Southbank Centre with an ode to youth culture.
The Details: Spring 2026 / UK
39. La Noche De Los Museos
The Rundown: Every November, thousands of Buenos Aires residents descend on the city’s museums and cultural venues for a night of musing, schmoozing and mooching. Armed with a special bus pass, every exhibition space in the Argentinian capital is free to visit.
The Cultural Pull: La Noche de los Museos is a feast of culture – it involves more than 300 museums and arts spaces, demanding thoughtful planning and relentless powerwalking.
The Details: November / Argentina
40. The World Transformed Festival
What It Is: The World Transformed (or TWT, if you want to save a tongue-twister) is set to celebrate its 10th anniversary with another edition of its progressive political festival. Last year, its Manchester edition brought key left-wing figures including Zack Polanski, Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana to Niamos Radical Arts & Culture Centre in Hulme.
The Cultural Pull: With the world very much transforming for the worse right now, it’s never been more vital to hear from a wide variety of voices. TWT is the way there.
The Details: Date TBC, 2026 / UK
The Rundown: Don’t worry, Cannes isn’t canned. But it's time for the São Paulo to take a more central role in the film festival world, ready to celebrate its 50th edition in 2026. Last year, Netflix brought Frankenstein, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl and The Son of a Thousand Men to the Mostra.
The Cultural Pull: “I feel Brazil is regaining a role – it’s becoming a protagonist again in the global cinema conversation. Brazilian film is and has always been – diverse, political, poetic and profoundly human,” legendary director Guillermo del Toro told Variety. “The festival has this crazy, bold energy, embracing both the big names and emerging voices.”
The Details: 13 to 15 December 2026 / Brazil
42. Kim Yun Shin Retrospective At The Hoam Museum Of Art
The Rundown: Septuagenarian and octogenarian artists have rarely been more celebrated, from David Hockney shows to Marina Abramović’s continued dedication to performance art. Now, it’s the turn of nonagenarian sculptor Kim Yun Shin, who will be celebrated in a respective show at the Hoam Museum of Art in Yongin, retracing her seven-decade career.
The Cultural Pull: After Kim featured in the 2024 Venice Biennale, the North Korea-born star finally got her flowers and showed in London and New York last year. It’s never too late.
The Details: Hoam Museum of Art / 17 March to 28 June / South Korea
The Books & Literary Festivals To Add To Your List In 2026
43. Jaipur Literature Festival
The Rundown: If you’re looking for a front cover testimonial, “the greatest literary show on Earth” is a pretty good one. That’s how The Guardian described the Jaipur Literature Festival, a gargantuan celebration of the written word attracting 300,000 bibliophiles from around the world.
The Cultural Pull: It always commands an illustrious line-up; for this year’s programme the likes of Alice Oswald, Percival Everett and Olga Tokarczuk will join Indian literary stars including Banu Mushtaq and Kiran Desai. Plus, it’s surely got the greatest street food at any literary festival, anywhere.
The Details: Hotel Clarks Amer / 15 to 19 January / India
The Rundown: Polyester is the coolest zine in the world, a love letter to the kitsch that’s permanently stitched itself into the fabric of pop culture. Now, their queen-in-chief Ione Gamble has gathered 10 of its writers to explore the future of taste, published by Fourth Estate.
The Cultural Pull: Algorithms and artificial intelligence have caused a sort of figurative dysgeusia, distorting our taste and what we truly want to consume. This new book is set to remind us of the power of being authentic and listening to, reading, wearing and watching what we actually like.
The Details: Fourth Estate / 18 June
45. Finding Albion by Zakia Sewell
The Rundown: Writer and broadcaster Zakia Sewell has created a tight-knit community of creatives through her shows Questing (NTS) and Dream Time (BBC Radio 6 Music), exploring esoteric sounds. Now, she’s written a book that charts her journeys across the folk festivals of Britain, trying to uncover a narrative that transcends divisive stories and brings us all together.
The Cultural Pull: The folklore revival is alive and well in the UK, thanks to zines like Weird Walks, visual artists like Ben Edge; and movements like Northern Gothic. Finding Albion, then, comes at the ideal time to reappraise the UK’s myriad myths.
The Details: Hodder & Stoughton / 19 March
The Rundown: American writer Lauren Groff is back with a new story collection, Brawler, and anticipation is high. All nine stories revolve around the battle between dark and light within all of us, scrutinising the paradoxical psyches of aspiring swimmers, troubled bankers and grieving mothers with her signature precision.
The Cultural Pull: Lauren is a fine writer. Her previous short story collection, Florida, found a compelling sweet spot between realist observation and imaginative description.
The Details: Cornerstone / 5 March
47. Bangkok Art Book Fair
The Rundown: Your coffee table really wants you to go to Bangkok Art Book Fair, delighting aesthetes and book addicts alike with more than 120 exhibitors from 25 countries, positioning art books as coveted objects.
The Cultural Pull: Last year’s message set the tone. Entitled You Can Sit With Us, it encouraged print enthusiasts of all levels to join the community, creating an entry point to the world of print.
The Details: Date TBC, 2026
48. Global Warming by Martin Parr
The Rundown: When Martin Parr passed away in December 2025, universal appreciation for the singular photographer came from every corner of the creative sphere. Now, in early 2026, the Jeu de Paume in Paris is exhibiting Global Warming, a visual satire examining the effects of a world that mirrors many of his subjects: overworked, overheating and overindulging.
The Cultural Pull: The exhibition will feature a brand-new book from Martin, too, compiling his iconic photographs from the show.
The Details: Phaidon Press / 21 January
49. What Am I, A Deer? by Polly Barton
What It Is: Indie publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions has been lauded in recent times and for very good reason – it’s putting out some of the best books from its ex-warehouse space in Deptford, Southeast London, including four Nobel Prize-winning authors. Coming soon is What Am I, A Deer?, an effervescent novel about a chance meeting in Frankfurt soundtracked by late-night karaoke sessions.
The Cultural Pull: It’s the debut work of fiction from Barton, writer of the celebrated (and excellently titled) Porn: An Oral History.
The Details: Fitzcarraldo Editions / 9 April
Where To Find Your Next Podcast In 2026
The Rundown: You might not have got round to starting that podcast you downloaded, but that doesn’t stop you hearing from those who have. Returning to Sheffield in the UK for another year, Crossed Wires’ 2026 podcast festival is promising the likes of Zack Polanski, Blindboy, Ash Sarkar and Moya Lothian McLean.
The Cultural Pull: The sheer volume of podcasts available might be reaching saturation point, but listeners aren’t going anywhere. Here’s your chance to get some inspiration and, yes, maybe, finally start that podcast.
The Details: Various venues / 2 to 5 July / UK
