Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi: ‘Life is about making myth’

The Ugandan-born writer, whose new book deals with her country’s origin stories, on feminism and the importance of home

HR McMaster on serving Trump: ‘If you’re not on the pitch, you’re going to get your ass kicked’

The former national security adviser on his book, his cheap suit and where he differs from the president who fired him by tweet

Carrie Hope Fletcher: ‘The arts aren’t viable? See how you feel without them!’

The actor and author on starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella, her Ballet Shoes sequel and the government response to theatre’s crisis

Michael Rosen on his Covid-19 coma: ‘It felt like a pre-death, a nothingness’

Earlier this year, the beloved children’s writer spent six weeks on a ventilator with coronavirus. He talks about the magic of the NHS, the mismanagement of the crisis and how his near-death experience has changed him

Craig Silvey on writing from a trans perspective: ‘A novelist is required to listen, to learn’

Jasper Jones author’s new novel wades into a discussion about ‘own voices’ that asks: even if it’s written well, should it have been written at all?

‘He returned to what he really was’: Clive James’s daughter on his poetic farewell

Artist Claerwen James recounts how she bonded with her father in his final months by helping him compile an anthology of his favourite verse

Marilynne Robinson: ‘America still has a democratic soul’

The author of Gilead on the Black Lives Matter protests, the dangers of social media, and her latest novel, Jack

Graham Norton: ‘Ireland is a nation of leavers. I am in awe of the people who stayed and changed minds’

As his third novel is published, the television presenter talks about growing older, Eurovision and resuming his talk show in a pandemic

Rhianna Pratchett: ‘Dad would be smiling to see my name on a book’

The game designer shares her father Terry’s love of fantasy, but expected to leave writing fiction to him. She talks about writing a Fighting Fantasy book and adapting Discworld

Celia Imrie: ‘People go wild when I tell them I was a fighter pilot in Star Wars’

As her portrayal of a foul-mouthed gran in Better Things finally reaches UK screens, Celia Imrie talks about commuting by cruise ship, her funniest ever sketch – and taking up trapeze at 68

‘Lyon’s a great, weird city’: Bill Buford’s five years in the heart of France’s food culture

The writer uprooted his young family to France so he could train to be a proper chef. How did it work out?

Patti Smith: ‘I feel the unrest of the world in the pit of my stomach’

The singer on solitude, lifelong friend Sam Shepard, and her latest memoir

Sasha Swire: ‘British politics is totally amateur. That’s why it’s so sexy and toxic’

The cheesy habits of David Cameron, the loneliness of Boris Johnson… Swire’s no-holds-barred Diary of an MP’s Wife is causing consternation among its subjects. Is she worried?

The right man for the job: how Bob Woodward pinned Trump to the page

For Rage, the Watergate and Washington Post veteran spoke to the president for hours on record. The result is a book for the ages

Owen Jones: ‘A lot of people in the parliamentary Labour party are horrible’

The activist and political commentator on writing his new book about Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s antisemitism crisis and reading for escapism