‘Writers all want to be rock stars’: Booker winner Shehan Karunatilaka on ghosts, war and childish dreams

Set during the Sri Lankan civil war and narrated by a dead man, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is part murder mystery, part political satire and part love story. Its author recalls the grim events that inspired it – and the editor who kept pushing him to do better

‘Success is a seductive thing’: Ralph Macchio on life after the Karate Kid

Ralph Macchio assured himself of Hollywood immortality when he was cast in The Karate Kid, but then followed a long fallow spell. Now, at last, he’s back – and he wouldn’t have it any other way

‘I decided to share my voice’: Estela Juarez on her mother, who Trump deported, and her new book

Just nine when zero-tolerance policy saw her mother sent to Mexico, now a teen, the Floridian has written a book for children

‘Devoid of shame’: January 6 cop Michael Fanone on Trump’s Republican party

A pro-Trump mob almost killed him – and some politicians want to pretend it never happened

Nick Hornby on Dickens and Prince: ‘They were both superstars in their own lifetimes’

The author on the twin heroes of his new book, and the different challenges of screenwriting and novels

Malorie Blackman: ‘Thank God that’s done!’

The former children’s laureate on the end of the Noughts & Crosses series, why her memoir is the hardest book she’s written, and her soft spot for murder detective games

Autistic scholar Temple Grandin: ‘The education system is screening out visual thinkers’

By favouring verbal thinkers, says the author and animal scientist, essential skills are being lost. Her new book aims to demonstrate the power of processing information in different ways

‘We’ve brought each other a lot of happiness’: the Hairy Bikers on love, food, stardom and chemo

Best mates for 30 years, TV stars for 20, Si King and David Myers have become one of Britain’s favourite double acts. As Myers copes with cancer, their closeness has never meant more

Barbara Chase-Riboud: ‘The so-called culture war has nothing to do with culture’

The artist danced with James Baldwin, was helped by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and sculpted Malcolm X. Now she’s received the only honour she ever wanted

Frances O’Connor: ‘I’m putting Emily Brontë in the centre of her own story’

The actor turned writer-director is taking an unconventional approach to her feature film debut about the Wuthering Heights author

Shehan Karunatilaka: ‘There’s a Sri Lankan gallows humour… we’ve been through a lot of catastrophes’

The novelist on finding dark farce in his country’s civil war, his grunge band past, and the ‘lottery win’ of the Booker shortlist

‘It’s good to think strategically’: Thomas E Ricks on civil rights and January 6

In his new book, the historian considers the work of Martin Luther King and others through the lens of military thought

‘We were so good at hiding it’: how mental illness tore through firstborn men in the Seidler family

In his new memoir, Jonathan Seidler confronts his family’s long history of mental illness, and how it finally made its way to him

Watchmen author Alan Moore: ‘I’m definitely done with comics’

As he releases his first short story collection, the revered writer talks about magic, the problem with superhero movies and why he will never write another graphic novel

‘The more dangerous the operation, the more I wanted to do it’: neurosurgeon Henry Marsh on mistakes and mortality

The author of three bestselling memoirs was a swashbuckling presence on the wards for three decades. Now undergoing treatment for advanced prostate cancer, he talks about facing death and living without regrets