‘Writing is exactly like love – you need to do it in the dark’: novelist Leila Slimani on starting a new chapter in her life

Now in residence at the Madrid Prado, the author talks about its dark, inspirational Goyas, the clandestine nature of her writing – and why she finally wrote about her jailed then posthumously exonerated father

Stripteases, ecstatic embraces and a dog in a dress: the full-on photos celebrating queer dancefloors worldwide

A thrillingly unsanitised new photo book captures the liberating power of queer clubs in all their sexy, messy, kinky, cacophonous glory. ‘I wanted it to feel like a night out,’ says the woman behind it

Leonora in the Morning Light review – pioneering British artist who fled convention for the surrealists

From Paris to Mexico, Leonora Carrington’s extraordinary life is retold with intelligence and restraint, though not quite enough imagination

Fairyland review – moving memoir of queer parenting and new kinds of family in 70s San Francisco

Andrew Durham’s tender adaptation of Alysia Abbott’s book finds warmth, humour and heartbreak in an unconventional family unit shaped by love and loss

The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams review – twisted love story from a cult writer

Williams follows her prize-winning debut with a gothically overstuffed tale of a cynical young woman in a crumbling university town

Crossing the Wine Dark Sea by Emily Wilson review – a masterclass in translation

The polarising translator of the Odyssey and the Iliad sets out her philosophy in this fascinating collection

Medieval King Arthur manuscript could fetch £2m at auction

Book containing early versions of the Merlin and Grail legends has remained in private hands for 700 years

Ian McEwan says pessimism ‘a bigger problem than climate change’

Speaking at Hay festival as UK breaks May heat record, author says optimism is a ‘moral duty’

Tell us: what have you been reading this month?

We would like to hear about the books you’ve particularly enjoyed this month

From racy riders to romantic rivals: Jilly Cooper’s best books – ranked!

The second series of Rivals has put the bestselling author’s brand of saucy jollity back on screen, but what is her bonkbuster nonpareil?

A Billion Years of Sex Differences by Steve Stewart-Williams review – what we get wrong about men and women

A psychologist wades into controversial territory in this counterintuitive study of nature, nurture and gender

Written under collapsing ceilings, typed on phones: the poetry bringing Palestine to the world

Two new poetry collections tackle themes of trauma, exile, resistance and love amid conflict in Gaza

‘I want to bury it under a roundabout!’ Kim Noble on his unusual approach to promoting his graphic novel

The unsettling performance artist, who has made some electrifying stage shows in his time, is taking a leap into literature with an eye-opening book, In Pursuit of a Wonderful Nothing. Quite a hard sell, he thinks

Whistler by Ann Patchett review – a saccharine story of reunion

A woman’s encounter with the stepfather she hasn’t seen for decades leads to a revived bond – but is it all too perfect?

Could nature itself hold the solution to climate change?

Technological interventions face huge financial or practical challenges. Why not embrace the Earth’s feedback loops?