News

On the story of Asia – Tash Aw on writing We, The Survivors

‘This is the story of Asia over the last forty years.’ We, The Survivors, is the story of Lee Hock Lye – known to friends and family as Ah Hock – a young man born in a Malaysian fishing village and now trying to make his way in… Read More

On Grief – Catherine Simpson on writing When I Had a Little Sister

‘Grief, bereavement, physical and mental illnesses had been taboo subjects in our farming family.’ When my little sister Tricia died by suicide four years ago a friend said: ‘Maybe you’ll write about this one day.’ I shook my head; it was unimaginable. This loss was too stunning, too… Read More

On Plants – the boys from BOSH! on their new cookbook BISH BASH BOSH!

‘It’s our mission to show you just how deliciously wonderful eating plants can be. That’s why we exist. It’s what we do.’ We are massive food lovers, and we made the decision to adopt a fully plant-based diet in 2015. Since then we’ve made it… Read More

The story of returning to Cornwall – Fern Britton on ‘Coming Home’

When the only place you want to be is home… I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love Cornwall. I was taken down on families holidays as a baby, and I must have been about 2 when I understood that this amazing place was called Cornwall, and that… Read More

A Love Letter to EJ Morten Booksellers by Caroline England

I love to support independent shops. Like Morten’s they’re personal and part of our community. I’m lucky enough to leave my front door and stroll through Didsbury Village to my local bookshop, EJ Morten Booksellers, known to us all as Morten’s. An essential part of the Didsbury community, the… Read More

How working on an Eritrean asylum appeal inspired Ellen Wiles’ new novel

With daily headlines about Brexit underpinned by immigration fears, and a refugee crisis that shows no signs of abating, The Invisible Crowd couldn’t be more current. Believe it or not, I didn’t set out to write a topical novel. But with daily headlines about Brexit underpinned by immigration fears,… Read More

Read exclusive extracts of our Costa Book Award winners!

Reservoir 13 Jon McGregor Midwinter in the early years of this century. A teenage girl on holiday has gone missing in the hills at the heart of England. The villagers are called up to join the search, fanning out across the moors as the… Read More

‘I stole the idea for She’s Not There’ – Author Tamsin Grey on writing her new novel

I became a writer shortly after I learned to read. I stole the idea for She’s Not There. It was back in 2012, at a Sunday lunch, and my host, already a published author, announced she’d finally given up on the novel she’d been wrestling with for months. Read More

On Women – Leni Zumas on writing the powerful ‘Red Clocks’

Publishing on International Women’s Day, Red Clocks is Leni Zumas’ searing portrayal of a dystopia that’s a little too close to home In the United States, where I live, the Trump government wants to make abortion illegal again. Many conservative politicians support a so-called Personhood Amendment, which would bestow… Read More

On Mental Illness – Kate Medina on writing writing her new novel Two Little Girls

A physical ailment can be seen, felt, touched and healed far more easily. By its very nature, a mental illness is intangible Many years ago, aged eighteen, when I had to decide which subject to study for my degree, I chose Psychology because I have always been fascinated by the… Read More

On Wuthering Heights – Michael Stewart on being inspired by Kate Bush

Now, 200 years after the birth of Emily Brontë, forty years after that cassette tape, it feels fitting to be publishing this book In January 1978 Kate Bush released her debut single, Wuthering Heights. It quickly rose to number one and stayed there for four weeks. I’d just… Read More

HarperCollins is proud to announce Fire and Blood from George R.R. Martin

Set 300 years before the events in A Song of Ice and Fire, Fire and Blood is the definitive history of the Targaryens in Westeros as told by Archmaester Gyldayn, and chronicles the conquest that united the Seven Kingdoms under Targaryen rule through to the Dance of the Dragons: the… Read More

On Language – Christina Dalcher on Writing VOX

I wanted to ask ‘What if we lost the faculty that singularly makes us human?’ I’ve had a forty-five-year love affair with language, and I’m talking about language with a capital L: that amazing faculty common to all humans in all places. Our ability to acquire language from… Read More

Cynthia Sweeney on how writing ‘The Nest’ helped create compassion for her younger self

You have to write the pages you hate before you get to the pages you love. I wasn’t particularly surprised that much of the publicity surrounding my first book focused almost as much on me, the author, as it did on my book. Most debut novelists aren’t fifty-something, and… Read More

The Indie-Dependent Woman – Author Angela Clarke On Why She Would Put a Ring On An Indie Bookshop

We all know books are magical. I don’t live in Sevenoaks, I don’t even live in Kent, and yet I find myself constantly drawn to Sevenoaks Bookshop. A good bookshop will do that to you. Full disclosure, I know Fleur who works there, and first visited when, newly hired… Read More