
Make way for the good stuff
Susan Choi is the author of the novels The Foreign Student (1998), recipient of the Asian-American Literary Award; American Woman (2003), a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize; A Person of Interest (2008), a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award; and most recently My Education (2013). A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the...

Golden rules
In the 1980s Nina Stibbe wrote letters home to her sister in Leicester describing her trials and triumphs as a nanny in north London to the family of Mary-Kay Wilmers, now editor of the London Review of Books. There’s a cat nobody likes, a visiting dog called Ted Hughes, almost daily suppertime visits from Alan...

Only write
Alison MacLeod’s Unexploded, a compelling novel of love and prejudice in wartime Brighton, was longlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize. She is the author of two other novels and a story collection, and is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester. She considers her top tips for budding writers. 1. Write the...