‘I’m an ordinary man who plays crazy parts’: John Lithgow on tackling Roald Dahl

When John Lithgow got the role of author and antisemite Roald Dahl, friends feared for his safety. He reveals why he’s never been one to shy from a challenge

‘Pink hair is my armour’: Zandra Rhodes on cancer, colour and the art of being fabulous

For almost 60 years, Zandra Rhodes has been one of Britain’s most flamboyant designers. She talks about her astonishing upbringing, being spurred into action by cancer and what she’s doing with her 6,000 dresses

Did Reagan pave the way for Trump? ‘You can trace the linkages,’ says biographer

The 80s president known for sunny optimism also has a darker legacy on issues like race and Aids. ‘I don’t think you can just say, wow, Trump arrived from Mars,’ says Max Boot

‘People should be making their contingency plans, like, right away’: America’s leading forecaster on the chances of a Trump win

Nate Silver’s election model is once again being pored over by millions of anxious voters. The gambler turned statistician talks about the race for White House, the risk-takers redefining our culture, and the probability of God

‘I no longer have to save the world’: Novelist Richard Powers on fiction and the climate crisis

The Pulitzer-winning author of The Overstory on how ocean life inspired his latest novel – and why we need to rewrite our relationship with nature

Comedian turned artist Joe Lycett: ‘If it’s too earnest a painting, it’s a failure’

The standup is building on his success at the Royal Academy summer exhibition with a book of his work, Art Hole. So has he gone all highbrow? The art reveals all …

Virginie Despentes: ‘I wasn’t writing Baise-Moi from a very good place’

The French author of the rape-revenge story on drug addiction, her debt to Charles Bukowski and her new #MeToo book set in publishing

Sally Rooney: ‘Falling in love when I was very young transformed my life’

Sally Rooney on romance, writing about sex, the Normal People phenomenon and her new novel, Intermezzo

‘I thought of the church as a friend and it slapped me in the face’: historian Diarmaid MacCulloch on the Church of England’s hypocrisy

The award-winning author, ecclesiastical historian and church-goer on his incendiary new book about sex and the church, challenging centuries of self-serving homophobia, fakery and abuse. He is primed for the backlash…

Novelist Rumaan Alam: ‘A lot of people have secret money – it can make you crazy with envy’

His pandemic bestseller Leave the World Behind was made into a starry Netflix movie. Now the author is turning the spotlight on wealth. He talks about success, parenthood – and the mania of trying to make it in New York

Pedro Almodóvar: ‘Life needs fiction to make it bearable’

The Spanish film-maker on the raw, real life experiences behind his first collection of short stories – and why his mother is his inspiration

Physicist MV Ramana on the problem with nuclear power

Nuclear is costly, risky and slow, Ramana says. Why then, he asks in his new book, do governments still champion it?

Michelle Brasier on turning cancer into comedy – and kicking her life into overdrive

After losing her father and brother, the Aunty Donna comedian was told she had a 97% chance of cancer herself. With a new album, musical and memoir to promote, she’s not slowing down

Philosophy professor Jeffrey J Kripal: ‘Thinking about a UFO as some kind of extraterrestrial spaceship is naive’

The academic and author draws on quantum mechanics, English romantic philosophy and mysticism to explore a new theory of mind that embraces the paranormal

Ferdia Lennon: ‘I was tired of Merchant Ivory accents’

The recent winner of the Waterstones debut fiction prize on literary friendships, the lucidity of Georges Simenon and Irish writing’s debt to the financial crash