Interviews with a number of writers including Kate Atkinson, Pat Barker, Jonathan Coe, Jim Crace, Toby Litt, David Mitchell, Will Self, Graham Swift, Matt Thorne and Alan Warner. I own and have read several books by the first 3 and already meant to read some David Mitchell and Alan Warner when I started this.

The chapter for each writer includes the interview, some done face to face, some by email, some by a mixture of methods, then a critical summary of views of the writer, a bibliiography and some discussion questions.

It's accessible to the general reader but is clearly also set out as a textbook - the authors are academics and this may include a version of some of their teaching material.

I found most of the interviews quite interesting and in most cases wanted to read/reread the author's work. The critcal bits could be quite useful and I'm sure if I owned this book I'd use it for reference if I read anything by the writers concerned. Sadly it has to go back to the library.

At least one of the academics writes rather clunkily and awkwardly in places.

Definitely worth borrowing - this book is a little pricy for general readers. ( )