Sandra Newman

Sandra Newman on why Amos Tutuola’s The Palm-Wine Drinkard is the best book of 1952.

Lucy Scholes

‘Unnatural is as fitting a term as any to describe the life Athill went on to lead, in that the choices she makes continually push against the conventions of her upbringing, class and gender. ’

Julian Baggini

Julian Baggini on why Philippa Foot’s Natural Goodness is the best book of 2001.

Caroline Crampton

Caroline Crampton on why Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers is the best book of 1937.

’Pemi Aguda

’Pemi Aguda on Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come, the best book of 2005.

Lauren Aimee Curtis

Lauren Aimee Curtis on why Transit by Anna Seghers is the best book of 1944.

Johanna Ekström

Johanna Ekström on memory and assault. Translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles.

Will Ashon  

Will Ashon on why I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett is the best book of 2009.

Esther Rutter

Esther Rutter on why A House with Four Rooms by Rumer Godden is the best book of 1989.

Jianan Qian

Jianan Qian on why Yu Hua’s To Live is the best book of 1993.

Beth Gardiner

Beth Gardiner on why volume one of Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson series is the best book of 1982.

Rob Doyle

Foraging for the infamous liberty cap mushroom in Dublin.

‘At the root of my interest in both drugs and art was the longing for an encounter with otherness.’

Davide Enia

Peter Stamm

Peter Stamm on the Swiss referendum to join the EU. Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann.