FictionReviewA young Muslim woman’s spiritual quest takes her from Istanbul to Oxford as she learns about love, faith and real lifeThere is a compelling confidence about the scope of Elif Shafak’s work. As a writer who stands between west and east, working in Turkish and English, living in Istanbul and London, she engages with some of the most pressing political and personal themes of our times. Her new novel is no exception.

ITV plcVeteran TV joker Jeremy Beadle dies of pneumonia, aged 59· Hidden camera shows entertained millions · Colleagues mourn friend and tireless charity workerJeremy Beadle, the television personality best known for Beadle's About and You've Been Framed, has died of pneumonia, aged 59, his agent said yesterday. Beadle, who previously fought leukaemia, was admitted to hospital earlier this week. His agent, Nick Canham, said: "Our heartfelt condolences go to his wife, Sue, his two daughters, Cassie and Bonnie, and his stepchildren, Leo and Claire.

'We never chose this': refugees use art to imagine a better world – in pictures Supported by About this content Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email London will be the setting for a January exhibition and auction of art by people living in Moria camp, on the Greek island of Lesbos. The proceeds will go to the Hope Project, an initiative that promotes greater dignity for refugees and aims to transform the way they are seen

‘A wealth of gorgeous hooks’: Guided By Voices. Photograph: Sandlin Gaither‘A wealth of gorgeous hooks’: Guided By Voices. Photograph: Sandlin GaitherThe ObserverGuided By VoicesReview(Rockathon) The prolific Ohio group’s latest is as packed with invention as ever, leaning towards their proggier side It’s fair to assume that Robert Pollard has never suffered from writer’s block: this is the 14th album since he rebooted Guided By Voices for the second time in 2016.

UK newsIt is AD 200 million - and the megasquid rulesIt is AD 200 million. Man, the mammals and the birds disappeared aeons ago in some unidentified catastrophe. But evolution goes on. Pushing through the forests, waving its two tentacles, crushing the vegetation beneath its eight giant feet, sucking air through its mantle cavity, is the megasquid, its eight tonnes held up by muscle alone. Fanciful? Yes, but plausible, says McNeill Alexander, 68, the professor who has put evolution on fast forward.

Carol Rumens's poem of the weekPoetryPoem of the week: HeavenThis week, Rupert Brooke's Heaven, a piece of fishy satire that supersedes the Edwardian poet's military pretensionsRupert Brooke was still an apprentice poet in 1915 when he died, aged 28, of blood poisoning, having never seen the military action he had romanticised in the five sonnets that culminate in The Soldier. He had worked devotedly to perfect his writing since his schooldays, but the various strands of his talent were never brought together, and his self-dramatising tendencies remained like a lingering adolescence.

The ObserverShort storiesReviewThe precocious American humourist strikes gold again with 30 short stories mocking the idiocies of menHow can you not be a bit envious of Simon Rich? A former editor of the Harvard Lampoon, he was Saturday Night Live's second youngest ever scriptwriter, has already written two novels – one of which, 2010's Elliot Allagash, reads like a posthumous hit John Hughes film waiting to happen – and now, at 28, is unleashing his third collection of (New Yorker-approved) humour pieces.

Romance booksStanley Tucci, Jenny Colgan, David Nicholls and others reflect on their favourite romantic comedies, including Heartburn, A Room With a View and The Spanish Love Deception Curtis SittenfeldThe Idea of You by Robinne Lee I’m madly in love with this 2017 novel by Robinne Lee. It’s about Solène Marchand, a divorced 40-year-old art gallery owner and the mother of a 12-year-old daughter. Solène is gorgeous, sophisticated and unenthused about chaperoning her daughter and a few friends to see and meet a mega-famous boy band … but to her astonishment, Solène and the band’s extremely and delightfully Harry Styles-ish leader, Hayes, have outrageous chemistry and embark on a secret relationship.

Iran This article is more than 6 years oldAfter Azadi: man behind Iran's freedom tower on how his life unravelledThis article is more than 6 years oldHossein Amanat was forced to flee country after being put on a death list and says his children have never seen the monument In 1966, a 24-year-old architect who had just graduated from Tehran University hesitantly entered a competition to design a monument to mark the 2,500-year celebration of the founding of the Persian empire.

FilmObituaryClaude Rich obituaryFrench stage and screen actor whose 1963 role in the comedy-thriller Les Tontons Flingueurs made him a starClaude Rich, who has died aged 88, was a familiar face in French cinema and theatre for almost seven decades. The much-loved actor alternated between stage and screen, considering the latter as recreation, the former a passion. In fact, he had few really challenging roles on screen, despite having made films for the New Wave directors Alain Resnais, François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol.