Billy Connolly: ‘It might be lovely on the other side’

Welder, comedian, Hollywood star, celebrated artist… The life story of Billy Connolly has been a real page turner. Here, he talks about love, loss and landing on his feet

Penelope Lively: ‘I was a traumatised teenager’

The Booker-winning author on starting late as a writer, her clear recall of growing up in Cairo, and the TV programme that kept her going during lockdown

‘My life in the mafia’s shadow’: Italy’s most hunted author, Roberto Saviano

Since 2006, the acclaimed writer has lived in fear for his life, following publication of his exposé on the criminal gangs. The Observer takes a trip back to Naples with him and his minders

‘Give people money and they’re no longer poor, it’s not rocket science’: Sammy Wright of the Social Mobility Commission

Deputy headteacher from Sunderland – and new novelist – on levelling up and his advice to the incoming head of the commission

Michelle de Kretser turns the novel upside down: ‘My aim was to play with form’

The two-time Miles Franklin-winner’s new book, Scary Monsters, is in fact two books, with two front covers – and no clues as to where to start

Michelle Gayle: ‘They said don’t leave EastEnders – I never regretted it’

From Grange Hill to the West End, via Eurovision and the Brit awards, the star has built multiple careers. She talks about stage-school pressure, TV diversity and playing Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

‘I could do with more readers!’ – Abdulrazak Gurnah on winning the Nobel prize for literature

His lyrical novels about exile and loss enjoy critical acclaim but modest sales. Now he’s Zanzibar’s second most famous son – and £840,000 richer. The writer talks about racism on British buses, Priti Patel, and why books have to entertain

Bobby Gillespie: ‘For the first 10 years of my life, I lived in a Glasgow tenement … that stuff stays with you’

On the eve of the publication of his memoir, the Primal Scream frontman talks to friend and author Irvine Welsh about his working-class upbringing

Succession star Brian Cox: ‘I’m enjoying this. It’s like confession…’

In a lively and wide-ranging conversation, the revered actor talks Hollywood rivalries, Scottish independence – and the future of the hit TV show

‘A xenophobic autocrat’: Adam Schiff on Trump’s threat to democracy

The California Democrat’s new memoir, Midnight in Washington, examines his life before politics as well as his leading roles in impeachment and other dramas on Capitol Hill

Sunday with Joanne Harris: ‘Two breakfasts, hobbit-style’

The author tells Samantha Rea about a pleasant day drinking tea, talking and reading, maybe watching an episode of Inspector Montalbano

Nadifa Mohamed: ‘Modern-day Britain is intense’

The Somali-born writer talks about her Booker-shortlisted novel and ‘broken hearts syndrome’

Spies, lies and doublethink: Lea Ypi on growing up in Europe’s last communist state

She believed her parents loved Enver Hoxha’s Stalinist regime. But once Albania’s communist system collapsed, Lea Ypi began to realise nothing was as it seemed …

‘I turned against Keisha the Sket for a long time’: Jade LB on returning to her noughties viral story

The author was just 13 when her anonymous tales of a London teenager spread across the UK. More than a decade on, Stormzy’s Merky books imprint is bringing Keisha back

Ballerina Georgina Pazcoguin: ‘We owe it to younger dancers not to stay silent’

In her new memoir, New York City Ballet’s first Asian-American soloist speaks out about racism and sexual bullying in ballet. Now she wants to overhaul the industry from within