Tim Minchin: ‘Politics affects my mental health … I feel gaslit’

He’s the anarchic comedian behind the musicals Matilda and Groundhog Day. He talks about dashed Hollywood hopes, the dangers of modernising Roald Dahl and feeling out of step with his progressive fanbase

Baillie Gifford winner of winners James Shapiro: ‘I draw a very sharp line between fiction and nonfiction’

The 1599 author on the difference between historians and novelists, looking at Shakespeare differently and hitchhiking to the Edinburgh festival to immerse himself in the bard’s work

‘Market rules should benefit the majority of the citizenry’: historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M Conway

In their new book, The Big Myth, the authors document the rise of ‘market fundamentalism’ and Americans’ relationship with government regulations

Gregory Doran: ‘Shakespeare defines things when you can’t’

As the RSC’s artistic director steps down after 35 years and 50 shows, he talks about the productions he’s most proud of, his new memoir, and the loss of his husband, the actor Antony Sher

Clock watching: meet the artist who thinks time is ruining our lives

‘Clock time’, all about productivity, money and economic growth, threatens to destroy us, says artist Jenny Odell. But there are other kinds of time, and we need to learn to embrace them

Susie Orbach: ‘Body uniformity is out of control – there’s no right way to have labia!’

The psychotherapist on body hatred, what’s changed since she wrote Fat Is a Feminist Issue – and the smell of her clients

Jeremy Deller: ‘The world worries me – but for an artist, that’s a good thing’

The artist has been confounding the art world for 30 years. As he publishes Art Is Magic, a survey of his best known works, he talks about the experiences that shaped them

Novelist Celeste Ng: ‘There was a period when I thought I’d never write again’

The award-winning author on how Trump, Covid and anti-Asian rhetoric inspired her latest novel, digging her way out of ‘post-book fatigue’, and learning to touch type using Ulysses

Physicist Michio Kaku: ‘We could unravel the secrets of the universe’

Quantum computers will transform our world, curing cancer and fixing the climate crisis, says the scientist and sci-fi fan – but can they be made to work?

The trials and triumphs of Sophie Morgan: ‘At 18 I had my hot girl summer. That August I was paralysed’

After a car crash, Morgan knew she was exactly the same person – she just couldn’t walk. But she had to convince everyone else. She explains how she became a forthright campaigner and a successful TV presenter

Frieda Hughes: ‘A crow’s death linked me to all the other losses in my life’

The poet and painter, daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, explains how raising a large aviary of rescued birds in the Welsh countryside gave her a new purpose – and fresh pain

Solmaz Sharif: ‘I don’t shy away from hurting the reader’

The Iranian-American poet on puncturing comfort, staying an apostate and her teenage love of RL Stine

The trauma doctor: Gabor Maté on happiness, hope and how to heal our deepest wounds

The physician, author and self-help guru came to worldwide prominence when he appeared with Prince Harry last month. He discusses the mind-body connection, the reality of addiction and why trauma can be treated

Xiaolu Guo: ‘It would be tacky to ask: can you forgive me for writing this?’

The Chinese-British author on leaving her family to find creative freedom, the effect on those she writes about in her revealing new book, and the power of Moby-Dick

‘I’m a CBE, I’m poet laureate so I’m clearly not a republican am I?’: Simon Armitage on his radical roots and rock star dreams

When Simon Armitage left his job as a probation worker to become a full-time poet his dad was horrified. Is the former young subversive turned royal appointee now part of the establishment?