Graham Swift, Writing from Beyond the Grave, and the US Books Invasion

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Graham Swift In his new novel Graham Swift, who won the Man Booker prize for Last Orders, has entered the mind of an anxious mother lying awake at night, worrying about breaking life-changing news to her twins the following day. He talks to Mariella about writing in the voice of a woman, about why he describes the eve of the drama rather than the drama itself and why he's proud to have created a happy family in this book. Writing from beyond the grave This month a new book from J R R Tolkien comes out, even though the Hobbit author died over thirty years ago. His son Christopher has created the Children of Hurin from his father's papers, but both Tolkien senior and junior appear on the cover. Earlier this year the career of Catherine Cookson was also extended when romantic novelist Rosie Goodwin wrote a sequel to her Tilly Trotter books. Rosie's editor, Flora Rees, talks to Mariella about why they decided to give Cookson a new lease of life. Reading Clinic Horatio Clare, author of Running For The Hills advises a farmer's wife who would like her husband to share her love of reading for recreation and is looking for some books that might persuade him. US Books invasion As several American novels are published on this side of the Atlantic Mariella talks to John Freeman, chairman of the US National Book Critics Circle, about the state of publishing and reading in the US.