Even Matías Néspolo thought that Seven Ways to Kill a Cat might be untranslatable. It's so full of lunfardo, the rough slang of Buenos Aires, and so deeply rooted in the villas miserias, the shanty towns that surround the city. Ellen Hallsworth talks to Néspolo about new writing in Spanish, Moby Dick and the problem with happy endings.

Mara MacSeoinin talks to Andrea Eames, the author of the chilling The White Shadow, about her super-organised existence, writing in different voices and the conflict that forced her family to flee Zimbabwe.

So much has been written about London, from Dickens to Ackroyd to Monica Ali to Patrick Hamilton and on and on and more and more. Craig Taylor, the brilliantly funny author of A Million Tiny Plays About Britain has taken on the task of the definitive state of the nation (city). He has interviewed people from all walks of life, from economic migrants to middle-class poshos to refugees to tourists to artists, and everyone you can think of, in order to write Londoners, one of the most authentic books about London.

We spoke to Craig, a jetsetting Canadian, about coming to London, who writes the best London and his sporting motto.

The music biography is a stalwart of non-fiction books. Everyone wants to know the stories behind the songs, what inspired the musicians and where they came from. Colin Grant's I&I: The Natural Mystics is one such book, telling the story of the Wailers, of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer - placing their lives and music in a socio-political backdrop, exploring their relationships with each other and with Jamaica. All to the backdrop of sweet, sweet reggae music. We talked to Colin about writing the book, about music and about working on non-fiction projects.

Ellen Hallsworth talks to Mexican author Juan Pablo Villalobos about his novel, Down the Rabbit Hole, narrowly winning the Guardian First Book Award and his relationship with his translator.

One of the country's most cherished and lauded authors, Sarah Hall has recently released her debut collection of short stories, The Beautiful Indifference. Seven stories of female strength and sexuality, the collection is a powerful piece of work. We sat down with Sarah to talk about short stories, the advent of the digital and her own work.

Over a Skype call while Hurricane Irene waged outside, Nikesh Shukla spoke to Hari Kunzru and this is what they said to each other. He wrote Gods Without Men, a series of fragments, stories, tableaus of life in the Mojave desert, of the search for a connection, of the search for self, to fill the empty void, a series of interconnecting systems all vying for supremacy. It's a startlingly brilliant piece of work - one of the year's best.

Jon McGregor is one of the country's best authors. Having written some of the most remarkable books of the last ten years, including the sublime and dark Even the Dogs, and been twice runner-up to the BBC National Short Story Award, we thought it was about time we sat down with him for a chat. Then we discovered he has a short story collection out early next year. It was time, we decided, to talk short story.

Gavin James Bower's second novel, Made In Britain, couldn't be timelier. In the wake of the riots, everyone wants to get to the heart of just who exactly this feral underclass is, what these young people are thinking and what is their capacity for violence, love, consumerism and industry? Made In Britain addresses these issues with a prescient watchful eye that follows three very different but very trapped teenagers in an unnamed Northern town, where the only opportunities available are escape, auditioning for the X Factor or illegal activities.

Poet, rapper and now book-scribe, Scroobius Pip has led a versatile life since he, alongside co-hort dan le sac, blazed a trail with electro-spoken word track, Thou Shalt Always...

He has helped to raise awareness of live literature and performance poetry, bringing a spotlight to fellow poets Kate Tempest, Polarbear and Inua Ellams. Now, with a second album out and an illustrated book of poems released through Titan books, he has invigorated a generation's interest in spoken rhyming couplets. We talked to him about the book, his lyrical influences and who to look out for in the current stream of performance poets out there at the moment.