“I write from the perspective of the suffering character in this novel but also from his wife and his closest friend,” says Brian Platzer about his second novel, The Body Politic (Atria Books, 2020), which is partially based on his own experiences with a neurological disorder. In this video, Platzer explains the premise of the book and how writing it helped him in his personal life.

“One of the reasons why I wrote Deacon King Kong is because I wanted to show a world where people actually got along.” In this video, James McBride, whose novel Deacon King Kong (Riverhead Books, 2020) is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, talks about the inspiration for the novel and shows CBS This Morning host Jeff Glor around the Red Hook neighborhood in Brooklyn where he grew up.

“If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?” Hilary Mantel reads from The Mirror and the Light (Henry Holt, 2020), the final novel in her trilogy, which began with her Booker Prize–winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

“This book really is inspired by my grandfather, and a lot of it is actually true.” In this Politics and Prose video, Louise Erdrich talks about her most recent novel, The Night Watchman (Harper, 2020), which is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“It’s a confusing time to be a teenager in America.” In this Salon interview, Gabriel Bump speaks about the main character of his debut novel, Everywhere You Don’t Belong (Algonquin Books, 2020), an average, quiet teenager growing up in Chicago tackling the social issues around him. For more from Bump, read his installment of Ten Questions. 

Agatha Christie’s 1961 novel The Pale Horse has been adapted into a two-part television series written by Sarah Phelps and directed by Leonora Lonsdale. Starring Georgina Campbell, Kaya Scodelario, and Rufus Sewell, the story begins with the murder of a priest soon after hearing a woman’s deathbed confession, and leads to an old pub inhabited by a mysterious trio of women, rumored to be witches.

“I have an obligation to human beings, my characters, so that’s all I care about.” In this PEN International interview, Yiyun Li speaks about the expectation as a Chinese American writer to be a spokesperson for a particular experience, and how she enjoys exploring the interior struggles of her characters. Li won the 2020 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for her novel Where Reasons End (Random House, 2020).

“Bread pudding was the first thing that I baked after I came out to my parents,” says Bryan Washington in this New Yorker video about his personal connection to the dish. For more on Washington, read his installment of Ten Questions, where he speaks about his debut story collection, Lot (Riverhead Books, 2019).

“In the morning, the one who is mostly enlightened comes in.” At this Free Library of Philadelphia author event, Jenny Offill reads from her new novel, Weather (Knopf, 2020), and speaks about her writing process and love of libraries. Weather is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“The book mixes elements of their real life and how and why they came to create these worlds, but also mixes up my imaginings of what their world would have been like.” Isabel Greenberg talks about the process of writing and illustrating her graphic novel Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës (Abrams ComicArts, 2020), which incorporates stories written by Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne Brontë during their childhood about an imaginary world.