Novelist Tessa Hadley: ‘If I met my characters, I might not like them’

For the late-blooming, quietly bestselling author, inhabiting her characters is crucial. And so in her new novel, Free Love, she becomes a middle-aged woman in 1960s London who abandons her family for a much younger man

Harlan Coben: ‘I used to write in the back of Ubers’

The writer, 59, on working in a disco, being an introvert and growing up Jewish

Always wanted to write? Booker winner George Saunders on how to get started

The Booker winner discusses work, wisdom and the drive to teach, plus seven key tips on how to write well

Raven Leilani: ‘I was flying by the seat of my pants’

The author on late-night writing sessions, vulnerability, and rediscovering her love of painting during lockdown

‘Many hold Gove responsible’: education guru sets out what’s wrong with England’s schools

People are yearning for a new educational age, says Sir Tim Brighouse in his new book with Mick Waters

Sunday with Neil Gaiman: ‘I’m left to make things up, uninterrupted’

The writer on hiking, overeating – and bedtime stories

Adam Kay: ‘Game-playing is a great way of getting yourself to face a challenge’

The doctor turned comic and bestselling author on writing children’s books, hiding useful facts in disgusting jokes and how bad at Scrabble he is

Colm Tóibín: ‘Boris Johnson would be a blood clot … Angela Merkel the cancer’

The acclaimed novelist on chemotherapy, growing up gay in Ireland and writing his first poetry collection at the age of 66

Sunday with Jon Ronson: ‘Around 5.30am I feed the birds’

The writer on thuggish blue jays, grains and dustbins

The world according to Guido Palau, the man behind fashion’s hottest hairstyles

The uber-stylist and author of a book of images capturing a nation in lockdown explains how the way we wear our locks reflects the changing zeitgeist

Marcus Rashford: ‘My life was far from a fairytale’

The England footballer, author and poverty campaigner on instilling self-belief in pupils at his old school, his favourite titles of 2021, and his hopes for his book club

‘A sense of discovery’: Philip Pullman on religion, school plays and The Book of Dust

As an adaptation of La Belle Sauvage arrives at the Bridge theatre, the author explains why His Dark Materials was better as a play than a film – and how he learned to write for children and adults

Yorkshire shepherdess Amanda Owen: ‘The only spa I know about is a Spar shop’

The star of hit TV show Our Yorkshire Farm on raising nine children and being a bestselling author despite flunking English

Bookseller Samir Mansour: ‘It was shocking to realise I was a target’

The Palestinian bookseller whose shop was destroyed in the most recent conflict in Gaza on how it has been crowdfunded back into existence – three times bigger

Torrey Peters: ‘My book’s about dealing with the adult realities of being trans’

The acclaimed author of Detransition, Baby talks about the novel’s breakthrough success and how she was moved by the support of contemporaries