Mecca Jamilah Sullivan: ‘The culture of disordered eating and dieting is still thriving’

The American writer on her debut novel about weight and womanhood set in 90s Harlem, how her mother’s Black feminist books changed her life and writing a work of hip-hop magic realism

‘I could have gone to jail’: crime writer MW Craven on a life made up of spontaneous decisions

The author, who won the 2023 Theakston Old Peculier crime novel of the year for The Botanist, talks about his working-class childhood, his former careers as a soldier and a probation officer – and surviving cancer

Laura Lippman: ‘A lot of novelists choose to comfort the comfortable. I don’t do that’

The acclaimed crime author delivers her most political novel to date about a teen with an unwanted pregnancy

‘It’s some sort of cosmic joke’: Tracy Sorensen wrote a book about surviving cancer. Now it has returned

Sorensen’s new novel The Vitals is narrated by her own organs during her cancer treatment a decade ago. But as she prepared to promote it, she found herself ‘back in cancer land’

‘I see them as cautionary tales’: Kristine Potter’s darkly imagined American south

Inspired by the American murder ballad the photographer captures a strangely familiar psychogeography

JO Morgan: ‘I think I do books that may sound strange’

The prize-winning poet and novelist on writing and book binding, his wariness of new technology and why literature is the ultimate immersive experience

‘In a world that is going to hell, there is still so much joy’: Ann Patchett on finding happiness

The Nashville author’s essay, These Precious Days, prompted a global outpouring of love, and her new book celebrates the wonder of ordinary life. She talks about running a bookshop, resisting censorship and taking inspiration from Madonna

‘I’m horrified by it. I think it’s appalling’: Kit de Waal on the crisis of cuts facing the arts

The bestselling author is in no doubt who is to blame when it comes to the state of the arts. She talks about the importance of culture, her inclusive book festival and using her voice to help

‘Trump can beat Biden’: White House whistleblower Miles Taylor returns with fresh warning

The former Republican aide has written a sequel, under his own name, to the column and book which blew the whistle from inside the Trump White House. He fears what comes next

Colson Whitehead: ‘A city summons you into its weird drama’

The double Pulitzer prize-winning author on writing a sequel to Harlem Shuffle, the influence of Stephen King’s Carrie, and why he no longer makes fried chicken

‘You’ll have more empathy, you’ll have more fun’: the man who wants to transform our relationship with sleep

From snoring to shift work, Russell Foster explains the myths and misconceptions that get in the way of a well-rested society

Hernan Diaz: ‘If ever I find myself on the page, I view it as an immense failure’

The Pulitzer prize-winning author on the punk rock provocation of his writing, an epiphany at the gym, and working with Kate Winslet on the HBO adaptation of his novel Trust

Simon Sebag Montefiore: ‘I worked down a South African goldmine at 17’

The historian and author, 58, on his time as a war correspondent, his unusual family history and a hatred of scotch eggs

Author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah on policing in America: ‘It’s a kind of poison’

His debut novel Chain-Gang All-Stars is a gripping satire of the US penal system. The award-winning short story writer talks voyeurism, violence and trying to make a difference

Alison Bechdel: ‘The Bechdel test was a joke… I didn’t intend for it to become a real gauge’

The US graphic novelist on having her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, turned into an audio series, ​growing up in a funeral home, ​and ​​her famous women-in-film test