A Good Read

Sandra Newman discusses her new novel In the Country of Ice Cream Star with Mariella Frostrup, plus acclaimed Irish writer John Banville on the book he'd never lend.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - author, Fay Weldon and Serpentine Galleries curator, Hans Ulrich Obrist - discuss favourite books by Etel Adnan, Gabriel Gbadamosi, RL Stevenson.

Sitt Marie Rose by Etel Adnan

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Mariella Frostrup talks to award winning Spanish writer Javier Cercas about his new novel Outlaws and discusses Virginia Woolf in fiction with Maggie Gee and Alison MacLeod.

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - Notting Hill film director, Roger Michell and writer, Aminatta Forna - discuss favourite books by Laura Alcoba, Mark Twain and Robert Graves.

The Rabbit House by Laura Alcoba

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Authors Salman Rushdie and Elif Shafak pay tribute to writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Harriett Gilbert and her guests - broadcaster, Aasmah Mir and beer writer, Pete Brown - discuss great food books by Mohsin Hamid, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin and John Lanchester.

Recorded with an audience at the Bristol Food Connections Festival.

Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid

The Physiology of Taste by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Ned Beauman and Nick Harkaway talk to Mariella Frostrup about the appeal of writing a conspiracy thriller in today's post cold war world.

Joseph O'Connor tells Mariella Frostrup about his new novel about a fictional band: The Thrill of it All and Louise Welsh and Andrew Wilson on the elusive Ms Patricia Highsmith.

Tony Parsons on his first crime novel, The Murder Bag, and why he and Henry Sutton find crime appeals. Alice Greenway goes ornithological and why literature matters in Kurdistan.

Sadie Jones on her new novel Fallout, the story of four young friends in 1970s London theatreland. Peter Buwalda on his best-selling Bonita Avenue and Will Self on his garret.