The Bookhugger Author Panel: Welcome to the real world

We asked four authors how they handle the use of real places and people in fictional stories, and what they think the benefits are for the reader of such familiar elements.

Sir John Lister Kaye on his definition of nature writing

Naturalist and conservationist Sir John Lister Kaye on what it means to him to be a nature writer.

An interview with Emily Mackie

Emily Mackie sits in the Bookhugger hot-seat to talk about her forthcoming debut novel, And This Is True, the book she wishes she had written and her cunning plan to avoid writing postmodern twaddle.

The Booklist: Love Hurts

It’s not all wine and roses… witty, cunning, despairing, or just in very bad taste, Bookhugger gives you an alternative choice to the planned perfumed perfection that was Valentine’s Day!

Irene Sabatini: The Book That…

What do writers read? Irene Sabatini, whose debut novel The Boy Next Door has just been published, tells us about the books that have made her laugh, cry, kept her awake at night, and more.

The Book Doctor is in the house

Bookhugger’s mystery medic is back to answer more of your cries for help – just what should you read next after you finish a book you have loved?

Steven Asma’s monster gallery

George Miller talks to Stephen Asma about On Monsters, his wide-ranging cultural and conceptual history of monsters, and we have an exclusive gallery of illustrations from the book too.

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Broken your New Year’s Resolution? Here’s how to get back on track….

In this Bookhugger exclusive, the authors of You Need This Book to Get What You Want, Mark Palmer and Scott Solder, help you get your New Year’s Resolutions back on course.

The Booklist – Christmas Cheer

Wave goodbye to boredom and sleep after this year’s Christmas dinner as Bookhugger’s publishers suggest several titles guaranteed to raise eyebrows, encourage debate and tickle out a laugh from even the most jaded.

Hilary Mantel reading from Wolf Hall

Enjoy this Bookhugger audio exclusive – Hilary Mantel reading from the Man Booker Prize 2009 winning Wolf Hall. Running time: 13 minutes.

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Michael Slater on Charles Dickens

In this Bookhugger exclusive, Michael Slater reads from his new biography of Charles Dickens, the first major life of the novelist to appear in nearly twenty years.

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Simon Tofield – one man and his cat

Simon Tofield is an award-winning illustrator, animator and director at Tandem Films in London. He is the creator of the Internet phenomenon Simon’s Cat, the highest-rated animations ever on YouTube. Fresh from his BBC Breakfast appearance, Simon took some time to answer a few questions just for Bookhugger.

The Booklist: I have seen the future, and it’s…

Is your glass half full, or half empty? Do you wear rose tinted spectacles, or do you consider life through a glass, darkly? We’re all of us on this planet going somewhere, but where, and how?

Come in to the Book Doctor’s surgery

The Book Doctor helps readers in distress to find the most important medicine of all: their next book. Come in, take a seat (don’t sit next to the woman with swine flu) and wait for your name to be called…

The Bookhugger Author Panel: Writing from life

We asked three very different authors about how their life experiences feed in to their writing – and about how that writing is subjected to commercial pressures. What wins – money or art?

The Bookhugger Author Panel: Popular science

We asked three notable authors of popular science books about their craft? How do you strike the balance between your intended purpose and the complexities of the subject matter?

The Booklist: After the War

The act of War has affected hundreds of millions of people in so many different ways over the centuries. These memories should never be allowed to be forgotten. Bookhugger’s publishers present some of the most haunting fiction and non-fiction you will ever read…

The Booklist: Out of Office

Sat at your desk dreaming of something different? A new life somewhere exotic? A job that’s not office-based drudgery? Take some inspiration from our publishers’ tales of new possibilities…

The Book Doctor is in

It’s that time of the month where the Book Doctor opens the clinic doors and proffers assistance to the benighted, befuddled and bemused in their search for new and exciting reading material.

The Bookhugger Author Panel: Historical fiction

Bookhugger asked three writers of historical novels to talk to us about the finding the balance between historical accuracy and telling a damn fine tale.

The Bookhugger Author Panel: Reportage

Bookhugger asked three top-notch non-fiction writers to tell us about the techniques they use to research, imagine and depict their subjects.

The Book Doctor at large

The Book Doctor – a National Help Service for those with problems of a bookish disposition (don’t forget that you too can ask the Book Doctor for help). Without further ado, here are this month’s victims, erm, patients…