Interviews: August 2011

Joshua Ferris, the powerhouse author of scathing office comedy Then We Came To An End, is currently on a visit to the UK to promote his new novel, The Unnamed, a brutal and brilliant psychological study of a man who has an undiagnosable condition to compulsively walk with no control of his legs or direction. Intriguing? Yes, it's a great book, one you should definitely read.

Debut novelist Evie Wyld was chuffed enough to be nominated for Booktrust's prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2009 for her book After the Fire, A Still Small Voice but to go on to win it? She was certainly surprised.

We caught up with Kate Clanchy a week after winning the BBC National Short Story Award 2009 and asked her about what she's going to spend her winnings on, her plans to quit poetry for prose (or not as the case may be) and how she came to write her award-winning story.

David Vann's new book is hard to describe. Not quite a novel, but not quite a collection of short stories either, Legend of a Suicide takes a pivotal moment in one family's life – the death of the father 'by his own hand' (as they used to say) – and reworks it over six chapters/stories. Facts and points of view are slippery things, though, and the reader can often feel strangely disoriented by Vann's book.

Sathnam Sanghera, the author of acclaimed memoir The Boy with the Topknot / If You Don’t Know Me By Now (depending on which edition you own), is also a journalist for the Times, working on a business and a lifestyle column.

Comedian Richard Herring, famed for... how long have you got? (Fist of Fun, This Morning with Richard Not Judy, Talking Cock, Hitler Moustache), is a funny man, referred to by many as the 'comedian's comedian.' Keeper of a hilarious daily diary of funny incidents (Warming Up), curator of the finest free podcasts iTunes has to offer (sketch-based As It Occurs to Me and talk-based Collings and Herrin) and writer of some of the finest stand-up in the country, he has written a new book, out next year called How Not to Grow Up mostly about turning forty and wondering whether it's time to grow up.

Salena Godden  is a shamanistic tour de force, a charismatic, funny and poignant performer, an evocative and emotive writer [would you believe, editing this interview moved me to tears?] and someone who aligns themselves with the best literary talent in the country, providing them a stage to perform and a free space for audiences to engage with them at Monday night's Soho dive bar Book Club Boutique.

Forget Stephen Fry, Charlie Dark is one of the UK's national treasures. A writer, musician, DJ, poet and pioneer of legendary club night Blacktronica, his theatrical stagecraft and vocal gymnastics have lit up stages from the US to Germany and all over the UK.

Patrick Neate is the acclaimed author of novels like Jerusalem and Twelve Bar Blues, and the co-creator of superlative literary monthly shindig, Book Slam, which recently heralded such luminaries as David Simon (creator of The Wire), up and coming female rapper Speech Debelle and superior spoken word auteur Charlie Dark.

Stand-up poet, writer, musician, presenter of Channel 4's 2005 series How to Get a Book Deal, Tim Clare has been casting his literary canon far and wide, writing for the Guardian, appearing on Radio 1 and 2, and being a resident at legendary literary cabaret night, Homework. His first book, We Can't All Be Astronauts (Ebury Press), is a memoir about chasing your dreams only to find out your friends have made off with them.