Eurofile

The great European author, who died earlier this month, didn’t leave Croatia – her country left her

How Frederick Forsyth’s bestselling thriller became the last word in political assassination cinema

This dish from the executive chef of Legare in London combines perfectly made risotto with a generous helping of mussels

The humble life of St Francis of Assisi continues to inspire valuable paintings, showcased in an upcoming exhibition at the National Gallery

Christianity may have driven out the old religion, but old English speakers still kept part of its language intact

The German-born artist created his melancholy and nightmarish Europe After the Rain II during the most frightening and uncertain period of his own life

In the literary snake pit, writers and critics tend to either suck up to one another frantically, or bite down hard so as to inject their venom yet deeper

This musical is a joyous explosion of colour, light and good humour

There’s almost certainly a great play to be written about gay black and mixed-race men but this sadly isn’t it

How Brigitte Reimann, once an idealistic socialist, wrote one of Germany’s great post-war novels

Unsung Inglourious Basterds actor Denis Ménochet encounters more terror in the countryside in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts

The diminutive Italian actress, star of La Strada and Nights of Cabiria, was more than a match for her husband, director Federico Fellini, on and off set

We labelled her an ‘enemy alien’ but the Austrian-born studio potter’s work helped reinvent a drab postwar Britain

The late Israeli actor and singer performed If I Were a Rich Man more than 3,500 times in multiple productions of Fiddler on the Roof

The Beheading of St John the Baptist in Valletta’s St John’s Co-Cathedral became the inspiration for Samuel Beckett’s dramatic monologue Not I

Most modern European languages are thought to have originally come from one area of the vast Eurasian Steppe

A local modern-day bard, serenading commuters and beautifying the neighbourhood, is easily the best eccentric street person I’ve ever known

This recipe, from the founder of Michelin-starred Le Quinzième in Paris, puts a South American twist on a familiar favourite

It’s nothing short of terrifying that Tom Basden has managed to shift a story of Italian police corruption so effortlessly and convincingly to a metropolitan police station in this country

A triumphant production about life, love, growing old and dying has absolutely restored my faith in theatre

The Cuddy author has a rare gift for finding the right voice for the right people in the right era

When the Muppets went on a mission to Moscow in the 1990s, things didn’t go according to plan

The latest screen adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel has scooped four Oscars and seven Baftas

Hundreds of Afghan artists have had to flee the country since the regime closed down galleries and threatened them with prison

Arguably the greatest footballer in the world has inspired a plethora of songs across Europe

This recipe from the founder of Spanish deli Brindisa is a sure-fire winner for group dining

She was that rarest of dancers, one who could apparently transcend physics and the limitations of the human body

Look closely at the suffix -less and you’ll find it often attached to words like reck and ruth that have ceased to exist

The sight of tracksuit-wearing Brits entering one of the most beautiful brasseries on the Left Bank left me gasping and prostrated

Sleepova is one of those free-flowing, slice-of-life dramas that, with a no-frills staging, places a vast amount of pressure on the individual actors to make something of their parts

It’s clear everyone has tried very hard to make this show work. They failed

The story of the Senegal-born boxer the IRA couldn’t knock out – and his fatal drift into dissipation