Julian Barnes with Nihal Arthanayake

What are the best books get you out of a reading slump? How did Snakes on a Plane inspire a literary sensation? What did James Joyce and Pakistani rap teach one of our debut novelists? And does a writer need to be completely delusional to finish writing a novel? This week on Ask ...  Show more

How does artist Kae Tempest inspire Dawn French? Do editors always know best? What is the impact of grief on those we love most? And what really happened when Dawn French came face to face with a hippo while filming Harry Potter? In this episode of Ask Penguin, Rhianna Dhillon si ...  Show more

Nick Hornby is the author of many novels, including High Fidelity, About a Boy, Juliet, Naked and others, and now he has a new book Just Like You which I thoroughly enjoyed and is out in paperback. He is also the author of Fever Pitch, a book on his life as a devoted supporter of ...  Show more

Many readers today are familiar with the impact that Western countries have had on Africa, as told through the eyes of writers in both Africa and the West. But what about China and its growing influence in Africa? How have twentieth- and twenty-first-century African writers viewe ...  Show more

Nihal Arthanayake is a broadcaster and author. He is the host of Radio 5 Live’s Afternoon Show and won interviewer of the year at the 2019 BBC Radio and Music Awards. His new book, Let’s Talk: How To Have Better Conversations, investigates the art of good dialogue - a skill that ...  Show more

Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob or some secret third option?**

Marcelle asks this question only at the very end of the episode, and you know why? Because there is so much more to discuss when it comes to Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. And who better ...