Writers Talk: Conversations with Contemporary British Novelists

<div><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Writers Talk </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">includes interviews with Kate Atkinson, Pat Barker, Jonathan </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Coe, Jim Crace, Toby Litt, Graham Swift, Matt Thorne, David Mitchell, Alan<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Warner, and Will Self.</span><br/><br/><span style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt">"Is it a good time to be a writer in the time of <i>The Da Vinci Code</i>? It's not necessarily good time to be a <i>literary </i>writer."—Kate Atkinson<o:p></o:p></span> </div><br/><p class=MsoNormal style="mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt">"The best novels allow us to rehearse the world ahead of us, to play out the battle before we fight it, to experience disaster before we encounter it, to practice grief before it flattens us. Narrative is useful. It confers advantages on us as a species." —Jim Crace<o:p></o:p></span></p><br/><p class=MsoNormal style="mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 27.5pt">W</span><span style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt">hy do writers write? How do they react to criticism of their work? What inspires them and how do go about working? Does fiction have any political, ethical or spiritual significance? Can we learn more about a book from its author? This collection of interviews with contemporary British novelists offers a fascinating insight into bestselling authors' views on fiction today; their influences and themes; readers and critics; why they</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt"> write and their </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">writing process; and provides a snapshot of the reality of living as a writer.</span></p>>