If you were to write a story set in Bombay, as the poet Jeet Thayil prefers to call the city now known as Mumbai in his outstanding debut novel, you don't have to work too hard.

Tumbling tresses, midnight-pool eyes, alabaster brow. None of these features in the debut novelist's publicity photo should be held against her.

Those who are nervous about speaking in public usually have the perfect way out. They simply don't do it.

Bronwyn Sell likes to give her books away, and usually it's not a hard sell. But any mention of a New Zealand author sparks a doubt in her friends.

Santa chose the perfect present for a penguin fan like me when he put Planet Penguin in my stocking at Christmas.

Ayad Akhtar's debut novel American Dervish concerns seldom-explored territory in American literature: What does it mean to be both Muslim and American? Here's our chat with Akhtar.

The person who is not religious reading this former believer's journey to a lack of faith can be tempted to ask: "What took you so long?"

One of the world's wealthiest women, J.K Rowling, has given so much money to charity she can no longer claim billionaire status.

It would be hard to imagine a more downbeat heroine for an historical novel than Minnie Dean.

The memoir can be a difficult genre to deal with, for author and reader alike.

There are some 500 items in this fascinating selection of Frank Sargeson’s letters — a number that nevertheless represents only about a quarter of the more than 6000 which survive.

UK best-selling author Sophie Hannah welcomes you into the inner sanctum of her world as a book worm.

A year in Italy inspires a book, but it's not all praise, notes Nicky Pellegrino.

Precious Ramotswe faces one of her nastiest adversaries yet in Alexander McCall Smith's latest No 1 Ladies Detective Agency novel. The Scottish writer talks to Linda Herrick