New book ‘Art Cure’ published today

We celebrate the launch of the new book from Professor Daisy Fancourt 'Art Cure: The science of how the arts transform our health', published in the UK today.

08 January 2026

The front cover of the book "Art Cure: The science of how the arts transform our health"

A groundbreaking exposé showing how the arts – alongside diet, sleep, exercise and nature – are the forgotten fifth pillar of health

Thank you to everyone who has been following along on social media as we counted down to the book launch. You can now find Art Cure available in UK bookshops, or order your copy online, with international options also available.

Plus, we’re excited to share that the book has just been listed as an Amazon Best Seller and selected as Waterstones’ Top Non-Fiction Pick and the Bookseller’s Non-Fiction Book of the Month. Other features include: The Guardian’s “Ones to Watch”; Blackwell’s books of 2026; Waterstones’ January best books round up; Foyles’ top ten reads for January; The i Paper’s best new books to read in January 2026; and New Scientist’s best new popular science books of January 2026.

Visit our dedicated webpage for all the latest Art Cure news, including reviews, endorsements, videos and upcoming events.

And if you’re enjoying the book, we’d love to hear about it — tag the Social Biobehavioural Research Group on LinkedIn, Bluesky or X.

“Art Cure is an amazing antidote to the deluge of nonsense. The evidenced-based advice is for joyful, meaningful things that will expand our lives and our minds and help us take charge of our health. Everyone should read this book: it is accessible, entertaining but also a great piece of scholarship.”

– Xand van Tulleken, doctor and TV presenter

 

“A book for our times. Art Cure is a compelling reminder that the arts are not luxuries, but powerful tools for our health. Fancourt elegantly distils the evidence for what we have always intuitively felt; that music, literature, cinema, and art are powerful universal remedies.”

– Gillian Anderson, Actress

 

“Imagine a dinner conversation with the smartest, most compassionate person you know, talking until the wee hours on science and beauty, and you will have some idea of what it is like to read this book. Fascinating, comprehensive, compelling, inspiring.” 

– Christopher Bailey, World Health Organisation