Books And Authors

Sarah Perry talks to Shahidha Bari about her new novel, Enlightenment

Hari Kunzru talks to Shahidha Bari about his new novel, Blue Ruin

Sunjeev Sahota talks to Alex Clark about his new novel, The Spoiled Heart

Sinéad Gleeson is a writer, broadcaster and editor of three anthologies of Irish writing. Her collection of essays, Constellations: Reflections from Life won Non Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards, and now publishes her debut novel, Hagstone.Hagstone is set on a remote island of the coast of Ireland, it tells the story of Nell an artist whose work takes inspiration from the landscape and folklore. When she receives an invitation to create a piece of art from the Inions, a reclusive commune of women living sustainably on the island, things begin to unravel. Sinead discusses the precarity of living as an artist, the folklore which infuses Hagstone and dedicating the book to the late activist and artist Sinead O' Connor.The Book Makers by Adam Smyth is a celebration of five hundred and fifty years of the printed book, told through the lives of eighteen extraordinary people. The printers and binders, publishers and artists, paper-makers and library founders - who took the book in radical new d

Percival Everett

Andrew O'Hagan and Helen Garner

Film director Carol Morley and comedian Will Hislop discuss their favourite books.

Carys Davies on her new novel, Clear. Plus Annie Ernaux and photography

Jonathan Buckley, Lit Crit and David Baddiel

JUST KIDS by Patti Smith, chosen by Lindsey Hilsum MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING by Viktor E. Frankl (trans. Ilse Lasch), chosen by Christopher Eccleston TOWARDS THE END OF THE MORNING by Michael Frayn, chosen by Harriett GilbertThe television journalist and actor share favourite books with Harriett Gilbert.Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor of Channel 4 News, loves Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids, her account of coming to New York as a young woman and of her relationship with the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. It's a coming-of-age story set against the heady backdrop of 1970s counterculture; it's a story of becoming an artist; and it's a love story that turns into an elegy.The actor Christopher Eccleston chooses Man's Search for Meaning, the psychotherapist Viktor Frankl's account of his time in Nazi concentration camps and how those experiences informed his belief that man's deepest need is to search for meaning and purpose. It's a powerful book about retaining one's humanity in the face of unimaginable suff

Art historian Katy Hessel and author Amy Blakemore discuss their favourite books.

Open Book explores Daphne du Maurier and the enduring qualities and appeal of her writing

ON WRITING by Stephen King, chosen by Kathryn Williams THE BITCH by Pilar Quintana (translated by Lisa Dillman), chosen by Harriett Gilbert ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute, chosen by Andrew McMillanThe singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams loves books about the craft of writing and her choice of a good read is 'On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft', by the master of horror, Stephen King. The book gave her practical tools and advice which helped her to write her debut novel, The Ormering Tide. She also loves what we learn about King's life - from his flatulent childhood nanny to the devastating 1999 accident which almost ended his life.Harriett's choice this week is The Bitch by Colombian author Pilar Quintana, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman. In a village on the Pacific coast of Colombia, between wild jungle and wild seas, a childless woman develops a complicated relationship with an orphaned puppy.And the poet and novelist Andrew McMillan chooses On the Beach by Nevil Shute. In Australia, a group of people

More books worth reading chosen by well known guests

Kate Davies talks to Chris Power about her new novel, Nuclear Family.

An actor and singer and a computer scientist and author pick their favourite books.

Sheila Heti on her new experimental book, Alphabetical Diaries.

The frontman of Idles and the artistic director of Bristol Old Vic share book choices.

Madeleine Gray on her witty, heartbreaking novel, Green Dot, about a young woman's affair

a former professional footballer and a film critic pick their favourite books.