Long live Joyce Carol Oates’ Twitter account: the only pure space left on this hell site

The 86-year-old author’s social feed might be her greatest contribution to literature – with philosophical musings on everything from US politics to an infected foot

The Mouthless Dead by Anthony Quinn review – murder most unsolvable

The author’s haunting and highly readable fictionalisation of a high-profile killing in prewar Liverpool is rich in legal and procedural detail

A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland review – a striking story of concealed love

This unforgettable tale of two men in late-80s Wales deals with the emotions and repercussions of their intimacy – and is one of the best debut novels in years

The Grapevine by Kate Kemp review – slaughter in surburbia

In a quiet Australian backwater an unravelling cast of women make claustrophobic crime fiction out of a close-knit community

In brief: Take Care; Tilt; Lightborne – review

A rousing memoir by the wife and carer of rugby player Rob Burrow; a tender earthquake survival tale; and a queer fictionalisation of Christopher Marlowe’s remarkable life

Xiaolu Guo: ‘Write less, in order to write stronger’

The author and film-maker on why she was inspired to reimagine Moby-Dick in her new novel, her love of Coleridge and returning to the ‘addictive power of fiction’

‘AI will become very good at manipulating emotions’: Kazuo Ishiguro on the future of fiction and truth

On the 20th anniversary of Never Let Me Go, the Nobel prize-winning novelist talks about the role of the author in a post-truth world – and why he’s ‘not a great writer of prose’

‘The definition of a classic’: Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go at 20

A Booker-winning author, a Nobel prize-winning scientist and the directors of the film and stage adaptations on why Ishiguro’s dystopian tale still speaks to us today

‘What’s wrong with us?’ : Novelist Virginia Feito on our morbid obsession with true crime

Her debut, Mrs March, is being adapted by Elisabeth Moss, and her new novel has already been snapped up for the screen. Virginia Feito reveals the real-life inspiration for her shocking story of a psychopathic Victorian nanny

Twist by Colum McCann review – globalism and a voyage into danger

A free-diving engineer repairs the undersea cables that carry data around our hyperconnected planet, in this intense maritime story with echoes of Heart of Darkness

‘I’m like the TV Lorraine – just more sweary’: at home with the queen of the small screen

She’s the chatty daytime presenter with a nice line in withering putdowns. But as a judge once ruled, that’s just a role she performs. So who is the real Lorraine Kelly?

What do women really want from men? I delved into romantasy and found a good few clues

In these novels, the heroes are – to borrow a term from the fandom – cinnamon rolls: soft-hearted, sweet and, yes, delicious, says writer Max Fletcher

‘Taut’, ‘extraordinary delight’, ‘absolutely bonkers’: the best Australian books out in March

Each month Guardian Australia editors and critics pick the upcoming titles they have already devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on

The best recent science fiction and fantasy – review roundup

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica; Dissolution by Nicholas Binge; The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar; When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi; The Foot on the Crown by Christopher Fowler

Jennifer Johnston obituary

Prizewinning author who wrote elliptical, needle-sharp novels about family, Irish history and the Troubles