WHAT? A NEW CULTURE BLOG?

Because the world needs more voices, or, rather, more thoughtful, rarified ones that can be imagined with a British lilt, The Economist has just launched "Prospero", a new blog named for the hero of Shakespeare's "The Tempest", an expert in the power of books and the arts (ie, he was more or less undone by them). The blog will be full of literary insight, cultural commentary and coverage of the art market.

Already readers can find the paper's take on the Man Booker prize longlist (announced today, and full of impressive young writers, as predicted), and on Andrew Wylie’s new deal with Amazon to publish electronic versions of books by some of his authors (seen by some traditional publishers as a declaration of war). There are also quite a few posts that should look familiar to readers of More Intelligent Life because, frankly, we're one big happy family over here at The Economist's culture desk.

Picture credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com (via Flickr)