Which novels or memoirs will help prepare me for motherhood?

Francesca Segal recommends literary explorations of new emotional territory

Like a marathon, the thrill of painting is the finish

I can appreciate the calming sensations of a watercolour, but slathered fat waves of oil and acrylic are my drugs of choice

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s lockdown listening: ‘Doing handstands, that’s the time for music’

The LA ambient composer shares what she’s been listening to while upside down, from Caribou to Zimbabwean polyrhythms

The Easy Bit review – how men get to grips with IVF

This well-intentioned documentary about the first step in fertility treatment has moments of humour but is too emotionally hectoring

Touch saved me from loneliness. What will we become without it?

Touch is essential to our wellbeing, from the time we are babies. It’s how we transmit meaning, care, love and community. Our sudden loss of it has been agonising

How we made the Keep Calm and Carry On poster

‘When I’m asked why it’s so popular, I always say the same thing: it’s cheaper than antidepressants’

Sitopia by Carolyn Steel review – big questions about food

An ‘all-you-can-eat buffet of thoughts’

Isabel Hardman: ‘One of my most exciting botanical finds was in a Glasgow car park’

The journalist and author on how nature can boost mental health treatment, even on lockdown

Endell Street by Wendy Moore review – the suffragette surgeons

A fascinating, carefully researched study of life partners who became pioneering army hospital doctors in the first world war

Goldie Hawn: ‘I was born with a high set point for happiness’

One of the biggest film stars of the 70s and 80s, Hawn left acting and producing behind for 15 years. She talks about Hollywood, patriarchy, dancing – and how meditation changed her life