Gemma Cairney: ‘I was a naughty teen – I got told not to talk back’

The radio DJ and author on her life lessons for young and old – plus raving in Margate

Joanna Bourke: ‘Speaking about suffering helps cope with it’

The author of The Story of Pain explains how an agonising hospital stay prompted her to explore an experience felt very differently down the ages

Never Enough by Barney Hoskyns; The Ice Age by Luke Williams; A Really Good Day by Ayelet Waldman – review

Three vivid memoirs reveal the horrific pull – and possible benefits – of illicit substances

Deliciously Ella with Friends by Ella Mills – digested read

John Crace reduces the latest clean and healthy cookbook from the blogging author to a slimmer 700 words

Elizabeth Blackburn on the telomere effect: ‘It’s about keeping healthier for longer’

The Nobel winner says keeping telomeres – the ends of our chromosomes – in prime condition can stave off diseases associated with ageing

‘I was weak, despairing, confused’: did writing a novel make me ill?

It started with a bottomless tiredness, and soon novelist Sarah Perry was unable to function. Had she brought it all on herself?

Bad fad – Ruby Tandoh on how clean eating turned toxic

The backlash against a ‘wellness’ diet is in full swing – and leading chefs and writers associated with it are doing their best to ditch the term. It’s time we called it what it is

Get Control of Sugar Now! Great Choices for Your Healthy Future by Paul McKenna – digested read

John Crace reduces the hypnotist’s self-help advice for the sweet-toothed to an even lower-calorie 800 words

Tim Ferriss: ‘I’m a coyote, a merry prankster, a go-between’

With a new book of tips from billionaires and ‘world-class performers’ out now, the American self-help guru opens up about what motivates him

JK Rowling and Joe Wicks powered 2016 surge in UK book sales

Helped by Harry Potter and the hit fitness guru, year on year takings to December rose sharply to £1.59bn