Will Self, Dumas's Lost Masterpiece, and Philip Hensher on Naipaul

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Will Self Mariella talks to the novelist Will Self. His latest book, The Butt, is a dark satire set in an unnamed country ravaged by war and resembling a nightmare version of Australia. He explains this bleak vision, reveals why he's thrown away his laptop, and tells Mariella about the tontine, the only financial product which causes its investors to kill each other. Dumas's Lost Masterpiece Next month sees the publication of a previously unknown novel by Alexandre Dumas, the writer best known for The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. Mariella is joined by the book's UK editor, Robin Harvie, who explains how it was discovered in a French archive, and how it fits in with the rest of his swashbuckling output. Hensher on Naipaul This week's longlist for the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction includes Patrick French's The World Is What It Is, a revealing biography of the novelist and Nobel Laureate VS Naipaul. Mariella talks to one of Naipaul's most passionate fans, the novelist Philip Hensher, who picks some of his favourite works and explains why he admires them so much.