Interviews: October 2011

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.