‘Pence was disloyal at exactly the right time’: author Jonathan Karl on the Capitol attack

A new book, Betrayal, dissects the final, authoritarian spasm of the Trump presidency, and Karl warns: ‘We came close to losing it all’

Historian Timothy Snyder: ‘It turns out that people really like democracy’

The author of On Tyranny on the lack of historical literacy, how local news has been replaced by Facebook, and why novels matter to him

Barbara Taylor Bradford: ‘My mother told me: “Keep your head down and don’t flirt at work”

The author, aged 88, on her first job working with Keith Waterhouse, giving advice to Sean Connery and her 56-year marriage

Jon Ronson and Adam Curtis on the culture wars: ‘How has this happened? Where is the escape hatch?’

As Ronson’s BBC podcast Things Fell Apart begins, the documentary-makers and old friends discuss conspiracy theories, the problem of ‘activist journalists’ and what happened to Ceaușescu’s socks

Christos Tsiolkas on retreating from the outrage cycle: ‘I’ve felt as if I was disappointing people’

Lockdown forced the Australian author to contemplate both his interior life and the big picture. The result is 7½, a work of autofiction that ‘just poured out’

Tom Ford: ‘I paid $90,000 for my own dress. The clothes we make are not meant to be thrown away’

From fashion with va-va-voom to veganism – ahead of the release of his new book, America’s starriest designer takes a moment to reflect

Sally Hepworth on Amy Poehler, Liane Moriarty and her six-times-a-day writing regime

The Melbourne writer discusses her failures and her craft – and why she shuns the housewife-author stereotype

Mary Gaitskill: ‘I have a nuanced mind, for better and worse’

The novelist and essayist on the disturbing power of Lolita, her regard for John Cheever, and her aversion to simplistic arguments

‘The Every is about an all-powerful monopoly that seeks to eliminate competition’: why Dave Eggers won’t sell his new hardback on US Amazon

The author on returning to the dystopian world of big tech in his sequel to The Circle, and how he’s taking a stand against Bezos’s empire

What does tech take from us? Meet the writer who has counted 100 big losses

We have never been more reliant on the internet – yet Pamela Paul still gets DVDs in the post and buys CD players. Why? Because we have lost more to the digital era than we realise, she says

Courtney Act’s coming of age: ‘To reflect back on it … I just sat there sobbing’

Shane Jenek’s memoir chronicles his childhood and career ascent on Sydney’s gay golden mile

Clementine Ford pivots to love: ‘For how long can you be the provocative feminist voice?’

After a decade embroiled in public controversies, one of Australia’s most high-profile feminists is exposing a softer side with her new book, How We Love

Mark Gatiss: ‘I’m currently very, very ashamed of being English’

The former League of Gentlemen star on his love of low-budget British spinechillers, his loathing of Brexit and a slew of projects opening this winter

Jack Dee: ‘The trashier end of self-help fascinates me’

The comedian and author on his new book spoofing psychotherapy, his recipe for a long-lasting marriage and why it’s important to self-criticise

Ai Weiwei: ‘It is so positive to be poor as a child. You understand how vulnerable our humanity can be’

From living in a dugout in Little Siberia to his friendship with Allen Ginsberg in New York, artist and activist Ai Weiwei reveals what drives his restless creativity