Spoken

Meeting RT Kendall to chat with him about his book was a joy to say the least! He had lived in England for many years and had developed a terrific sense of humour as a result of it. I also found him to be a very humble man who practises what he preaches and writes in his many books. His current one is 'Forgiving Yourself Totally'. I very much hope that you'll enjoy his interview as much as I did meeting him.

Polly Evans is a wonderful quirky travelling explorer whose books make you want to learn the history of the country she is writing about. It doesn't matter whether she's riding on bikes in New Zealand or horses in South America her experiences are great fun to read and can have you laughing out loud. But on the historical side - did you know that Eva Peron's body had quite a journey through several countries before her final resting place in Spain!

Her books are full of fascintaing insights into the country she is travelling in and it's people. I highly recommend anyone of her four books.

Many times in 2007 I found myself back in the bowels of PanMacMillan Publishers to do an interview.This time it was to meet Diane Wei Liang to talk about her books 'The Eye of Jade' and 'Lake With No Name'. You could see in her eyes and demeanor that she still carried her profound experiences of Tiannaman Square. Her writing is deeply moving and in 'The Eye of Jade' very hopeful. I very much enjoyed my time with Diane and hearing her stories both fact and fiction.

Fan Wu is one of those very infectiously bubbly people who exudes such confidence that you wouldn't guess that she was brought up in one of the camps set up during the Cultural Revolution of the '60s. Here she talks indepth about her book 'February Flowers'.

Robert Ryan is a very visual writer and has a profound interest in WWII. Here he talks indept about his current book 'Dying Day' set in the world of espionage and spies. He has written several novels set in the war which I heartily recommend as very good reads.

On Thursday May 10th 2007 I went to my favourite haunt, Watersones' Piccadilly to chat with author Jilly Cooper about her book "Wicked". She is such a lovely, effervescent person with a terrific sense of humour! "Wicked" is about teaching in two different kinds of schools, everything that Jilly has written about in this book I could relate to as my daughter Thomasina was doing her PGCE in teaching and could confirm just about every character in the book was at her school! Enjoy!

On Thursday 24th October 2007 I chatted with a very rushed LC Tyler about his very humerous book "The Herring Sellers Apprentice". I didn't believe the press release that this novel could actually be funny - but it was! Enjoy!

On Tuesday October 29th I met with Irish author Cora Harrison to chat with about her first adult book "My Lady Judge". Cora used to be a school teacher and wrote childrens books and I have to say her first foray into adult section is a complete success. I very much enjoyed meeting her and look forward to the sequel in 2008.

Alison Weir is an author who knows how to make her subject matter fascinating, and who's knowledge on the history of the royal family going back several centuries, knows no bounds. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting her, and I wish I'd had Alison as my history teacher, I might have stayed with it instead of swanning of to geography! I had no idea who Katherine Swynford was, but as I learned about her I discovered all about John of Gaunt, Chaucer and many many other historical figures. Alison here talks very enthusiastically and persuasively.

On Tuesday 18th October 2007 I interviewed Miranda Glover at the top of Watersones Piccadilly, with it's magnificent views across London. She talked indepth about her research on twins, and has actually put some of it in her book "Soulmates", using one of her characters to bring it to life as a part of the story line. I very much enjoyed meeting Miranda and look forward to her next book.