Author Interviews | Page 2

Francis Spufford | 'I love that endlessly varied pressure from other people’s lives in cities'

For the past 12 years, Francis Spufford has walked to work at Goldsmiths College, part... Read more

Georgina Lawton | 'Ideas from our parents form the backbone to our identities'

"Ideas from our parents form the backbone to our identities... they condition us in more powerful ways than lessons from any book or religion ever... Read more

Chris Mould | 'I always drew, but nobody told me where that could go'

The very first text Chris Mould illustrated as a student was George Orwell’s allegorical novel Animal Farm. The young Mould was given Orwell’s text at... Read more

Salena Godden | 'I was in a very dark place and looking for the light'

"It comes from a place of grieving. I was mourning, I was in... Read more

Michelle Harrison | 'We’ve still got superstitions all around us and I love playing on that'

A family curse trapped the three Widdershins sisters on the prison isle of Crowstone in A Pinch of Magic. The sequel, A Sprinkle of Sorcery,... Read more

Lucy Jago | 'It really mattered to me that I didn’t play fast and loose with the facts'

In 1615, a sensational public murder trail took place in London. The victim, courtier and poet Sir Thomas Overbury, had died in 1613 while a... Read more

Ruth Coker Burks | 'I wanted the [victims] to be counted, to have their lives matter'

"They'd put a big red plastic bag over the entire door, and all his food trays were on the floor outside. And then the nurses... Read more

B B Alston | 'It seemed like one of those careers that was so far beyond anything I could do'

In October 2018, B B Alston was waiting for an interview for a temp job when he spotted the #DVPit contest on Twitter, a hashtag... Read more

Ellery Lloyd | 'We absolutely didn’t want to make Emmy a demon'

This January, crime will pay — for publishers at least. It’s a strong month for nefarious tales of all hues but the best psychological thriller... Read more

Annie Bell | 'Cutting down on waste is an area where we can all contribute as consumers'

Last spring, Pan Macmillan announced the creation of One Boat, a new sustainability imprint from the team behind Bluebird. Its name references the power of... Read more

Raven Leilani | 'I wanted to write a story about a young black woman who is unvarnished on the page'

"The first time we have sex, we are both fully clothed, at our desks during working hours, bathed in blue computer light.” So begins Luster,... Read more

Rashmi Sirdeshpande | 'Factual books have such an important place'

"In a world where fake news can travel scarily fast, factual books have such an important place.” Rashmi Sirdeshpande’s second children’s non-fiction book How to... Read more

Abigail Dean | 'It is meant to be a novel about humanity and hope'

Girl A, the novel that was the centre of a bidding frenzy on both sides of the Atlantic, looks set to catapult Abigail Dean into... Read more

Tana French | 'I don't like being in my comfort zone. I think it’s dangerous'

"I've discovered that as a writer I don't like being in my comfort zone. I think it’s dangerous.” Tana French first made her name with... Read more

Karrie Fransman and Jonathan Plackett | 'We’re trying to break the binary'

Ever wished that the giant-killers in fairytales could be girls? Or that the princes were left back at the palace simpering, while their sisters rode... Read more