Editor's Choice - Books

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Writer and Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago returns to his native Portugal after a self-imposed exile with a new book and to fresh controversy. He's also just published his memoir in English, Small Memories.

An interview with Canada's acclaimed writer Alice Munro recorded specially for The Strand. This year she won the Man Booker International Prize and released a short story collection, Too Much Happiness. But has also withdrawn from the public eye and has now revealed that she's been fighting cancer.

John Irving discusses his latest novel, Last Night in Twisted River, which begins in 1954 in New Hampshire and ends with the recent 9/11 attacks in New York.

Novelist, poet and essay writer Herta Mueller is best known for books like The Appointment and 1994's The Land of Green Plums which depicts the harshness of life in Communist Romania under the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Tom is Dead is the latest book by French author Marie Darrieussecq and takes us into the mind of a mother dealing with the unthinkable - the death of her four year old son. The author talks to Mark Coles about why she wanted to write about grief.

Two years after the publication of the last Harry Potter book, the translators gather in Paris to discuss what was lost in translation. The Strand finds out what their greatest challenges were.

The Lost Symbol sold more than 1 million books after being on sale for one day in the United States, Canada and Britian. But what is all the fuss about? and how is Washington D.C coping with being the seat of the new conspiracy?

Musician Nick Cave has turned his hand to many different art forms in the past, from composing film-scores to painting. In 1989 he wrote his first novel and now, twenty years on, his second full-length fiction called The Death of Bunny Munro, has just been published. It tells the tale of a sex-obsessed travelling salesman whose wife commits suicide sending him on a path to self-destruction. Nick Cave discusses his character's journey.

Acclaimed Jamaican author Marlon James' gripping new novel is an unflinching portrayal of slavery in 18th century Caribbean. Described as 'beautifully written and devastating'... 'an undeniable success' by the New York Times, his work has drawn comparisons with Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and even Thackeray.

Legendary and reclusive American writer Thomas Pynchon is well known for his dense and complicated novels. For his new book Inherent Vice he is trying his hand at crime writing, with a part noir, part psychedelic romp set in 1970's California. John Freeman, Acting Editor of literary magazine Granta reviews Inherent Vice for the Strand.

Israeli literary star Etgar Keret discusses the extended afterlife of his novella Kneller's Happy Campers as his book is published in English for the first time.

Marina Lewychka's debut novel , A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian became an instant bestseller. Her third novel, We're all Made of Glue, again deals with themes of the immigrant experience and family life, but also tackles the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Bidisha talks to Chika Unigwe about her latest novel On Black Sisters' Street. Telling the hidden stories of four female prostitutes who have made their way from Africa to make money in Belgium.

The Ghanaian novelist Nii Ayikwei Parkes talks about his novel The Tail of the Blue Bird.

A new book Ulysses and Us by Declan Kiberd hopes to encourage people to read James Joyce's modernist masterpiece and not be put off by its academic image.

Pulitzer prize-winning poet Rita Dove discusses her latest book Sonata Mulattica. It tells the story of George Bridgetower, a violin virtuoso to whom Beethoven initially dedicated the "Kreutzer Sonata".

The Columbian writer Evelio Rosero has just won the prestigious Indendent Prixe for Foreign Fiction for the translation of his novel The Armies - a moving and unflinching portrayal of his country in conflict.

Prize-winning author Colm Toibin discusses his latest novel, Brooklyn, which deals with the subject of Irish emigration.

Palestinian painter and renowned art historian Kamal Boullata talks about his lavishly illustrated book, Palestinian Art: from 1850 to the Present.

Petina Gappah discusses her debut collection of stories - An Elegy for Easterly, which paint a vivid picture of life in her native Zimbabwe.

Malawian poet Jack Mapanje is in the process of writing his first play - The President's Tobacco - inspired by a man he met when imprisoned in Malawi in 1987.

150 years ago, amateur translator Edward Fitzgerald published a loose translation of some poems by the 11th century Persian poet Omar Khayyam. The Rubaiyat went on to become a publishing sensation - the best selling poetry book ever published.

Amit Chaudhuri talks to us about his new book The Immortals - the story of a dynasty of Indian musicians conflicted by their love of music versus the need to make money.

Iconic American actor Robert Wagner talks to The Strand about his new autobiography Pieces of My Heart.

Peter D.McDonald talks about The Literature Police: Apartheid Censorship and its Cultural Consequences.

Kamila Shamsie talks to Bidisha about her novel Burnt Shadows.

Israeli author Amos Oz on the publication of his book Rhyming Life and Death.

Chinese-American crime writer Tess Gerritsen talks about her novel Keeping the Dead.

Yiyun Li talks about her debut novel The Vagrants.

The acclaimed poet Peter Porter on a new collection called Better Than God.

Canadian writer Miriam Toews discusses her novel The Flying Troutsmans, a road novel with a twist.

South African writer Andre Brink on his memoir A Fork in the Road.

Following the death of the American writer John Updike we assess his contribution to 20th Century American literature.