Meet the Writers

Barbie Latza Nadeau has been a journalist in Italy for the past 20 years and has covered crime in Europe, Italian politics, the refugee crisis and women’s issues. In this interview she talks to Georgina Godwin about two major Italian stories: Amanda Knox and the current refugee sex-trafficking crisis.

This Karachi-born UK writer has penned seven novels and her latest, ‘Home Fire’, is a contemporary reworking of the Sophocles play ‘Antigone’. It’s an important read for anyone attempting to understand the world in the wake of September 11.

Norbury’s travelogue and memoir ‘The Fish Ladder: A Journey Upstream’ is a combination of exquisite nature writing, fragments of poetry and tales from Celtic mythology – all alongside her own extraordinary life story. She tells Georgina Godwin all about it.

Basu is the author of ‘Victoria and Abdul’ – now a major film starring Judi Dench. Basu tells Georgina Godwin how her background as a journalist, as well as her love of history, led to her books that tell the shared past of India and Britain.

What Andrew Holgate thinks influences what you read. As literary editor of ‘The Sunday Times’ his reviews and best-seller charts have a big impact on book sales. He tells us how he chooses what should be on your bookshelf.

We head to the Fairway Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka to meet award-winning local author Ashok Ferrey. He tells Georgina Godwin about his journey from Oxford maths graduate to builder to one of the nation’s favourite authors.

The author of ‘Girl on a Train’ tells Georgina Godwin about her journey from sleepy Harare to producing one of the bestselling books of recent times.

McBride’s stream-of-consciousness style has brought her numerous awards for her two novels, ‘A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing’ and ‘The Lesser Bohemians’. The former actress is now considered one of the foremost novelists working in the UK. She tells us about her unique style.

To call Walsh just an award-winning author would be a disservice. She’s also a journalist, campaigner, a literary judge, speaker and a diarist. She spoke to Georgina Godwin about her extraordinary output.

Slimani is the first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious award for literature, the Prix Goncourt. Her international bestseller ‘Lullaby’ has just been translated into English and she’s been appointed French president Emmanuel Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of the French language and culture. She talks to Georgina Godwin about her work.