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Bestselling novelist and President of the Royal Society of Literature Elif Shafak discusses literature, storytelling and the writing life.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Elif reflects on the books that have guided her through difficult times, growing up between cultures, writing in both English and Turkish, and why stories can cross borders more easily than people can.

She discusses her acclaimed novel There Are Rivers in the Sky, the experience of being put on trial following The Bastard of Istanbul, and the challenge of inhabiting voices as varied as sex workers, archaeologists and even a fig tree.

Elif also opens up about her unusual writing process, why she writes amid a "hullabaloo" of noise, her thoughts on artificial intelligence and literature, and her forthcoming novel, In One Brief Moment All Eternity, which she describes as "the novel I always wanted to write."

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Women's Prize-winning author and palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke joins Tom's Book Club to discuss The Story of a Heart, the book that won the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction.

Following the announcement of this year's Women's Prize winners, we're revisiting this conversation with Rachel about the extraordinary true story of Keira, a young girl whose donated heart saved another child's life.

Rachel discusses how she first discovered the story, the families at its centre, and the remarkable history of heart transplantation. She also reflects on balancing medicine with storytelling, the emotional challenges of writing about grief and hope, and the response the book has received from readers.

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In the first episode of Behind The Books, a new series exploring the people and professions that shape the literary world, Tom is joined by independent bookseller Katie Clapham.

Katie is the co-owner of Storytellers Inc. and the author of Receipts from the Bookshop, a diary of a year spent running a bookshop on the Lancashire coast.

Released to coincide with Independent Bookshop Week, this conversation explores the realities of bookselling: choosing what to stock, recommending books to customers, the economics of running an independent bookshop, and why bookshops remain such important parts of their communities.

Whether you're a book lover, aspiring bookseller, or simply curious about what goes on behind the scenes of the book world, this episode offers a fascinating insight into life in an independent bookshop.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Andrew Sean Greer discusses his new novel, Villa Coco.

Set in the Tuscan countryside, the novel follows a young American who finds himself working for an eccentric ninety-year-old Baronessa and drawn into a world of friendship, mystery and unexpected adventure.

Andrew talks about the real-life experiences that inspired the book, writing comedy, creating memorable characters, balancing charm with emotional depth, and why he wanted to write a novel that brings readers joy. He also reflects on the influence of Graham Greene, whether there could be another Arthur Less novel, and what it was like to win the Pulitzer Prize for Less.

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In this episode of Tom’s Book Club, Maggie O’Farrell discusses her new novel Land, a haunting historical novel set in post-Famine Ireland about memory, buried histories, family and survival.

Maggie talks about the delayed train journey that first sparked the idea for the book, the real family history that informed the story, researching cartography and the Ordnance Survey, and writing a novel shaped by folklore, ghosts and the lingering scars of the Great Hunger.

Plus, Maggie reflects on the extraordinary journey of Hamnet from bestselling novel to Oscar-nominated film adaptation, including her experience co-writing the screenplay and attending the Academy Awards.

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In this episode of Tom’s Book Club, Alexander Starritt discusses his novel Drayton and Mackenzie, an ambitious and deeply human story about friendship, ambition, and the desire to leave a mark on the world.

The novel follows James Drayton and Roland Mackenzie, two former university acquaintances whose very different paths through adulthood become unexpectedly entwined. Set against the backdrop of the financial crash and the rise of the modern tech world, the book charts decades of friendship, reinvention, and uneasy success.

In this conversation, Alexander Starritt talks about the real-world backdrop, capturing the mindset of tech entrepreneurs and founders and exploring modern male friendship.

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In this episode of Tom’s Book Club, Eric Puchner discusses his novel Dream State, an expansive story about love, friendship, and the decisions that shape a lifetime.

The novel begins in Montana, where Cece arrives at her future in-laws’ lake house to prepare for her wedding to Charlie. But when Charlie’s oldest friend Garrett enters the picture, a single summer sets three lives on an entirely different course with consequences that ripple across fifty years and multiple generations.

In this conversation, Eric Puchner talks about writing characters across decades, the challenges of writing about climate change and the real-life experiences that informed the novel.

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