Books and Beyond

Phil Wang, Sara Pascoe, Tom Allen and Sophie Ellis-Bextor share their favourite books.

Simon Schama explores the artists who created the secular icons of our democratic world.

John le Carre talks about his writing and the main influences on his work. (1966)

Alex Clark talks to the queen of crime Val McDermid.

With toxic masculinity in the spotlight daily, writers discuss what it is to ‘be a man’.

Emma Berthoud offers bibliotherapy to Greg Davies, with the help of writer Molly Flatt.

A revealing profile of the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.

JK Rowling reveals the real-life counterparts to her fantastical world.

Delving into the life of Hilary Mantel.

Drama about the life of poet Sylvia Plath and her marriage to fellow poet Ted Hughes.

Lucy Worsley traces the houses Jane Austen lived in to show how they influenced her work.

Tony Jordan brings his writer's insight to Charles Dickens's Great Expectations.

Emma Vardy introduces a light-hearted celebration of books and reading.

Maya Angelou gives a frank account of her journey to becoming an author.

Dominic Sandbrook explores science fiction's most alluring theme - time travel.

Author Patricia Cornwell is convinced she knows Jack the Ripper's true identity. (2002)

A look at some of the local Mills & Boon authors enjoying huge international success.

A journey through a poet’s life, in celebration of the late Derek Mahon.

An exploration of the life and poetry of Medbh McGuckian.

An intimate insight into the real and imaginary worlds of author Ursula K Le Guin.

Writer Ian Rankin looks into Stevenson's novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Hard-boiled gumshoe Charlie sets out on a ripping adventure.

Robert Symes investigates the background to Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. (1986)

Philip Pullman explores Oxford, where he was a student in the 1960s. (2001)