Marcus Sedgwick: Mervyn Peake's gothic fantasy has never matched the success of JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Maybe it's just too good

Kate Mosse: Writers of grown-up fiction should be bold enough to match the active and adventurous female protagonists of children's literature

Julia Eccleshare: Young adult novels about teenage suicide are on the increase, but is it a taboo too far?

Kirsty Gunn: The ultra-long novel is making a comeback - what does this say about us as readers?

Judith Mackrell: Which was the first have-it-all generation of women? They were swinging half a century before the sixties

The figure behind deeply influential band Severed Heads talks about the past and future of electronic music and the dangers of disappearing up your own fundament

The great jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela explains why he is on a crusade to preserve Africa's cultural heritage

Chika Unigwe: All week in Adelaide I have been preoccupied by the continuing oppression of the Aboriginal people. Then I met one, who touched me profoundly

Gill Hicks: I'm thinking about the events of Thursday 7 July 2005

After launching an art exhibition, performing on ice skates and two sell-out concerts, the musician and artist looks back at her week Down Under

Tom Holland: 'The chasm of misunderstanding between the British and the Aboriginals in 1788 was as profound as any that has ever existed between two different peoples'

Renato Musolino: 'I start rehearsal Tuesday, open Wednesday. It's a one-man show. I'm thinking: this is insane!'

Selina O'Grady: 'We often tend to underestimate just how much energy and effort our political and cultural leaders devote to disseminating the values of this secularist ideology.'

'Long ago I meant to be a real writer. I set out to be Tolstoy ... So where did it all go wrong?'

Charles Fernyhough: 'There's no better way of getting at the subjectivity of an individual consciousness than through a skilful fictional narrative'

Jenny Colgan: 'Rightly or wrongly it is easy to love a city with its messy bits hidden - 'aw fur coat and nae knickers', as Weegies like to say'