Originally a poet, Vikram Seth attracted international attention in 1993 with the publication of his mammoth novel, A Suitable Boy. Set against the backdrop of post-colonial India, the novel made Seth into a literary celebrity – dubbed "India's Tolstoy" and "the Golden Boy." In 2005 he spoke to Eleanor Wachtel onstage at the Toronto International Festival of Authors about his book Two Lives. Part memoir, part family history, Two Lives chronicles the remarkable story of Seth's great aunt Henny – a German Jew who lost her family in the Holocaust – and his great uncle Shanti – an Indian-born, Berlin-trained dentist, who lost an arm fighting in World War Two. *This episode originally aired November 20, 2005.

English writer Sarah Bakewell is the author of engaging, accessible books about thinkers, from existentialists such as Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre to the 16th century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne – a work which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In her new book, Humanly Possible, Bakewell examines the centuries-long tradition of humanist thinking through the ideas and observations of a range of figures from Boccaccio and Erasmus to E.M. Forster and Zora Neale Hurston.

Nigerian writer Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ made a stunning debut in 2017 with her acclaimed first novel, Stay With Me. Focusing on a young couple's struggles with infertility and cultural tradition, the novel won the Prix Les Afriques, was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction and named a best book of the year by the Guardian and Wall Street Journal. Her new novel, A Spell of Good Things, examines themes of power, politics and poverty in modern-day Nigeria, interweaving the stories of two very different families across the class divide.

Ayad Akhtar won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his provocative play Disgraced, described as "a combustible powder keg of identity politics." He's also tackled themes of race and culture through fiction: his first novel, American Dervish, about a young Pakistani-American boy growing up in the Midwest, and his powerful, prize-winning 2020 novel, Homeland Elegies. Frankly autobiographical, Homeland Elegies explores the idea of the "American dream" through the experience of Akhtar's parents and his own dual identity as a Muslim American following the 9/11 attacks. *This episode originally aired Oct. 25, 2020.

Over the past 30 years, American writer Elizabeth McCracken has become known for her extraordinary fiction imbued with insight, heart and humour. From her first novel, The Giant's House, to her most recent story collection, The Souvenir Museum, she focuses on characters that are different, even eccentric. Her latest novel, The Hero of This Book, was inspired by her own marvellous mother. It was named a 'Best Book of the Year' by numerous publications including The Washington Post, NPR and The New Yorker.

In 2013, Canadian-born, New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton made history when she became the youngest person ever to win the Booker Prize. Catton was just 28 and her novel, The Luminaries, went on to become an international bestseller. Catton later adapted her novel for a BBC-TV mini-series and wrote the screenplay for the 2020 film production of Jane Austen's Emma. Now, her much anticipated new novel, Birnam Wood, a page-turning eco-thriller set in New Zealand's South Island, tackles some of the biggest issues of our time, including the climate crisis, digital surveillance and economic inequality.

Growing up in Communist China, Yiyun Li devoured any books she could find. But she never imagined that, on moving to the U.S., she'd become the author of prize-winning fiction in English, including such acclaimed works as A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, The Vagrants and Kinder than Solitude. Her latest novel, The Book of Goose, is a beguiling tale of two peasant girls in rural post-war France. Inspired by a real-life literary hoax, it's a moving meditation on friendship, imagination and truth in storytelling.

When she was growing up in Zimbabwe, Petina Gappah read a story about the 19th-century explorer and missionary David Livingstone and his famous (though ultimately failed) search for the source of the Nile River. The story stuck with her and years later, Gappah reimagined Livingstone in her acclaimed 2019 novel, Out of Darkness, Shining Light. Focusing on the African companions, servants and enslaved people who took Livingstone's body from present-day Zambia, where he died in 1873, to Zanzibar, the novel is a moving exploration of power, violence and resilience in pre-colonial Africa. *This episode originally aired on May 10, 2020.

Graeme Macrae Burnet's novels are something different: not-so-true crime stories that blur the line between documentary and fiction. The Scottish writer's 2015 book, His Bloody Project – set in the Highlands during the 19th century – was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while his most recent title, Case Study, has been called "a page-turning blast, funny, sinister and perfectly plotted." It takes place in 1960s London and follows a young woman drawn into the world of an unorthodox psychotherapist.

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, internationally acclaimed artist William Kentridge engages with politics and memory through a variety of forms – from charcoal drawings, animation and sculptures, to immersive videos, theatre and opera. His 2022 exhibition at London's Royal Academy was hailed as "enthralling," an "operatic epic," while Kentridge's current retrospective at L.A.'s Broad Museum has been called "extraordinary." He spoke to Eleanor Wachtel about his work and career, as well as his recent "lockdown" project, a series of films about Kentridge's life in the studio, called "Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot," which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall.