TikTok brings book recommendations if you want to stay in. Cultural festivals aplenty if you want to go out.
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Looking for something to read? The winners of the first #BookTok Awards have been announced by TikTok. The power of TikTok in creating fanbases for literature has been well documented, but this is the first time that the social media platform has run the award for UK and Irish authors.
A shortlist was created by some of the biggest names in literature today, including authors Candice Braithwaite and Elizabeth Day. Then, the final victors were chosen by a public vote on TikTok.
The big name winner of the year was Bolu Babalola, who took home the gong for BookTok Book of the Year. Babalola’s novel ‘Honey & Spice’ is the follow-up to her anthology book ‘Love in Colour’ and is a charming romcom set in the Afro-Caribbean society of a UK university.
Other winners this year included Holly Jackson, who won Author of the Year for her Young Adult fiction, while the Best BookTok Revival award went to Jane Austen’s ‘Pride & Prejudice’.
Art
A new exhibition of stories from Ukrainian children and teenagers has opened at Amsterdam City Hall this week.
Initiated by Khrystyna Khranovska, the NGO Port of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, ‘War Diaries: Unheard Voices of Ukrainian Children’ is a startling insight into the trauma that young people have faced since Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Running at Amsterdam City Hall from 17 August to 24 September, the exhibition includes 14 stories told through audio and visual mediums, including original diaries and sketches from the young people involved.
Theatre
There’s still a week left of the world’s biggest performing arts festival. If you’re lucky enough to have a trip in store to the Edinburgh Fringe, make sure to check out our top picks of the festival from when we visited.
Music Festival
The second biggest music festival in Belgium kicked off this weekend. Pukkelpop runs from 17 – 20 August and has a stacked line-up once again. Taking over the main stage are Billie Eilish, The Killers, Anne-Marie, Years & Years, Limp Bizkit and many more.
Over in London, All Points East is on this weekend.
Set in Victoria Park, All Points East comprises multiple day events, each celebrating a different musical genre. The first headliners are Stormzy with support from Kehlani and Sampha. Later dates include Field Day with Aphex Twin and Bonobo, while The Strokes, Jungle, Dermot Kennedy, and Haim all have their own days.
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Over in Cieza, near the southern Spanish city of Murcia, the El Segura International Folk Festival begins this week. Running through to the end of August, it’s a chance to celebrate different folk traditions together with food stalls, street entertainment and music shows.
Over in Budapest, Hungary there’s also a free cultural festival on this week. TE!Rézváros Festival runs from 25 to 27 August on Podmaniczky Street and features theatre and opera performances as well as dance classes.
Video Games
Fancy spending a weekend in getting lost in a great game? We’ve got you covered. Our latest gaming addiction is ‘Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew’, a real-time tactics game released on PC, PS5 and XBox Series X and S.
Set in a fantastical version of the Golden Age of Piracy, players are given control of a team of undead pirates as you try to steal treasure and hunt down cursed characters. The whole thing is joyously designed and will gladly suck up tons of hours as you navigate and perfect the stealth and fighting mechanisms.
