The Artemis Fowl author on playing a Norse invader, his dad’s historical walking tours – and being inspired by Philip Ardagh’s beard

The crime writer on his love for the city by the sea that was known as ‘the murder capital of Europe’

The novelist reflects a bookish childhood, growing up in ‘the Arthurian dreamscapes of the Wicklow mountains’

The author recalls how the pork pie shaped her family and memories of reading the Narnia books in her den

The Booker-shortlisted novelist on the garrison town on the edge of London where she was first introduced to the writing of James Baldwin and Buchi Emecheta

The poet and novelist recalls the lacerating east wind, the weekly library van and eventually finding inspiration in village life

The author and broadcaster recalls borrowing adult books from Ham library as a child, and walks in Richmond Park

The thriller author on living above his father’s shop and playing in the back lanes of the city

The author recalls pony rides, treasure hunts and life with her ‘bohemian’ parents, who wrote and sunbathed naked

The novelist remembers the Somerset city as a hodgepodge of styles and classes where tolerance and prejudice coexisted

The author recalls how growing up in the Teign Valley around scrappers, drinkers, dreamers and jokers inspired his writing

The author recalls the faded charm and dreams of the Boomtown Rats’ hometown once visited by James Joyce and Oscar Wilde

The author on the pressure to write about her hometown and how she always felt distanced from the Troubles

The novelist reflects on a childhood in London, where car park markets have made way for luxury apartments and peace can be found in a burial ground

The children’s author on growing up at the foot of the Cheshire cliffs that he would later come to treasure

Chased by vicious sheepdogs, engulfed by a jellyfish … the author recalls mild traumas and dreamy days in Pembrokeshire

The Birmingham-born poet recalls growing up near Tolkien’s woods, playing cricket at Edgbaston and listening to the Beatles on cassette

The author on chip fights, family shame – and starting a new life in the Leicestershire village

The author on growing up in Newport and how reading became her escape to other worlds

The author recalls living in a sleepy commuter town, unaware that his neighbours were developing missile guidance systems