Pat Barker and Benjamin Myers in conversation: ‘I’m absolutely intolerable when I’m not writing’
Ahead of new books by both, the two English novelists discuss their friendship, the baggage that comes with being labelled ‘northern writers’ and why the Krankies’ memoir is a must-read
Orlaine McDonald: ‘As a writer it’s important that I don’t look away’
The debut novelist on her haunting tale of mothers and daughters, the importance of putting black women on the page and the art form that makes her feel most alive
C Pam Zhang: ‘I was aware of the drift towards fascism in Europe’
The Chinese-born, US-based author, whose debut was longlisted for the 2020 Booker, on pursuing pleasure in a volatile world, her taste for chip butties and the joys of being a naive reader
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: ‘Satire is a way to make myself less depressed’
The US author on dystopian fiction, the experience of speaking to prisoners about his debut novel and why both of America’s major parties ‘love the war machine’
Maggie Nelson: ‘I was overwhelmed with grief when Prince died’
The American author of The Argonauts on her latest collection of essays, how the Purple Rain star shaped her sexual development and the risks she takes in her writing
Jeremy Cooper: ‘My agent strongly advised me against writing fiction’
The former Antiques Roadshow expert and winner of the Fitzcarraldo novel prize doesn’t have a mobile phone and hasn’t watched TV for 25 years. But he loves cinema – and his new novel, Brian, is about one of its lonely devotees
Sulaiman Addonia: ‘I’m taking writing back to the rock’n’roll era!’
The Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist on childhood trauma and its effect on his work, the importance of sex in stories and paying homage to your imagination
Rose Tremain: ‘Sex scenes are like arias in opera. They have to move the story forwards’
The bestselling author on how to avoid reader indifference, the advantage of writing historical stories and why she returns to Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates again and again
Anne Enright: ‘Give me Moby-Dick over Persuasion anytime’
The award-winning Irish author on her Women’s prize-shortlisted novel The Wren, the Wren, waylaying poet Paul Muldoon at an airport and why she no longer writes about her family
Sam Taylor: ‘Translating is like X-raying a book. You get a deep tissue read’
The US-based writer and translator on his new novel set in 1930s Vienna, his deep connection with the authors he has worked with and why he always returns to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
Rebecca F Kuang: ‘I like to write to my friends in the style of Joan Didion’
The author of bestseller Yellowface on her agent’s fears about publishing the novel, the joys of a social media purge and being a workaholic who gets bored easily
Moses McKenzie: ‘I was thinking about the predicament of the black British diaspora’
The award-winning Bristol-raised novelist on his new book about a teenage Rastafarian living in the city in volatile times, how he was influenced by The Catcher in the Rye - and being celebrated by a Tory politician
Sunjeev Sahota: ‘I’ve always been in labour movements – but I’m critical of identity politics’
The Booker shortlisted novelist on writing his first significant non-working-class character, the literary critics who inspired him and why he’s not on Facebook
Michael Magee: ‘There’s a disbelief at how I’ve ended up’
The Belfast novelist on moving between memoir and fiction in his prize-winning debut, turning down a spot on Granta’s best young British novelists list and why Lords of the Rings was his ‘gateway drug’
Mat Osman: ‘I wanted to write about a dirty, dangerous, working-class London’
The Suede bassist and author on writing without a safety net, terrifying himself for his next novel and which of the Thursday Murder Club books – by his brother Richard – he likes best
