Thirty Russian writers have protested against Russian PEN for expelling journalist Sergey Parkhomenko. Bestselling author Boris Akunin is one of them. He tells us why he quit the organisation.

Five days with a retired concrete engineer in Western Australia in 2006, and it's funny.

A darker side of Botticelli is revealed in his map of Dante's hell.

We sample some of the offerings at this year's Fringe World Festival in Perth.

How many artists can say they were inspired when the Australia Council budget was slashed?

The noted Australian artist Leonard French, best known for his much-loved stained glass ceiling of the Great Hall of the National Gallery of Victoria, died last month in Melbourne.

Artist Olga Cironis is collecting human hair and weaving it into a giant mat, aiming for 500m long (she's done 50m so far), and collecting the names of everyone who has contributed.

Comedian and uber-successful children's author, David Walliams, on what makes him laugh.

Not an animal or a plant, a comprehensive show of Vernon Ah Kee's work, tackles racism in Australia head on.

I Am My Own Wife is a Pulitzer prize-winning play that’s being staged at Melbourne’s Midsumma Festival for queer arts.