Does he consider himself a Film writer or a novelist? "I'm just a storyteller really I don't really see the importance in the difference in the medium. I like books, I love them. "

There's been a bit of weather this week, you may have noticed. But while all those images of famous New York streets and landmarks, dark and awash with river water grabbed everyone's attention, it's worth pointing out that Hurricane Sandy is actually only one of three mega storms currently ravaging the planet.

I started the book pre-disposed to hate it, and read it through a haze of increasing envy and rage. It was very good, and she probably wasn't in the year above at all, but had just spent more of her time writing, and less watching ANTM.

A British writer has scooped the largest prize in the world for a novel published in English. Even the Dogs, by Jon McGregor, has been announced as...

So why do we need printed books? The printed book doesn't run out of power or rely on a mislaid charger... I don't need to hide a printed book under the towel on the beach nor, for that matter, does it mind too much if I get sand in the cover... and when I do climb up to the first base of Everest I don't need to worry about a signal.

It is 50 years since Doris Lessing's most famous novel, The Golden Notebook, was published. But I would argue that Lessing has written better books in the last 50 years, which have been overshadowed by the fame attached to The Golden Notebook and The Grass is Singing, her first novel.

Readers who could accept the wildest flights of fancy in a novel - heroes racing against time to avert international disaster and the like - would howl with fury if a character, say, boarded a Northern Line tube train at Green Park or fondly recalled the general election of 1998. Which is why research is as important for my Sam Bourne alter ego as it is in my Jonathan Freedland journalist day job.

Judging by the number of people visiting public art galleries - the figures are increasing year-on-year according to government stats - I reckon there must be an appetite for novels delving into the art business. I've compiled a list of 10 novels ranging from historical fiction and thrillers through to more philosophical writings.

"The Elizabethans lived in a time of transformative new technology. Social change. Religious fundamentalism. Foreign wars for scarce resources. An...

Novelist Ben Hatch is a firm believer that "anyone can write". His first novel The Lawnmower Celebrity was loosely based on his time working at McDonalds and his second book The International Gooseberry details the trials and tribulations of a hapless backpacker.

The first time I wrote historical fiction I had no idea what I was taking on. Even now, with one historical novel under my belt, and with a second on the way, I am filled with admiration for anyone who can craft a good period narrative. Of all the literary genres, historical fiction must be the toughest.

It's that time of year for looking back, so here are five of the books I most enjoyed reading in 2011. All of them received their first UK publication this year.

A bold novelist takes the big bite - life and death, the metaphors within, identity and symbolism. Lucy Caldwell grew up in Northern Ireland, a fertile ground for all of that. She was not tribal, yet not entirely free from the intersection of death, once the signpost to the province.

They say there's a book in everyone, and there's certainly no end to courses and guides that claim they can help us unleash our inner epic. But what i...