‘I thought of all the times I’d had to shout and my heart shrivelled up’: life with my hearing-impaired father

Their relationship was marked by confusion and frustration – until an episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills prompted author Katherine Heiny to take her father for a hearing test

A moment that changed me: I was outraged by the risks facing my children – so we moved to the country

Black Caribbean people born in the UK have a higher chance of schizophrenia, and city life is a factor. So when a chance came to live in Somerset, I leapt at it

‘A smorgasbord of unlikability’: the authors helping ‘sad girl lit’ grow up

In this post-Fleabag world, publishing has become obsessed with the inner turmoils of messy millennials – but isn’t it time they pulled themselves together? Meet the novelists subverting the cliches

‘I wanted to be No 1. But a certain JK Rowling came along’: Jacqueline Wilson on rivalry, censorship – and love

Raised by a ‘scary’ father and a ‘terrible snob’ of a mother, the Tracy Beaker author has always understood the loneliness that marks so many young lives. But at 77, she’s never been happier

Pam Ayres: ‘I inherited a love of English from my mother’

The poet, 76, tells Donna Ferguson about deference, dialect and her dreams of becoming a ballerina, and reveals the secret of a happy marriage

‘There are petitions dedicated to their return’: in praise of great lost products, from Cheese Moments to the Skip It

From a particular style of desert boot to a lost blend of tea, our writers mourn the products they once treasured that have been cruelly discontinued

My big Birmingham bookshop crawl: why booksellers are suddenly thriving

In 2009, two bookshops a week were closing in the UK and the days of physical books seemed numbered. Now, indie stores are booming. What explains the turnaround – and can it be sustained?

‘What’s a girl like me doing in a Welsh valley?’: Kiran Sidhu on rural life

Kiran Sidhu always thought of herself as a Londoner. But after her mum died, she moved to rural Wales in search of a new way of life. There she learned that feeling lost was the first step to finding herself

The Beanie Bubble review – plushie-craze toy story goes down the cute route

The true story behind the once popular children’s playthings is taken on here by a decent cast who can’t stop proceedings unravelling

‘Every writer’s deepest fear’: what happened when I gave a book talk completely nude

At Nudefest, the UK’s largest naturist festival, I faced rows of unclothed nooks and visible crannies while discussing my writing. But would having my kit off prove a distraction?

Simon Sebag Montefiore: ‘I worked down a South African goldmine at 17’

The historian and author, 58, on his time as a war correspondent, his unusual family history and a hatred of scotch eggs

A moment that changed me: I lost my hair to cancer – and the trauma taught me an essential lesson

I found being bald truly distressing. But losing a vital part of my armour for that long year gave me a whole new perspective

Daniel Kaluuya’s Barney the Dinosaur film to be ‘adult’ and ‘lean into millennial angst’

Mattel says the Barney movie will be inspired by Charlie Kaufman, while Barbie director Greta Gerwig is planning two Narnia movies for Netflix

Caitlin Moran: what’s gone wrong for men – and the thing that can fix them

The feminist author has spent years writing about how to be a woman. Now she’s turning her eye on the opposite sex

‘I have overwhelming impostor syndrome’: TV judge Rob Rinder on empathy, shame and survival

He grew up gay in a working-class community, before becoming a criminal barrister, then moving into television. Now he has written his first novel