Self-help shelves are filled with guides to surviving midlife, but where is the fiction? Lisa Allardice talks to Marian Keyes, Joanne Harris and others about ‘hot-flush lit’

The American and Irish novelists discuss the joys of writing romantic comedy, standing up to the critics and why we’re in a ‘golden age’ for the menopause

From Benjamin Zephaniah on Ain’t I a Woman to Elif Shafak on Orlando by Virginia Woolf – authors tell the story of the moment a book saved their life

As the No 10 party debate raged, Northern Ireland’s listeners helped Stephen Nolan sniff out some home truths

From Ian McKellen reading Homer to Bill Bryson on the body, these audiobooks can expand your horizons, even when you can’t go out