Hilary Mantel

The beloved writer of the Wolf Hall trilogy and Beyond Black has died. Here, leading contemporaries pay tribute

Ever since I can remember, the historical novels I've loved best were edgy and featured characters who were not only deeply flawed, but downright dubious. My favorite protagonists are accused murderers and power-hungry politicians, rogue detectives and charming gangsters. They're spies and collaborators.  Read more

Over the past year, Helen Gordon and I have been putting together Being a Writer, a collection of musings, tips and essays from some of our favourite authors about the business of writing, ranging from the time of Samuel Johnson and Grub Street, to the age of Silicon Roundabout and Lorrie Moore.  Read more

A few days after choosing Mary Renault as the subject of this month's Reading group, I was listening to a few podcast interviews of Penelope Lively talking about her novel Moon Tiger. In one, Lively briefly got on to the subject of historical fiction, and noted: "I used to think that it was a debased genre."  Read more