Pop culture news for readers: May 21, 2025

Here's how pop culture and literature have been intersecting lately ...

• Tom Hanks has written a play based on his 2017 short story collection; This World of Tomorrow will be performed Off Broadway this fall ... and will star Hanks (The New York Times). 

• Watch actress Helena Bonham Carter read the poem "Don’t Let That Horse" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in memory of the grandmother she called "Bubbles" (The Guardian). 

• Daniel Kehlmann's new novel, The Director, is based on the real story of filmmaker G.W. Pabst, who went from Hollywood to the Nazi propaganda machine; he reflects on the eerie similarities he sees between self-censorship during the two Trump presidencies and the Nazi era (The New York Times).

• Jamie Canaves gives a primer on the ways in which Agatha Christie's novels have made it to the screen, from direct adaptations of her works to homages from other creators (Book Riot). 

• Eileen Gonzalez rounds up recent stories about comics, including updates on screen adaptations (Book Riot).