‘We have a really shamefully horrid healthcare system, and I think that’s part of it. It’s much more convenient to think these people are just crazy, or it’s in their heads. It’s a very real thing; I don’t know of anyone who doubts it any more. Occasionally I encounter people that do. I’m astounded at their wilful ignorance; it’s not actual ignorance.’ Porochista Khakpour discusses living with chronic illness and her new book Sick with The Observer.

Thomas Page McBee talked to The Observer on his new book Amateur, covering transitioning, sexuality and the fight organised by Haymakers for Hope that altered his life.

“A revealing scene from her memoir narrates the time Khan-Cullors was invited to dinner at a white classmate’s house. She admires how the family sits down to eat together, discussing their aspirations – only to learn that the father, who is so gently encouraging, is the slumlord trying to evict her family from their home.”

Patrisse Khan-Cullors interviewed on the fifth anniversary of Black Lives Matter.

An early recommendation (from none other than Ian Rankin) for Ambrose Parry’s upcoming The Way of All Flesh.

The Independent on the rediscovery of the brilliant Eve Babitz, author of Sex & Rage:

“She’s a comic, a poet, and a rare writer who is capable of finding the universal in the unique.”

Matt Haig was interviewed in the Observer about his new book Notes on a Nervous Planet.

“Platforms like Twitter and Instagram try to get us as emotionally and psychologically invested in them as possible. And sometimes, if you just go on Twitter and passively scroll down your feed, it depends who you follow of course, it just seems like a fireball of anger. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, you can find something within five minutes to be really, really cross or anxious about. And there’s a psychological fall-out from all that.”

“This wonderful new book is the most comprehensive overview of the filmmaker’s life and career to date.”

“Everybody has theories about what the show is about, which is great, and it wouldn’t matter if I explained my theory. Things have harmonics, and if you’re true to an idea as much as you can be, then the harmonics will be there and they’ll be truthful even though they may be abstract.” David Lynch in the New York Times on his new book, Room to Dream.

“It’s not often that an author described on his own Wikipedia page as ‘disgracefully neglected’ is awarded a €100,000 literary prize. But this is where the Irish author Mike McCormack finds himself, with Wednesday’s announcement that he has won the International Dublin literary award for his novel, Solar Bones. As someone who has hovered close to mainstream success without ever shaking off the slightly damning label of ‘writer’s writer’, he is unsurprisingly delighted.”