Journalist and writer. Formerly Guardian, New Statesman, Times and Sunday Timeshttps://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3mqgs25ogrs2vJD Salinger always said no to a film of The Catcher in the Rye, but his son and co-executor Matt is thinking about it. Nineties Jake Gyllenhaal would have made a ‘really, really good’ Holden Caulfield, he says https://www.thetimes.com/article/092b736f-5594-4604-9c50-401608fab1cf?shareToken=ce25ba3eb8f6cb891d9ecfc4bd4ea6db12 Jul 2026 08:45 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqgs25ogrs2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3mplp3jh6gc2yFrom Cuba to Mexico to NYC to Rome, the people who knew Ana Mendieta best recall a funny, exacting friend and thrilling artist who was only getting started https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/ng-interactive/2026/jul/01/ana-mendieta-art-death?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other01 Jul 2026 14:11 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mplp3jh6gc2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3mo5vqcgroc2m‘Madonna wanted to sign me to her label. We came close, we met, but I swerved that world’ Beth Orton on surviving the 90s, the benefits of MDMA, Norwich and her great new album https://www.thetimes.com/article/d11f774c-9080-4b27-bb5a-2c2330fa52e4?shareToken=d3be02597bbba7982c6a2cccac18aac413 Jun 2026 09:07 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mo5vqcgroc2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3mgxe5vn7nc27I wrote about Sean Penn’s face, One Battle After Another and why the only woman over 46 nominated for an Oscar this year plays a witch https://observer.co.uk/culture/film/article/why-cant-films-leading-women-age-like-sean-penn13 Mar 2026 16:40 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgxe5vn7nc27https://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3m3bdeahiks2uSpoke to Nora Garrett, the very smart screenwriter of After the Hunt, about Hollywood, MeToo, Johnny Depp, and her past lives assisting Rosamund Pike and training AI for Meta https://www.thetimes.com/article/91840ad7-e984-4787-8cb6-0b301dd4daa7?shareToken=7a3d8ed1d21c8ac5a4d67fe5b33e55d615 Oct 2025 22:50 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3bdeahiks2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3lzsowwigms26So good I had to read it twice: @jtcbooks.bsky.social gets her ‘farm to table face’ on for Woody Allen’s debut novel https://www.thetimes.com/article/256fee6a-ee69-4ef6-91af-2fbef94c34e8?shareToken=68d1ca1939cc4129c263c0e2c1daddfc27 Sep 2025 09:42 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzsowwigms26https://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3lug5ilyixs27Prima Facie was extraordinary and I hear good things about Suzie Miller’s Inter Alia too. We spoke about raising boys, porn, emotional labour and rattling cages again Can’t wait to see Rosamund Pike bring this to life https://www.thetimes.com/article/5adaa7e1-0556-49f6-a14c-830eff869a77?shareToken=f61934ae5fa8e7d5ce2f8e3b8489154c20 Jul 2025 18:52 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3lug5ilyixs27https://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3lkitihzhgs2wFive pieces from today’s @thetimes Culture magazine, all free to air: Grayson Perry @Alan_Measles talks to @JANUSZCZAK about upsetting the art world, @MaskedSingerUK, his boomer era and new alter ego https://www.thetimes.com/article/5c946db8-fdef-4f08-8e3e-37e01fb3b637?shareToken=83de6b66c394f7974c83a3703fd8e53716 Mar 2025 14:19 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkitihzhgs2whttps://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3lkfvysgvvc27The Times is free to read all weekend but tomorrow’s Culture also nice in print, featuring the 25 best albums of the 21st century, Steven Bartlett, Michael Morpurgo on the farm and more15 Mar 2025 10:26 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkfvysgvvc27https://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3lfzfvxijrc2eOne of the luckiest, funniest gigs of my life - interviewing David Lynch in his beloved LA garden, featuring squirrel-proof bird-feeders, seagull roadkill and a world premiere of Dead Mouse with Ants https://www.thetimes.com/article/58871572-3f70-4c44-bdab-c256e0912bd1?shareToken=39178f9a38e394f2eb1e5193a36e1b6a18 Jan 2025 13:26 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfzfvxijrc2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3lchutb5hfk2hSolidarity with friends and former colleagues at the Guardian and Observer, whose loss or dilution would put a huge hole in news, comment, cultural coverage and Sundays. The two papers have been fully blended on the site for so long that few readers realise how much will go [contains quote post or other embedded content]04 Dec 2024 09:49 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3lchutb5hfk2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/melissadenes.bsky.social/post/3lbf63bpubk27Terrific long read by my former fellow New Stateswoman @SEMcBain on the science, optimism and parents driving a big increase in the survival rate of babies born at 22 weeks - in ‘the grey zone’ https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/19/look-theyre-getting-skin-the-moral-challenge-of-saving-the-worlds-tiniest-babies20 Nov 2024 14:31 +0000at://did:plc:i5esbten3rhllwt76bfihb7t/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbf63bpubk27