Alan Furst’s novels evoke the late 1930s, a world of beautiful women, spies and diplomats – a shadowy world where no one can be trusted in a Europe on the brink of World War II. Alan Furst has spent much of his life as a journalist and novelist living and writing throughout the Europe he describes. He is based in New York.

“Mosely has a unique voice that remains fresh, and he tells a damn good story.” Jonathan Kellerman

“Walter Mosely is one of America’s most exciting, incisive writers.” Geroge Pelecanos

“With each novel (I am now writing my fourth), I swear that, this time, I will begin by preparing a proper chapter-by-chapter outline. I still haven't accomplished this. Instead, keen to begin, I take an A4 sheet of paper, write the main characters' names at the top and underneath set out the major events of the book. All in all about thirty words. Then I start. As I write, the sub-plots and twists develop. But I do have a clear idea of the ending and everything works towards that. Generally the closing scene is the only scene that I have in detail in my mind when I start.”

“To be a writer, I thought, you had to be extraordinary, and I knew I was ordinary. But desire is like an underground stream: if it can't surface where it wants, it will divert and surface somewhere else. My wish to write novels surfaced as a wish to teach and research literature. By the time I was in my thirties I understood things better: it is books that are extraordinary, writers themselves are no more or less extraordinary than anyone else.”

“The biggest influence on my writing books was the fact that I had worked in a newspaper for so long. In a daily paper, you learn to write very quickly; there is no time to sit and brood about what you are going to say.”

“Reading Houellebecq is like being caught up in a tropical storm: you are blown away by the ferocity of his imagination.” Observer

“Houellebecq, the mischief-making enfant terrible of new-wave French fiction...” Independent

“As a kid growing up in the Soviet Union of the 1960s, I of course wanted to become an astronaut. Maybe embark on a flight to some distant solar system, you know, the kind of voyage when time inside the spacecraft passes much slower than on earth, so when I come back it would be 23rd Century here, the communist paradise already built, no problems left, everybody happy … cannot say that I have outlived that dream entirely.”

Joseph Boyden's debut novel, Three Day Road, was a nominee for the 2005 Governor General's Awards. It previously won the inaugural McNally Robinson Aboriginal Book of the Year Award.

Boyden, of Métis heritage, writes about First Nations heritage and culture. Three Day Road, a novel about two Cree soldiers serving in the Canadian military during World War I, is inspired by Francis Pegahmagabow.

“I had the idea of a modern Roman Empire and within the first few hours, I think, I had the basic plot of the whole trilogy. At first, I didn't think I could begin writing until I'd done a lot more work, but within days I found I was just doing it. The sense of the characters who would become Una and Sulien came in the same moment as that first idea.” Read Sophia's Q & A to find out more about how the Romanitas trilogy evolved.

“What I find most inspiring is energy. If I go and see a good play, I can almost feel the current from the playwright and actors. A really good book has the same effect.”

“I had no ambitions to write at all. I was going to be a star of stage, screen and television. I fell into writing by accident after going in for a competition which I didn't win.”

Adèle Geras has written more than eighty books.

“I left school without qualifications, but acquired two 'A' Levels in my forties. I have had no formal writing tuition, but found a writing group an enormous help as we encouraged each other.”

“Husbands and Other Lovers is a novel that deals with timeless choices and changing fortunes. I wanted to look below the surface of an apparently idyllic lifestyle to discover the reality below – to examine the choices and compromises women make to stay married. Or to get married.

All the characters are asked to change – some manage this better than others. I hope that my characters are flawed but still sympathetic, that we can understand their struggles... and perhaps identify with their mistakes!”

“As a kid growing up in the Soviet Union of the 1960s, I of course wanted to become an astronaut. Maybe embark on a flight to some distant solar system, you know, the kind of voyage when time inside the spacecraft passes much slower than on earth, so when I come back it would be 23rd Century here, the communist paradise already built, no problems left, everybody happy … cannot say that I have outlived that dream entirely.”

“I've written just one novel. I found a voice that made me believe in the central character, and linked it to a sequence of events, and places, that seemed to have some real energy in them.”

“A wonderfully fresh novel that immerses the reader in a world most could never dream of entering. Julian Fellowes's wit and sharp observational skills brighten every page.” Waterstone's Book Quarterly

“Fellowes doesn't try to hide his love of the funny, sealed, above-stairs world of dukes, duchesses, marquesses, nursery maids, herbaceous borders and breakfast kedgeree, all of which makes Snobs such a good, fresh read.” Daily Telegraph

“Adored is an escapist fantasy, a return to the unashamedly sexy, glamorous fiction that I grew up reading. After a decade of Bridget-Jones-esque heroines, of ‘real life’ women with their everyday jobs and boyfriends, hopes and fears, I thought that women’s fiction had room for something a bit more sexy, fantastical and fun. And that, I hope, is what Adored is. A lot fun. And a great escape. I hope you enjoy it!”

“Alice Walker is an inspired preacher whose rhetoric of hope defies the harshness of reality ... her delight in life, her exuberant love of anecdote and friendship shine through ... she is uniquely herself, as a writer of moving and transforming stories.” Observer

“I toyed with the idea of writing for a long time – ten, fifteen years, perhaps … but it wasn’t until I’d spent some time in southern Africa that I decided to give it a ‘proper’ go. I was fascinated by the changes taking place – especially the emotional changes in people as apartheid finally crumbled. I turned to fiction as a way of expressing what I’d seen and experienced.”