Charlotte Grimshaw once described her last novel, Foreign City, as a kind of "layer cake" of fiction, reality and fictionalised reality.

Writer Lionel Shriver tells Stephen Jewell how a friend's illness inspired her to take on the injustices of the healthcare system.

Australian author Tom Keneally talks to Graham Reid about how criminals and the rich were thrown together when the country was founded.

Dark takes his cue from mysterious electronic producers like Burial, whose identity was a closely guarded secret until he was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize.

Travel writer and historian William Dalrymple talks to Canvas books editor Linda Herrick about tantric rituals, animal sacrifices and the swirling politics of the Indo-Pakistani region.

After making a name for himself in the children's book market as an action writer with the Young Bond series, Charlie Higson has moved on to futuristic horror. He talks to Stephen Jewell about the undead.

Mass murderers, mothers who hate their children, and now cancer ... is there a difficult topic Lionel Shriver won't tackle? Nigel Farndale finds out.