Michael Foot (1913-2010)

Faber Finds Editor John Seaton on the giant of the British Left, who died last week at the age of 96.

Alexander Maitland on Speke and the Discovery of the Source of the Nile

John Hanning Speke was among the greatest British explorers of the Victorian era, whose greatest achievement was the discovery of the source of the White Nile – the holy grail of Victorian exploration. Following expeditions with Sir Richard Burton, Speke died in mysterious circumstances, at the age of 37.

Watch the trailer for Willy Vlautin’s Lean On Pete

From the acclaimed author ofThe Motel Life and Northline and frontman for the band Richmond Fontaine, comes a hugely moving slice of Americana.

An interview with Nicola Upson

George Miller talks to Nicola Upson about her second book, which features the Cornish landscape and its people, the very real ‘golden age’ crime writer Josephine Tey, and the theatre world of 1930s Britain

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Ben Wilson and Andy Beckett discuss liberty in the 1970s

Historian Ben Wilson, author of What Price Liberty? discusses civil liberties in the 1970s with journalist Andy Beckett, author of When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the 70s.

Paul Binding on My Cousin the Writer

‘Hoorah! A dazzling new novel has appeared featuring a subject hitherto unknown to quality fiction, radio soap opera’, began the review in the Spectator before calling it a ‘masterpiece’. For the Independent, ‘this tale of a radio soap makes post-war Britain sparkle’.

The Children’s Invasion Book

In this second short film featuring Faber archivist Robert Brown, he introduces us to another of Faber’s wartime publications – The Children’s Invasion Book. Published in 1944, this book wasn’t a guide to help British children prepare for the possibility of a German invasion of the UK, but a display of the Allied military hardware which was about to be unleashed on D-Day…

Sam Taylor talks about The Island at the End of the World

George Miller talks to Sam Taylor about his post-apocalyptic vision, The Island at the End of the World, and the three very different narrators that it features.

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Peter Carey Q&A

Peter Carey discusses Parrot and Olivier in America, the dazzling, complex and highly enjoyable eleventh novel from the twice-winner of the Booker Prize.

Independent Thinking, from Foyles and Faber

‘Independent Thinking’ is a programme of events in which experts from a range of fields present new ideas and perspectives on the subjects close to their heart. Each month one author will outline their take on a subject in a short manifesto which will be followed up at the end of the month with a thought-provoking talk or debate.

Tobias Hill on The Hidden

You’re ours, Ben. Now you are. Now you’re one of us.

Acclaimed author Tobias Hill discusses his extraordinary novel of ancient secrets, modern conflict and what it costs to belong.

David Peace on Occupied City

George Miller talks to David Peace about the background to and writing of his latest novel, the second in his Tokyo Trilogy, Occupied City, and we have clips of David Peace reading from the novel too.

Andy Beckett on the 1970s

Andy Beckett’s new book When the Lights Went Out takes a fresh look at the 1970s, a much-maligned decade. Was it really so bad? The author, who writes for the Guardian, reveals more in conversation with George Miller.

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Best of the Web: Inspector Pekkala

It is the time of the Great Terror. Inspector Pekkala – known as the Emerald Eye – was once the most famous detective in all Russia, the favourite of the Tsar. Now he is the prisoner of the men he once hunted.

Tobias Jones on The Salati Case

Tobias Jones introduces his first novel, set in the foggy northern city of Parma in winter time, and his detective Castagnetti, and suggests why Italy is hard to beat as a setting for crime fiction.

Science writer Marcus Chown on extraterrestrial life: “Where is everybody?”

Science writer Marcus Chown responds to the question first posed by Enrico Fermi – the Italian physicist who developed the first nuclear reactor – about the apparent absence of extraterrestrial life: “Where is everybody?”

Richard Williams discusses The Animator’s Survival Kit

The legendary Richard Williams, award-winning animator of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, talks about the new expanded edition of his worldwide bestseller, The Animator’s Survival Kit.

Graham Farmelo on The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius

Graham Farmelo talks about The Strangest Man, his biography of Paul Dirac, the greatest British physicist since Newton – and one of the strangest geniuses of the 20th century, who may have suffered from autism.

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Andrew Roberts on If Hitler Comes

A classic of ‘imaginary history’, If Hitler Comes was first published only 2 months after the Fall of France, whilst the Battle of Britain was being fought. Now republished for the first time in 68 years and, in the view of historian Andrew Roberts it deserves its place at the head of what has become an emerging literary genre.

Manju Kapur on The Immigrant

Manju Kapur talks to Faber about her latest novel, The Immigrant, an engrossing portrait of an arranged marriage.

The Panorama of Human Experience, by Juliet Gardiner

Historian Juliet Gardiner explains the huge importance of the eclectic works of Mass Observation to her research and writing.

Israel Rank Reviewed, by Simon Heffer

Simon Heffer celebrates the re-issue of Israel Rank, the novel on which the film ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ was based, by Faber Finds.