Joining Georgina Godwin this week is one of the US’s finest storytellers, the man who gave us the novel series ‘Tales of the City’. The books paint an indelible portrait of an era that forever changed the way we live, with words that have given courage and hope to many who feared they would never find their logical family.

Sarah Winman’s creative career started as an actress on both stage and screen. Her debut novel catapulted her to international-bestseller status. She talks to Georgina Godwin about her beautifully nuanced work, which captures landscape, love, sexual identity and the frailty of human relationships.

The Indian-born author’s seventh novel – ‘Friend of my Youth’ – is, he says, not really a novel at all. So what is it? He discusses literary forms and his background in Mumbai and Kolkata.

Sigrid Rausing is the editor of ‘Granta’ magazine and the company’s publishing arm. In this powerful conversation she talks to Georgina Godwin about death, drugs, false accusations and the tragedy that shook the famous Tetrapak family to its core.

Former UK Labour party politician Chris Mullin is acclaimed for his diaries, which cover the rise and fall of New Labour. He’s also won both an Emmy and a Bafta for the adaption of his novel ‘A Very British Coup’. He talks to Georgina Godwin about his life in politics under Tony Blair, his work in Vietnam and Cambodia, his campaign to free the Birmingham Six and his witty new memoir.

Lagercrantz is not just responsible for ghosting a book by one of Sweden’s most iconic sportsmen in the form of Zlatan Ibrahimovic: he has also taken over from the late Stieg Larsson, author of the multimillion-selling Millennium trilogy, to continue the adventures of the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Marcel Theroux is an award-winning writer and a documentary filmmaker from an illustrious creative family. He talks to Georgina Godwin about his father Paul, his brother Louis, his cousin Justin and his new novel ‘The Secret Books’, an utterly compelling read that is so relevant to our times.

Sofi Oksanen is a Finnish and Estonian novelist and playwright. Winner of the Finlandia prize and known as the greatest voices of her generation at home, Oksanen gained international recognition through ‘Purge’, a book that is also a play, a film and an opera. Her fifth novel, ‘Norma’, looks at the global exploitation of women told through the eyes of a girl with magical hair. She talks to Georgina Godwin about her latest book, as well as her journey so far.

Georgina Godwin asks what North Korea has against Shakespeare, what Barack Obama thinks of The Globe Theatre, what happens when a production cast comes down with food poisoning and how difficult it is to be (or not to be) in 197 countries. The answers come from award-winning writer and theatre director Dominic Dromgoole.

Discover the modern-day adventurer, travel writer, entertainer and motorcycle fanatic Charley Boorman. He talks to Georgina Godwin about his Hollywood-influenced childhood with his father – the director John Boorman – his bike tours around the world with Ewan McGregor and how he recovered from a near-fatal accident.