You Wrote The Book!

Hello and welcome to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Neel Mukherjee. Neel first came to many readers attention with his debut novel A Life Apart, a tale of a young man from Calcutta growing up in England knowing he is different in more ways than one, in 2010. Neel returned last year with The Lives of Others a sprawling novel which looks at a family in the India of the late 1960’s when the Naxalite movement started its violent uprising. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker last year. Simon caught up with Neel to discuss the The Lives of Others, where the idea came from and how he went about creating a novel that encompasses a whole country in one particular time both in the political and the domestic. They also discuss the Man Booker, the state of Indian fiction in the UK, why he is adverse to the term ‘family saga’ and why his novels, so far, have been so very different.   Over the next few episodes Simon will be joined by Laline Paull, Jessie Burton and Tess Gerritsen. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Rose Tremain, Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Armistead Maupin, David Nicholls, Joanne Harris, Richard Flanagan, Kamila Shamsie, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. My guest for this episode is Sharon Bolton or as some of you may have known her S. J. Bolton. Sharon has recently won the Dagger in the Library Award, which celebrates the entire work of a crime author and what a back catalogue it is. Sharon is the author of seven books; three standalones Sacrifice, Blood Harvest and Awakening and the Lacey Flint series Now You See Me, Dead Scared, Like This, For Ever and A Dark and Twisted Tide plus the short story If Snow Hadn’t Fallen. Simon had the pleasure of talking to Sharon about the Lacey Flint series and more, without giving away any spoilers...   Over the next few episodes Simon will be joined by Neel Mukherjee and Tess Gerritsen. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Emma Donoghue, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Kamila Shamsie, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s special guest for this episode is Rose Tremain. Rose is the author of thirteen novels many of which have won some of the biggest literary awards; Music & Silence for the Whitbred Novel of the Year, Sacred Country for the Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Prix Femina Etranger and The Road Home winning the Orange Prize. The much loved Restoration was also shortlisted for the Man Booker. She is also the author of many sort stories and collections the latest of which is The American Lover, of which the title story was up for the BBC National Short Story Award. It is a collection which had much breadth and scope, from the tale of the death of Tolstoy to that of a man who sees his mission is to look after dogs, from a woman messaging her lover on a Blackberry to the fictional imaginings of how Du Maurier’s Rebecca and Mrs Danvers were inspired, from an author who remembers a transgressive love affair decades ago to a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet. You get the gist there is a lot going on in this collection which is as diverse as Rose’s novels. Simon had the pleasure of discussing Rose’s career with her a few weeks ago and started by asking her if she could describe what a Rose Tremain collection encapsulates...   Over the next few episodes Simon will be joined by Sharon Bolton formerly S. J. Bolton, Neel Mukherjee and Tess Gerritsen. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Emma Donoghue, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Kamila Shamsie, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s special guest for this episode is the author Sarah Perry. Sarah’s debut novel After Me Comes The Flood came out earlier in 2014 and is a very tricksy, quirky and deliciously gothic novel that will confuse you and compel you as it twists and turns. It starts when bookseller John ends up stuck in the middle of a wood on the way to his brothers, he finds refuge in an old house where weirdly everyone has been expecting him, and the more time he spends there the stranger things get. Simon spoke to Sarah about After Me Comes the Flood, the themes it brings up such as good and evil, madness and beauty vs brains. They also discuss the gothic tropes, have the odd double entendre and talk about one of the best books ever, Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca.  Over the next few episodes Simon will be joined by Rose Tremain and Neel Mukherjee. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Emma Donoghue, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Kamila Shamsie, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s special guest for this episode is the author David Nicholls. David's bestselling first novel, Starter for Ten, was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club in 2004, this was soon  followed by The Understudy. David Nicholls' third novel, One Day, was published in hardback in 2009 to extraordinary critical acclaim, and stayed in the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list for ten weeks on publication. It has since gone on to sell over five million copies and has been translated into forty languages. As with the film version of Starter for Ten, David wrote the screenplay for the adaptation of One Day starring Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway, which was released in 2010. Now David is back with Us, the tale of a tragi-comedy about marriage, parenthood, travel, art and science. Douglas Petersen is woken in the middle of the night and told by his wife, Connie, that she is leaving him. Their teenage son, Albie, is leaving for college in the autumn and she intends to follow suit. The thought of a life alone terrifies Douglas, and he resolves to make their last family holiday into the trip of a lifetime, one that will draw the three of them closer, win the respect of his son and make Connie fall in love with him all over again. The hotels are booked, the ticket bought, the itinerary planned. What could possibly go wrong? Simon caught up with David a few weeks ago to discuss Us, One Day and much more and started by asking him where the idea behind Us came from... Over the next few episodes Simon will be joined by Sarah Perry and Neel Mukherjee. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Emma Donoghue, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Kamila Shamsie, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Emma Healey. My guest for this episode is Emma Healey. In Emma’s funny, poignant, touching and moving debut novel Elizabeth is Missing we follow Maud as she, and those around her, come to terms with the onset of dementia. Whilst she may be forgetting how many tins of peaches she has in the house and occasionally who the cleaner and even her own daughter are, there is one thing that she is certain of her friend Elizabeth is missing. As Maud sets to discover the truth about Elizabeth memories of the mystery and disappearance of her sister Sukey start to re-emerge and we the reader soon have two mysteries to solve. Simon caught up with Emma to discuss the novel, the true life inspiration behind it, the bidding war it caused, her love of all things bookish and more. Over the next few episodes Simon will be joined by Kate Forsyth and Kirsty Wark. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Emma Donoghue, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Kamila Shamsie, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Kamila Shamsie. Kamila, recently listed as one of Granta’s 20 Best Young British Writers after getting her citizenship, is the author of In The City By the Sea, Salt and Saffron, Kartography, Broken Verses, it was her fifth novel Burnt Shadows which was short listed for the former Orange Prize. A God In Every Stone is her new novel and, like its predecessor, takes us over several decades and deals with the bystanders of war as we follow Vivian Rose Spencer, young woman who dreams of being an archaeologist, and Qayyum Gul, a soldier fighting for the British Indian Army, from the start of World War I. It then takes us from Britain to Peshawar and The Street of Storytellers where fate lies in waiting and how a young boy called Najeeb links these two people together. Simon caught up with Kamila to discuss the novel, the history of Peshawar, researching the novel and the importance of stories and storytelling. Over the next few episodes Simon will be joined by Emma Healey, Kirsty Wark and Kate Forsyth. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Emma Donoghue, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome back, after a short break, to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Emma Jane Unsworth. Emma’s debut novel ‘Hungry, The Stars and Everything’ came out in 2011, was shortlisted for the Portico Prize and won a Betty Trask Award. Now she has returned with Animals, a book which Caitlin Moran says she wish she had written and describes as a Withnail with girls as we follow the lives of two young women and their friendship which often involves lashings of alcohol, sex and drugs. Simon caught up with Emma in a beer garden, to talk about the book, friendship and modern feminism. Simon started by asking her to tell me about the book for fear of ‘man-splaining’…   Over the next few episodes Simon will be joined by Emma Healey, Kirsty Wark and may even have a special episode on Fiction Uncovered. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Hannah Kent, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome back to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Kate Colquhoun. Kate is the author of several non-fiction works including Taste: The History of Britain Through Cooking and A Thing in Disguise: The Visionary Life of Joseph Paxton. It was Mr Briggs’ Hat, a non-fiction account of the murder of Thomas Briggs in July 1864 which reads like a page turning thriller, which drew people’s attention to Kate’s writing on mass. Now she is back with Did She Kill Him? A Victorian Tale of Deception, Adultery and Arsenic which looks at the case of the Maybrick Murder, which took place in Liverpool. Simon had the pleasure of catching up with Kate in an old Victorian prison in Liverpool to talk about the book and the case which had everyone talking in 1889. Over the next few episodes I will be joined by Emma Jane Unsworth, Emma Healey and Kirsty Wark. If you have any questions for them, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Hannah Kent, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome back to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Emma Donoghue. Emma is the author of five short story collections including the wonderfully titled The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits and most recently Astray, she is also the author of several other novels including The Sealed Letter, Slammerkin and Room. It was Room which lead Emma into almost every reading household with advance rave reviews of its writing and also because of its subject matter having been inspired by the Fritzel case. Now Emma is back with her new novel Frog Music a tale of a true unsolved crime of a cross dressing frog hunter in San Francisco in 1876, which Simon was lucky enough to discuss with her over a coffee. In two weeks Simon will be joined Kate Colquhoun to discuss her book Did She Kill Him?: A Victorian Tale of Deception, Adultery and Arsenic which is a look into the ‘The Maybrick Mystery’ where Florence Maybrick stood trial for the alleged arsenic poisoning of her much older husband, Liverpool cotton merchant James Maybrick in 1889. If you have any questions for Kate, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Hannah Kent, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome back to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Naomi Wood, whose dystopian debut novel The Godless Boys, was released to great acclaim in 2011. Now she is back with her second novel Mrs. Hemingway which tells of all the four wives (Hadley, Pauline, Martha and Mary) of the famous author Ernest Hemingway. Simon caught up with Naomi, who he had interviewed before and almost ended in a fig roll fight of sorts with, to discuss Ernest Hemingway, his wives, their lives, how much pressure it is to write a book featuring a literary hero and much more. He started off by asking what made her go from religious conflict in a dystopian 1980’s Newcastle to writing about four very real women and one very famous man… In two weeks Simon will be joined by Emma Donoghue to discuss her latest novel Frog Music, which will be taking us off to San Francisco in the summer of 1876 to witness a murder. And who knows, we may just discuss her multi-million selling novel Room too. If you have any questions for Emma, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Hannah Kent, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome back to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Natalie Haynes, a comedienne, classicist, journalist, reviewer and judge of the Orange Prize in 2012, the Man Booker in 2013 and currently judging the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. I’m not jealous at all. Somehow amongst all that she has managed to write her debut novel The Amber Fury. Anyone expecting a comedy or a farce after Natalie’s stand up days might be in for a shock as The Amber Fury is a gripping and often twisting psychological thriller centred around Alex, a woman running away from her past and the death of her fiancé, as she starts to teach a group of kids deemed difficult in The Unit, a place for kids no school will have. As she teaches them the classical tragedies little does she know there is a tragedy coming unravelling in front of her eyes. Simon had the pleasure of sipping water from huge wine glasses with Natalie at her publishers and started by asking her what she thought people might expect from a Natalie Haynes novel… In two weeks Simon will be joined by Naomi Wood to discuss Mrs Hemingway, a fictional account of the famous author’s wives. If you have any questions for Naomi, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Hannah Kent, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome back to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is one of his all-time favourite authors Armistead Maupin, who’s Tales of the City series have become cult classics much loved by many, many readers along with his other novels Maybe The Moon and The Night Listener. The Tales of the City series has seen the stories of Mrs Madrigal, Mary Ann Singleton, Michael ‘Mouse’ Tolliver and more for the last forty years yet is now set to come to an end with the latest The Days of Anna Madrigal.  Simon caught up with Armistead on his book tour to discuss the series, how he is feeling about its finale and what is next for him… In two weeks Simon will be joined by Natalie Haynes, who has previously judged the Orange Prize and last year’s Man Booker Prize and is now releasing her debut novel The Amber Fury, a dark tale of obsession and the classical plays. Two weeks after he will be joined by Naomi Wood to discuss Mrs Hemingway, a fictional account of the famous author’s wives.If you have any questions for them, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, John Boyne, Hannah Kent, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome back to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Anthony Marra whose debut novel A Constellation of Vital Phenomena completely blew him away when he read it last year. A very hard book to try and encapsulate in a blurb, it tells of several people living in Chechnya during the decades in which it has seen much conflict and devastation and yet few people know about. Simon spoke to Anthony about what it was about Chechnya and its history that attracted him to writing about it, the research he had to do when there are so few books about it, how he brought the research to life and more. He started by asking Anthony to try and encapsulate what A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is about as he was struggling to do it for the intro...  In two weeks time I will be joined by Armistead Maupin to talk about the Tales of the City series and its finale with The Days of Anna Madrigal. Joining me over the next few episodes will be Natalie Haynes, Emma Jane Unsworth and Emma Healey. If you have any questions for them, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, John Boyne, Hannah Kent, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.

Hello and welcome back to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Natalie Young whose second novel Season to Taste has certainly got people talking about it. With its subtitle of How To Eat Your Husband it is no surprise to discover that the heart of the novel is about a woman doing just that. Yes, one day Lizzie Prain comes home and kills her husband before deciding to eat him, yet this is a novel that has much more to it than meets the eye as a tale of an average woman who has ended up living and averagely unhappy life until she decides, initially subconsciously, that it must change. Simon chatted with Natalie about the book, the research she had to do in preparation, Doris Lessing, writing in books and much more. Be warned, it might get a little squeamish, but it’s worth it. In two weeks time Simon will be joined by Anthony Marra to discuss a Constellation of Vital Phenomena, a fascinating and heartbreaking tale of the conflict in Chechnya, and one of Simon’s books of 2013. Other forthcoming authors are Armistead Maupin, Natalie Haynes and Emma Healey. If you have any questions for them, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, John Boyne, Hannah Kent, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.