In an age when we are finally taking mental health as seriously as physical health, this issue of Granta explores the conscious self: how it perceives, judges and lives in the world.

John Barth rocks himself to sleep

Rana Dasgupta investigates a live-streamed suicide

Joe Dunthorne travels to Cyprus for the Writers' World Cup football tournament

Charles Glass talks with an ISIS executioner, photographed by Don McCullin

Colin Grant remembers schizophrenia in London's East End in the '80s

Penelope Lively recalls how her books have furnished her mind

Jack Shenker on life in post-revolutionary Cairo

NEW FICTION: Robert Coover, Joanna Hershon and Tom Lee

POETRY: Danez Smith, Ocean Vuong and Dara Wier

PHOTOGRAPHY: Jason Larkin, Reynaldo Rivera and Francesca Todde, introduced by Chris Kraus and Nuar Alsadir. And war photography by Don McCullin.

PLUS Siri Hustvedt, Margo Jefferson, Han Kang, Barry Lopez, Max Porter, Marcel Proust, Mary Ruefle and Andrew Solomon share their states of mind.