Conversations with Julian Barnes (co-edited with Vanessa Guignery) collects eighteen interviews, conducted over nearly three decades, by journalists and correspondents throughout the world with the author (b. 1946) of such highly praised novels as Flaubert's Parrot and Arthur & George. The interviews collectively address the entirety of Julian Barnes's varied works and provide readers the most vivid portrait yet of contexts and influences behind his ten novels, his short stories, and his essays. The interviews focus not only on the author's fiction but also on his essays, translations, and pseudonymous writings. Barnes's evolving understanding of the themes developed in his works (history, truth, love, art, and death), his views on the art of the writing process, and the role of authors in contemporary society are also discussed at length.

John Fuller and the Sycamore Press provides a fascinating glimpse into the acclaimed poet John Fuller's letterpress operation. Set up in 1968, Fuller's Sycamore Press published some of the most influential and critically acclaimed writers of the past half-century. Operating from a garage, the press published established authors, such as W. H. Auden, Philip Larkin and Peter Porter, as well as promoting young poets, including James Fenton and Alan Hollinghurst. The Sycamore Press ceased operations in 1992, but it remains an excellent example of the unique qualities associated with the small press movement in England.

In addition to a full descriptive bibliography, the book includes an evocative foreword by John Fuller, who wryly describes the trials and tribulations of 'garage' publishing. In a transcribed interview with the author, John Fuller explains why a pamphlet of poems took almost a year to produce as he experimented with letterpress technology. Personal reflections by Sycamore Press authors, such as Andrew Motion and Thom Gunn, illuminate the publishing process further and show what a powerful role John Fuller played in the lives of young poets lucky enough to be published by him.

Conversations with Ian McEwan collects sixteen interviews, conducted over three decades, with the British author of such highly praised novels as Enduring Love, Atonement, Saturday, and On Chesil Beach. McEwan (b. 1948) discusses his views on authorship, the writing process, and major themes found in his fiction, but he also expands upon his interests in music, film, global politics, the sciences, and the state of literature in contemporary society.

McEwan's candid and forthcoming discussions with notable contemporary writers—Martin Amis, Zadie Smith, Ian Hamilton, David Remnick, and Stephen Pinker—provide readers with the most in-depth portrait available of the author and his works.

Readers will find McEwan to be just as engaging, humorous, and intelligent as his writings suggest. The volume includes interviews from British, Spanish, French, and American sources, two interviews previously available only in audio format, and a new interview conducted with the book's editor.