Arts & Culture

Ahead of the Academy Awards, David Edelstein ’81 talks up his favorite films of the past year.

Poet Claudia Rankine’s new play places a conversation about race center stage and encourages audiences to continue to engage with the discussion after the curtain falls.

A panel at the Graduate School of Design discussed historical monuments, and new ways to create them.

“Inventur — Art in Germany, 1943‒55,” at the Harvard Art Museums through June 3, features work that has drawn scant attention in the United States.

In his 2011 book, “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined,” Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker argued that despite common assumptions, violence has dropped dramatically from biblical times…

Professor Emily Wilson, the first woman to translate the ancient epic “The Odyssey” into English, explains her milestone achievement.

Radcliffe fellow Chad Williams is working on a book about what he considers one of W.E.B. Du Bois’ greatest missteps: “The Black Man and the Wounded World,” an unfinished history of the African-American experience during World War I.

Linguistics lab applies scientific methods to studying and understanding how people communicate.

Onetime Radcliffe fellow Viet Thanh Nguyen shared the story behind his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Sympathizer” during a return visit.

Some of the biggest names in jazz will convene for this weekend’s festival in honor of the pianist and composer.

The exhibition “From Stone to Silicone” — the only exhibit of its kind in North America — features striking silicone replicas of millennia-old reliefs that preserve the history of present-day Iraq.

Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library has acquired the papers of famed activist Angela Davis.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot Díaz read his story “The Money” at the Harvard conference Migration and the Humanities.

Radcliffe film series spotlights the feminine power in many traditional fables and folk tales.

Harvard scholars Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar discuss the collaborative effort behind “The Annotated African American Folktales.”

Harvard professor’s documentary in progress traces the rise of creativity and the forces countering it in Vienna a century ago.

Based on true experiences, “Hear Word!” at the American Repertory Theater weaves together music, spoken word, dance, and song to tell what Nigerian women endure in a society that puts men first, frequently turns its back on sexual assault and abuse, and values marriage above all else.

Harvard will welcome a trio of filmmaking greats for this year’s Norton Lectures, including legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman.

In a trip to Iceland over the summer, Joanne Cheung worked with researchers to capture 360-degree video of the changing landscape.

It’s possible to start making concert and theater plans now, when most of the best seats are still available. This is when the year’s big-ticket events are booked and announced, the better to build a buzz around them.

Deaf dancer Antoine Hunter leads a master class that provides lessons in movement and inclusion.

Pianist-composer Matt Aucoin ’12 is now co-artistic director of the American Modern Opera Company, set for Harvard performances Dec. 15-18.

Playwright Kate Hamill’s adaptation of “Sense & Sensibility,” at the A.R.T. through Jan. 14, accentuates Jane Austen’s gift for comedy.

Lawyer and social activist Bryan Stevenson delivered the Tanner Lecture on Human Values, announcing the opening of a memorial to victims of lynching and a museum on the legacy of slavery next April.

This winter, a dozen cultural organizations throughout Greater Boston — including three from Harvard — are partnering to present an ambitious, region-wide exploration of art and technology.

English Professor Martin Puchner talks to the Gazette about his new book “The Written World,” about how literature shaped civilization.

A Harvard professor’s sculpture translates real-time data into soundscapes.

“Powerhouse of a work” by top contemporary artist Kara Walker is the largest piece in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums.

Visiting professor and Washington Post political columnist E.J. Dionne on how he started as a journalist, self-editing, and the art of persuasion.

Harvard senior Lily Calcagnini’s history and literature concentration places fashion front and center in cultural theory.