LibraryThing is pleased to sit down this month with award-winning African Australian author Eugen Bacon, whose Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction just won an Ignyte Award, and who won the 2025 Nebula Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award—given by the SFWA to an author who has made “significant contributions to the science fiction, fantasy, and related genres community”—earlier this year. Born in Tanzania, Eugen earned a Master of Science with distinction in distributed computer systems from the University of Greenwich, UK, and a Master of Arts and a doctorate in writing from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Before becoming a professional writer full-time, she worked in the information and communication technology field and continued to do so, juggling a day job with motherhood, professional editing and numerous writing projects.

Eugen has published numerous short stories and novels in various speculative fiction genres, and is particularly known for her Afrofuturism and exploration of gender. She was twice a finalist for the World Fantasy Award, Shirley Jackson Award, Aurealis Award, and in 2023 she won a British Fantasy Award in the Non-Fiction category for her An Earnest Blackness. The latter was also a finalist for a 2023 Locus Award, which she won this year in the Non-Fiction category for her Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction. She has won or been nominated for numerous other awards, and also has served as a judge for various Australian book prizes, as well as for global awards, including chairing various jury categories of the Bram Stoker Awards. She is currently the chair of the jury for the Otherwise Awards that encourage the exploration and expansion of gender. This past September a new novelette, Novic, a standalone prequel to Claiming T-Mo, the debut title in her Outbreeds series, was published by Meerkat Press. Also in September, The Nga’phandileh Whisperer, a novella in The Sauútiverse, was published by Star and Saberse Publishing. Eugen sat down with Abigail this month to discuss these stories, and her work in general.

Your fictional work is often described as Afrofuturist. You have explored this genre in your scholarly work as well, in titles like Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction. What is Afrofuturism, what does it entail, and what is its significance, both to you personally, and in a wider, global sense?

Actually, Abigail, my work is more than Afrofuturist. I like to think of it as Afrosurreal, or Afro-irreal—fantastical literature that demands the reader to trust and find immersion in the story’s impossibility. The irreal story stays unpredictable and believable in all its unbelievability. The reader finds immersion in the illusion, entranced in the satire or symbolism, cementing even while challenging realism. I use this type of fiction as an allegory for somber themes of belonging, social in/justice, climate action, “Othering”… in the real world. I hero Black people stories, giving voice in sometimes dystopian futurisms, to the woman in the village, the little orphan girl, little lost boy in the village—people who have seen much, suffered much, and need to find the hero/ine within.

In terms of Afrofuturism itself, there’s much discord about this term. It is for me, simply, Afrocentric representation in a kind of fiction that engages with difference. Afrofuturism is to reimagine Africa in all its diversity, to expand and extrapolate it through literature, music, the visual arts, religion, even philosophy. It is that which haunts imagination and transmutes itself into a craving for revolution.

What is the Sauútiverse, and The Sauúti Collective? How did it first get going, who’s involved, and what are its purpose and goals?

I am part of an Afrocentric collection of writers from across Africa—Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, and the diaspora (Haitian American)… We came together in 2021 with a vision of Afrocentric-based collaboration, support and creativity. Together, we have invented a world deeply rooted in African culture, language and mythology. We’re like-minded creatives who came together for a shared cause in giving voice and space for Afrocentric literature. The Sauútiverse comprises five planets, two suns, two moons and is enmeshed with sound magic. The name of each planet, Ekwukwe, Órino-Rin, Zezépfeni, Wiimb-ó and Mahwé is derived from an African word meaning song. There is also an inhabited moon, Pinaa. You can find out more about the Sauútiverse in our FAQs.

There’s much potential in this Afrocentric universe, and we have a new anthology coming out, Sauúti Terrors, published by Flame Tree Publishing and distributed by Simon and Schuster. I co-edited this anthology with Cheryl S. Ntumy and Stephen Embleton, out in January 2026.

Tell us a little bit about The Nga’phandileh Whisperer specifically. Where does this story fit into the wider universe in which you have set it? Do readers need to be familiar with that universe beforehand, to fully appreciate the story?

Readers can approach The Nga’phandileh Whisperer blind without being familiar with the Sauútiverse. Each Sauútiverse story out there is standalone, self-sufficient and boasting a richness in unique and robust worldbuilding. I’ve written several short stories in this world, the first one “Sina, the Child with no Echo”, published in our first anthology, Mothersound: A Sauútiverse Anthology. “Sina” is set in Ekwukwe, the hollow planet, where having a magical echo is important. Sina’s neurodivergence is perceived a curse but turns out to be a gift. Another playful tale is “The Mystery of the Vanishing Echoes”, published in Sherlock is a Girl’s Name. In this multiverse story, sleuth Shaalok Ho-ohmsi and her ward Wa’watison are summoned to the planet Ekwukwe to solve a mystery of vanishing echoes.

I wanted to write a longer Sauútiverse story with a strong female protagonist, and found this in Chant’L—a young Guardian with an affinity to hive-minded beasts, unaware that she has more magic than she knows how to use. Hence The Nga’phandileh Whisperer.

The novella is a second-person ‘you’ narrative, addressing the protagonist. I am at home with this voice, a personal connection with the protagonist, seeing as they see, feeling as they feel, yet omniscient—knowing just a little more outside them.

Novic is the origin story for one of the characters in Claiming T-Mo. What is the Outbreeds series all about, and why was it important for you to go back and write a prequel to explain this specific character’s beginnings?

The Outbreeds series by Meerkat Press is about a breed of others. It engages with difference, tackling the unbelonging individual’s experience—even today in our polarized world, and especially in the current US environment, for being different. Novic is the father who broke tradition in my first novel Claiming T-Mo, with devastating consequences. I thought about why did he do that? What makes this immortal priest who and what he is? What makes him tick? Hence Novic, the story before the story. It’s a moment in time in Grovea, the made-up planet. I wanted to reconnect with Claiming T-Mo, to revive the versatility of a character’s light and shade. I scrutinized Novic’s story arc—a wandering anti-hero seeking to comprehend his incarnations, and had fun with this novelette that demystifies death.

You’re a very prolific author. Can you describe your writing process? Do you devote a certain amount of time daily to writing, do you write in a specific place, or have certain rituals? How do you plan your stories—do they unfold as you go along, or do you outline them?

I’m a very experimental writer! I write to explore. My writing is a curiosity, a response to a trigger or an incipient question troubling my mind. I write to find an answer, or a better question. I’m a very immersive writer and an immersive reader. I need to feel the story. All my stories, irrespective of genre, explore a character’s relationship with others, with themselves, and with the world around them. I feel their yearning and my quest begins.

Because my life is very busy, I’ve taught myself to write in the moment. I call it Sudden: writing on the go. Chunking in bits and pieces, scraps and notes to self, spurting in bite size. I jot down points that are little triggers, simple word or phrase prompts—mini scenes that don’t have to be perfect. Later, when I have time, I have all the minis to develop into robust scenes.

What’s next for you? Will you be writing more stories set in Sauútiverse, or more entries in the Outbreeds series? Do you have other forthcoming titles and projects?

In 2026, I have a Sauútiverse novel, Crimson in Quietus, an Afrocentric novel by Meerkat Press, Muntu, a novella by Bad Hand Books (you can pre-order it already, comes with a signed bookplate!), and a collection of short stories, Black Dingo, by Flame Tree and distributed by Simon and Schuster. In 2027, I have another collection of short stories, The Rawness of You, half of which comprises Sauútiverse stories—this is also by Meerkat Press. Let’s just say I am very prolific. Find my works on my website: eugenbacon.com.

Gosh, I newly joined TikTok—it’s scary as hell. What a minefield! Find me @EugenBacon. Also @genni.bsky.social.

Tell us about your library. What’s on your own shelves?

Toni Morrison’s Sula, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, The Bluest Eye, Beloved… um… everything. Michael Ondaatje’s Divisadero, love it to bits. Peter Temple’s Truth, The Broken Shore—an Aussie literary crime writer who writes the best dialogue I’ve ever read. Octavia E. Butler, Anthony Doerr, Chinua Achebe, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Ray Bradbury, N.K. Jemisin, Eugen Bacon, Eugen Bacon, Eugen Bacon…

What have you been reading lately, and what would you recommend to other readers?

I’m currently reading books as a juror (chair) for the Otherwise Awards 2025. Can’t reveal my favourites yet!

But this year, I’d recommend other readers to check out Kathe Koja’s Dark Factory and Dark Matter, and Tavia Nyong’o’s Black Apocalypse: Afrofuturism at the End of the World—it’s a nonfiction that embraces differentiation and survivalist self-invention in the speculative estrangement that Afrofuturism affords in an apocalyptic era.

LibraryThing is pleased to sit down this month with British mystery novelist S.J. Bennett, whose Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series, casting Queen Elizabeth II as a secret detective, has sold more than half a million copies worldwide, across more than twenty countries. Educated at London University and Cambridge University, where she earned a PhD in Italian Literature, she has worked as a lobbyist and management consultant, as well as a creative writing instructor. As Sophia Bennet she made her authorial debut with the young adult novel Threads, which won the Times Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition in 2009, going on to publish a number of other young adult and romance novels under that name. In 2017 her Love Song was named Romantic Novel of the Year by the RNA (Romantic Novelists’ Association). She made her debut as S.J. Bennett in 2020 with The Windsor Knot, the first of five books in the Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series. The fifth and final title thus far, The Queen Who Came In From the Cold is due out next month from Crooked Lane Books. Bennett sat down with Abigail this month to discuss the book.

The Queen Who Came In From the Cold is the latest entry in your series depicting Queen Elizabeth II’s secret life as a detective. How did the idea for the series first come to you? What is it about the Queen that made you think of her as a likely sleuth?

The Queen was alive and well when I first had the idea to incorporate her into fiction. She was someone who fascinated people around the world, and she was getting a lot of attention because of The Crown.

I was looking for inspiration for a new series, and I suddenly thought that she would fit well into the mold of a classic Golden Age detective, because she lived in a very specific, self-contained world and she had a strong sense of public service, which I wanted to explore. Her family didn’t always live up to it, but she tried! What’s great for a novelist is that everyone thinks they know her, but she didn’t give interviews, so it leaves a lot of room to imagine what she was really thinking and doing behind the scenes.

I often get asked if I was worried about including her as a real figure, and I was a bit, to start with. But then I realized that she has inspired a long line of novelists and playwrights – from Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader, and A Question of Attribution, to Peter Morgan’s The Queen, The Crown and The Audience, Sue Townsend’s The Queen and I. I think they were also attracted by that combination of familiarity and mystery, along with the extraordinary life she led, in which she encountered most of the great figures of the twentieth century.

My own books are about how a very human public figure, with heavy expectations on her, juggles her job, her beliefs, her interests and her natural quest for justice. The twist is, she can’t be seen to do it, so she has to get someone else to take the credit for her Miss Marple-like genius.

Unlike many other detectives, yours is based on a real-life person. Does this influence how you tell your stories? Do you feel a responsibility to get things right, given the importance of your real-world inspiration, and what does that mean, in this context?

I do feel that responsibility. I chose Elizabeth partly because I admired her steady, reliable leadership, in a world where our political leaders often take us by surprise, and not always in a good way. So, I wanted to do justice to that.

The Queen’s circumstances are so interesting, combining the constraints of a constitutional monarch who can’t ever step out of line with the glamour of living in a series of castles and palaces. Weaving those contrasts into the book keeps me pretty busy, in a fun way. Plus, of course, there’s a murder, and only her experience and intelligence can solve it.

I made the decision at the start that I wouldn’t make any of the royals say or do anything we couldn’t imagine them saying or doing in real life. Anyone who has to behave oddly or outrageously to fit my plots is an invented character. But it helps that the royal family contained some big characters who leap off the page anyway. Prince Philip, Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother have lots of scenes that make me giggle, but that I hope are still true to how they really were. I would honestly find it much harder to write about the current generations, because their lives are more normal in many ways, and also, because we already know about their inner lives, because they tell us. The Queen and Prince Philip were the last of the ‘mythical’ royals, I think.

With a murder seen from a train, and the title The Queen Who Came In From the Cold, your book suggests both Agatha Christie and John le Carré. Are there other authors and works of mystery and espionage fiction that influenced your story?

I love referencing other writers, and someone on the train in this novel is reading Thunderball, by Ian Fleming, which came out in 1961 and deals with one of the themes that’s present in my book too, namely the threat of nuclear war. At that point, The Queen Who Came In From the Cold is very much still in the Agatha Christie mold, where a murder is supposedly seen from the train, but Fleming’s book hints at the more modern spy story that the book will become in the second half.

As well as Fleming and John le Carré, whose debut novel came out that year, I read a lot of Len Deighton when I was growing up, so I hope some of his sense of adventure is in there too. But another big influence was film. I love the comedy and graphic design of The Pink Panther, and the London-centered louche photography of Blow-Up. I asked if the jacket designer (a brilliant Spanish illustrator called Iker Ayesteran) could bring some of that Sixties magic to the cover, and I like to think he has done … even if the lady in the tiara isn’t an exact replica of the Queen.

Unlike the earlier books in your series, which were contemporaneous, your latest is set during the Cold War. Did you have to do a great deal of additional research to write the story? What are some of the most interesting things you learned?

I hadn’t realized there were quite so many Russian spy rings on the go in and around London at the time! One of my characters is based on a real-life Russian agent called Kolon Molody, who embedded himself in British culture as an entrepreneur (set up by the KGB) selling jukeboxes and vending machines. According to his own account, he became a millionaire out of it before he was caught. His world was a classic one of microdots and dead-letter drops.

As a teenager, I lived in Berlin in the 1980s, when the Berlin Wall literally ran around the edge of our back garden. We were at the heart of the Cold War, but by then it was obvious the West was winning, so I didn’t personally feel under threat – although people were still dying trying to escape from East Germany to the West. I hadn’t fully realized
how much more unsafe people must have felt a generation earlier. I don’t think the western world has felt so unstable since those days … until now, perhaps.

It fascinates me that Peter Sellers, who was so entertaining as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films, was also the star in Dr Stangelove, which was based on an early thriller about the threat of nuclear annihilation called Red Alert, by Peter George. That dichotomy between fear and fun seemed to characterize the early 19§0s, and is exactly what I’m trying to capture in the book.

On a different note, it was a surprise to see how well Russia was doing in the Space Race. At that time, the Soviet Union was always a step ahead. Yuri Gagarin was the first person to go into orbit, and the Queen and Prince Philip were as awestruck as anyone else. When Gagarin visited the UK in the summer of 1961, they invited him to lunch at the palace and afterwards, it was Elizabeth who asked for a picture with him, not the other way around.

The Soviet success was largely down to the brilliance of the man they called the Chief Designer. His real name was Sergei Korolev, but the West didn’t find this out for years, because the Soviets kept his identity a closely-guarded secret. He was an extraordinary figure – imprisoned in the gulags by Stalin, and then brought out to run their most important space program. I’d call that pretty forgiving! Their space program never recovered after he died. I’m a big fan of his ingenuity, and he has a place in the book.

Tell us a little bit about your writing process. Do you have a particular writing spot and routine? Do you know the solution to your mysteries from the beginning? Do you outline your story, or does it come to you as you go along?

I went to an event recently, where Richard Osman and Mick Herron – both British writers whose work I enjoy – talked about how they are ‘pantsers’, who are driven purely by the relationships between the characters they create. I tried that early in my writing life and found I usually ran out of steam after about five thousand words, so now I plot in a reasonable amount of detail before I start.

I always know who did it and how, and I’ve given myself the challenge of fitting the murder mystery alongside everything the Queen was really doing at the time, so I need a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. Nevertheless, red herrings will occur to me during the writing process, and I adapt the plot to fit. I find if I know too much detail, then the act of writing each chapter loses its fun. I need to leave room for discoveries along the way.

If in doubt, I get Prince Philip on the scene to be furious or reassuring about something. He’s always a joy to write. So is the Queen Mother, as I mentioned. It’s the naughty characters who always give the books their bounce.

Her Majesty the Queen Investigates was published as part of a five-book deal. Will there be more books? Do you have any other projects in the offing?

I was very lucky to get that first deal from Bonnier in the UK. My editor had never done a five-book deal before, and I’m not sure he’s done one since! I always knew I wanted the series to be longer, though. I’ve just persuaded him to let me write two more, so book six, set in the Caribbean in 1966, will be out next year, and another one, set in Balmoral back in 2017, will hopefully be out the year after. I miss Captain Rozie Oshodi, the Queen’s sidekick in the first three books, and so do lots of readers, so it’ll be great to be in her company again for one last outing.

Tell us about your library. What’s on your own shelves?

My bookshelves are scattered around the house and my writing shed, wherever they’ll fit. I studied French and Italian at university, so there are a lot of twentieth century books from both countries. I love the fact that French spines read bottom up, whereas English ones read top down. I bought really cool blue and white editions of my favourite authors from Editions de Minuit in the 1990s and it’s lovely to have them on my shelves.

I’ve always loved classical literature, so there are plenty of Everyman editions of Jane Austen, George Eliot and Henry James, but equally, the books that got me through stressful times like exams were Jilly Cooper and Jackie Collins, so they have their place. These are the books that inspired the kind of literature I wanted to write: escapist, absorbing and fun. They’re near the travel guides, for all the real-life escaping I love to do.

I have two bookcases dedicated to crime fiction, packed with Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, P.D. James, Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe was a big inspiration for the way I write the Queen and her sidekicks), Donna Leon and Chris Brookmyre. I inherited my love of the mystery genre from my mother, who has a library full of books I’ve also loved, by other authors such as Robert B. Parker and Sue Grafton, as well as her own shelf of Le Carrés. She decided to start clearing them out recently, but I begged her not to: I still love seeing them there.

Finally, my bedroom is awash with overfull shelves and teetering piles of contemporary novels and non-fiction that I really must sort out one day. Highlights include Golden Hill by Francis Spufford, which someone at my book club recommended, A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple. They’re all books whose inventiveness inspires me.

What have you been reading lately, and what would you recommend to other readers?

Thanks to my book club, I’ve been re-reading Jane Austen, and am reminded of what a fabulous stylist she was. But in terms of new writers, I’ve recently enjoyed The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, set in Georgian London, and A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith, set in the heart of legal London at the turn of the twentieth century. Both Laura and Sally write vivid characters with aplomb, and create satisfying, twisty plots that are a joy to follow. I definitely recommend them both.

LibraryThing is pleased to sit down this month with bestselling author Rhys Bowen, whose books have sold over ten million copies in thirty languages. Educated at London University, Bowen initially worked for the drama departments of the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as a drama teacher and dance instructor. As Janet Quin-Harkin she has written picture books and young adult novels, making her debut as Rhys Bowen in 1997 with Evans Above, the first of her ten-volume Constable Evans mystery series. Other ongoing mystery series include The Lady Georgiana books, about an English aristocrat in the 1930s; and the Molly Murphy books, now being co-written with her daughter Clare Broyles, about an Irish immigrant woman in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. Historical stand-alone novels such as Where the Sky Begins (2022) and The Rose Arbor (2024) have also been very successful. Bowen has been nominated for the Edgar Award three times, and has won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards, including an Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel for In Farleigh Field and Naughty in Nice, and a Macavity Award for Best Historical Mystery for Oh Danny Boy. Her latest novel, Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure, released in early August by Lake Union Publishing, follows the eponymous heroine as she escapes to the South of France, after her husband makes the shocking announcement that he wants a divorce, after thirty years of marriage. Bowen sat down with Abigail this month to discuss the book.

Your book follows Mrs. Endicott as she sets out to make a new life for herself just before and during World War II. How did the idea for the story first come to you? Did the character appear first? Did you always know it was going to have a WWII setting?

The inspiration was twofold. A few years ago I was on an Italian lake and I saw an abandoned villa. It had once been glorious but now was covered in ivy, shutters hanging off, etc. Being me, a tad impulsive and definitely romantic, I said to my husband, “We should buy this and restore it.” Husband, practical one, “There’s no way we’re doing that.” But the image of that villa stayed in my mind and I thought I’d like to restore it in one of my books. But the other driving force behind the book was invisible women. When women reach a certain age they become invisible. I’ve experienced this myself. So I wanted to write a book that championed women, gave them second chances, showed that life wasn’t over at fifty but a whole new chapter could begin. I think I knew Ellie Endicott from the first page onward. She has lived her husband’s life and never had a chance to find out the person she could be. I gave her that chance.

Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure follows the story of someone who makes a major change in her life, taking a few others along with her. What is it about this story type that is so appealing?

I’ve already had feedback from so many women because the theme speaks to them. Second chances, vindication for unappreciated women and the power of female bonding… those are what appeal to my readers (and to me when I wrote it).

This is your seventh novel set during World War II. You’ve also written a novel set during World War I, as well as two mystery series set in different historical periods. What draws you to writing historical fiction? Are there periods of interest to you? Are there any particular challenges, when setting your story in a historical period?

I’ve always been a keen traveler and thus enjoyed being taken to another time and place in books. When I write historical mysteries I like the fact that there is very little CSI. My characters have to rely on their powers of observation and deduction. Also there are so many delicious motives for murder in the past: I love another but I am not free! Of course the challenge is always that I can’t go and visit to do my research. I can’t interview people from that time period. However I write about the first half of the twentieth century and there is plenty of material, photographs, diaries, newspapers. And I always go to the place I’m writing about to notice the small details, the sights, smells, sounds that bring a setting to life. If it’s in Europe then very little has changed!

I started writing about WWII (In Farleigh Field) because there were so many stories showing how brave the men were but at that time very few that championed women and their bravery. Also I felt the generation that knew about this war was soon to be lost and there were so many stories to be told. Each one of my books is a different aspect of WWII, a different setting and group of people. We no longer know what it’s like to live with that level of stress and danger. I often wonder whether I would have been brave enough to act if I had been called upon, like the women in my books. So I want to champion the heroes of the war before they are forgotten forever.

Also as I write more books I can’t help seeing the parallels between the time leading up to WWII and what we are experiencing in our country and in the world right now. I find it alarming and hope that readers will see the parallels before it is too late.

Did you need to do any research before writing Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure? If so, what are some of the most interesting and memorable things you learned?

I always do lots of research. First background reading about the time period. Timeline of the war, when Germany invaded, etc. Then I went to Cassis, on which St. Benet is based. Noticed everything about it. Tried all the local foods and drinks. I wanted my heroine to help the resistance smuggle Jewish men out to an island and found during my research that there really was a resistance cell in Marseille that did just this.

Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a particular routine? Do you plan your non-mysteries out differently than you do your mysteries? Do you know where your stories are going ahead of time, or do you discover that as you go along?

I think for all my books the process is the same. I do my background reading on time and place. I travel to the setting before I start to write. I know the broad theme of the story. I know what my character will be like. In my mysteries I know who will be murdered and why. I usually know the murderer and his motive but then I start writing. I put my characters in their physical setting and let them interact. I just follow along. Sometimes they do things that surprise me. I couldn’t work from an outline. I need to be free to do what my characters want to do. So I start, plunging blindly ahead, always in panic mode, and let the story take shape. By page 100 I see where I’m going. I try to write 1,500 words a day of a first draft, edit, polish, give it to first readers, polish again.

What’s next for you? Do you have any specific books in the pipeline?

As you know I write two plus books a year. My next Royal Spyness book comes out in November 2025 and is called From Cradle to Grave. Georgie ends up with the nanny from hell and at the same time young aristocrats are dying in suspicious accidents.

I now write my Molly Murphy series with my daughter, Clare Broyles. The next Molly book, Vanished in the Crowd, comes out in March 2026 and features women scientists and the suffrage movement during a big parade. And I’ve just turned in my next stand alone. It’s set in Scotland on the Isle of Skye, and is called, at the moment, From Sea to Skye. It’s about a famous writer who has dementia and can’t finish her last book. A young writer is hired to finish it for her. She goes to Skye to research and comes to believe the story is not fiction but the woman’s own story… which is impossible as the writer is Australian.

Tell us about your library. What’s on your own shelves?

Too many books. Every now and then we have a purge. I own every Agatha Christie, a whole bookcase of reference materials, signed copies of fellow writers’ books and a few old favorites. Apart from those we have donated hundreds. Most books one does not want to read a second time.

What have you been reading lately, and what would you recommend to other readers?

I just did a podcast with Adriana Trigiani and read her new book, The View From Lake Como.** It was brilliant. The most authentic voice and sense of place. I relished every moment. Before that it was Louise Penny’s The Grey Wolf which I had to read before The Black Wolf comes out. Oh, and The Midnight Library, which I must be the last person to read but which I LOVED!

**Note: We talked to Adriana Trigiani about The View From Lake Como in a previous month’s author interview. Read that HERE.

LibraryThing is pleased to sit down this month with bestselling Anglo-French author Joanne Harris, whose 1999 novel, Chocolat—shortlisted for the Whitbread Award—was made into a popular film of the same name. The author of over twenty novels, including three sequels to Chocolat—as well as novellas, short stories, game scripts, screenplays, the libretti for two operas, a stage musical, and three cookbooks, her work has been published in over fifty countries, and has won numerous awards. She was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2013 and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2022, for services to literature. A former teacher, Harris is deeply involved in issues of author rights, serving two terms as Chair of the UK’s Society of Authors (SOA) from 2018 to 2024. She is a patron of the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), to which she donated the proceeds from sales of her cookbooks. Cooking and food are consistent themes in her work, and she returns to the story of her most famous culinary character in her newest novel, Vianne, a prequel to Chocolat that is due out from Pegasus Books in early September. Harris sat down with Abigail this month to discuss this new book.

Set six years before the events of Chocolat, your new book is actually the fifth novel about Vianne Rocher to be released. What made you decide you needed to write a prequel? Did any of the ideas for the story come to you as you were writing the other books about Vianne, or was it all fresh and new as you wrote?

Vianne and I have travelled together for over 25 years, and although we’re different in many ways, I think we have some things in common. When I wrote Chocolat, I was the mother of a small child, and wrote Vianne’s character from a similar perspective. I left her in 2021 as the mother of two children, both young adults, and I realized that both Vianne and I needed to look back in order to move forward. Hence Vianne, my protagonist’s origin story, which answers a number of questions left unanswered at the end of Chocolat, and hopefully gives some insights into her journey. Most of it was new; I found a few references in Chocolat to work from, but until now I’ve had very little idea of what Vianne’s past might have been, which made the writing of this book such an interesting challenge.

Food and cooking are important themes in your work. Why is that? What significance do they have for you, and what can they tell us about the characters in your stories, and the world in which they live?

Food is a universal theme. We all need it, we all relate to it in different, important ways. It’s a gateway to culture; to the past; to the emotions. In Vianne it’s also a kind of domestic magic, involving all the senses, and with the capacity to transport, transform and touch the lives of those who engage with it.

Talk to us about chocolate! Given its importance in some of your best-known fiction, as well as the fact that you published The Little Book of Chocolat (2014), I think we can assume you enjoy this treat. What are your favorite kinds? Are there real life chocolatiers you would recommend, or recipes you like to make yourself? (Note: the best chocolate confections I myself ever tasted came from Kee’s Chocolates in Manhattan).

As far as chocolate is concerned, my journey has been rather like Vianne’s. I really didn’t know much about it when I wrote Chocolat, but since then I’ve been involved with many artisanal chocolatiers, and I’ve travelled to many chocolate producing countries. Some of my favourites are Schoc in New Zealand, and Claudio Corallo in Principe, who makes single-origin bean to bar chocolate on location from his half-ruined villa in the rainforest. And David Greenwood-Haigh, a chef who incorporates chocolate into his recipes much as Vianne does in the book (and who created the “chocolate spice” to which I refer in the story.)

Like its predecessors (or successors, chronologically speaking), Vianne is set in France. As the daughter of an English father and French mother, what insight do you feel you bring to your stories, from a cultural perspective? Do you feel you are writing as an insider, an outsider, perhaps both— and does it matter?

I think that as a dual national, there’s always a part of me that feels slightly foreign, which is why Vianne, too, is a perpetual outsider. But I do know enough about France to write with authority and affection – and maybe a little nostalgia, too. The France of my books is a selective portrait, based on the places and people I love, some of which have disappeared. These books are a way of making them live again.

Tell us a little bit about your writing process. Are you someone who maps out your story beforehand, or do you like to discover where things are going as you write? Do you have a particular writing routine? What advice would you give young writers who are just getting started?

My process varies according to the book, but as a rule I don’t map out the story in its entirety: I usually start with a voice, and a mission, and a number of pivotal scenes, and I see where that takes me. I write where I can: if I’m at home, I prefer my shed in the garden, but I can make do with any quiet space. My process involves reading aloud, so it’s best if I’m alone. And I use scent as a trigger to get me into the zone: a trick borrowed from Stanislasky’s An Actor Prepares, which I’ve been using for 30 years. In the case of Vianne I used Chanel’s Coromandel, partly because it’s an olfactory relative of Chanel No. 5, which I used when I was writing Chocolat. (And on the same theme, I’ve created a scent of my own with the help of perfumier Sarah McCantrey of 4160 Tuesdays): it’s called Vianne’s Confession, and it illustrates a passage from the book.)

As for my advice to young writers; just write. You get better that way. And if you are indeed just getting started, don’t be in a hurry to publish or to share your work if you don’t feel ready. You have as long as you like to write your first book, and only one chance at making a first impression. So take it slow, let yourself grow, and enjoy the process, because if you don’t enjoy what you do, why should anyone else?

What’s next for you? Do you have further books in the pipeline? Do you think Vianne, or any of the sequels to Chocolat, will also be made into a film?

I always have more books in the pipeline: the next one is very different; it’s a kind of quiet folk-horror novel called Sleepers in the Snow. As for films, it’s too early to say, but it would be nice to see something on screen again – though preferably as a series, as I really think these books, with their episodic structure, would probably work better that way.

Tell us about your library. What’s on your own shelves?

At least 10,000 books in French, English, German. I find it hard to give books away, so I’ve accumulated quite a library of all kinds of things, in many different genres.

What have you been reading lately, and what would you recommend to other readers?

Right now I’m reading a proof of Catriona Ward’s new book, Nowhere Burning, which is terrific: so well-written, and like all her books, quite astonishingly creepy.

LibraryThing is pleased to sit down this month with bestselling author Susan Wiggs, whose prolific body of work—including more than fifty novels—has been translated into more than twenty languages, and is available in more than thirty countries. Known for such popular series as The Lakeshore Chronicles and the Bella Vista Chronicles, and for stand-alone bestsellers like The Oysterville Sewing Circle and Family Tree, she has been described by the Salem Statesman Journal as a writer who is “one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book.” A former teacher, a Harvard graduate, and an avid hiker, she lives on an island in Washington’s Puget Sound. Wiggs sat down with Abigail this month to discuss her new novel, Wayward Girls—due out from William Morrow later this month, it is currently on offer through the Early Reviewer program—a tale of six teenage girls confined to a Catholic institution in the 1960s for being “gay, pregnant or unruly.”

Set in Buffalo, NY in 1968, Wayward Girls is described by the publisher as being based on a true story. Tell us about that story—how did you discover it, and what made you want to write about it?

I grew up in a small town in western New York, not far from Buffalo, but we moved overseas when I was a child. I never went back until 2021, when my big brother and I embarked on a journey to revisit our childhood haunts. Jon was facing a terminal diagnosis, and this bittersweet, nostalgic trip was an item on his bucket list.

When we visited the church of our youth, vivid memories of Jon as an altar boy flooded back—especially the time his sleeve caught fire from the incense thurible. You might notice a dramatized version of this incident early in the novel! (There’s a photo of Jon and me at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Olean, NY: photo here)

This moment sparked a deeper exploration into the impact of the Catholic Church in the 60s and 70s. My research led me to a forbidding stone complex at 485 Best Street in Buffalo that had once been a Magdalene Laundry—a place where “wayward girls” were sent to be “reformed” by strict nuns. Teenage girls were forced into slave labor and some delivered babies without proper medical care–babies that were sometimes stolen from them and placed for adoption. Though vaguely aware of the “laundries” in Ireland, I was shocked to learn they existed throughout the U.S. as well.

As a child, I remember more than one babysitter who “went away,” a euphemism for girls sent into hiding when they became pregnant. The more I learned, the more deeply I felt the helpless pain and rage of these young women. Their stories ignited my imagination, and Wayward Girls became one of my most personal and involving novels to date. I hope my passion for this topic touches readers’ hearts and inspires important conversations about our past treatment of young women, and–as Jodi Picoult points out–is a cautionary tale for today.

What kind of research did you need to do, while writing? Were there things you learned that surprised you, or that you found particularly disturbing or noteworthy?

Well, you won’t be surprised to know that I started at the library. The public library, of course, and I also had help from the librarian of the Buffalo History Museum. Every book I write begins with a visit to the library, and that has never varied in my 35+ years of writing fiction.

The former Good Shepherd facility in Buffalo still exists, although it’s no longer a Magdalene laundry. The atrocities committed there have been verified by accounts in scholarly and court documents, and by anecdotal evidence from former inmates. Currently there are multiple lawsuits involving the Good Shepherd, brought by individuals who suffered harm at the hands of the Catholic organizations responsible for operating them.

But as my editor pointed out in her letter to early readers, the novel is about the irrepressible spirit of women, and it’s not all doom and gloom. And in order to bring the story to life for readers, it’s a vivid snapshot of the world in 1968: the war in Vietnam, protests around diversity and women’s rights…eerily not so different from the world today. The race riot in Buffalo that was quelled in part by Jackie Robinson actually did occur. And Niagara Falls was actually “shut off” as depicted in the novel. The nuns characterized it as a “miracle,” although the real explanation is more prosaic and scientific.

Although Magdalen asylums or laundries operated throughout the Anglophone world, revelations regarding the abuses perpetrated in these institutions were particularly explosive in Ireland from the 1990s through the 2010s. Did this history inform your story, set in the states?

Like many readers, I was aware of (and horrified by) the Magdalen asylums in Ireland, thanks to news reports, books like Small Things Like These and films like The Magdalene Sisters and Philomena. There’s even a song called “The Magdalene Laundries” by Joni Mitchell. Probably the most moving and disturbing account I read during my research was Girl in the Tunnel by Maureen Sullivan.

I learned that in the United States, there were at least 38 such institutions. Women and girls, most from poor homes, were regularly sentenced to religious-run, but state-sanctioned prison systems of slave labor and abuse.

How do you approach disturbing topics in general, when writing a book? Is there anything in particular you hope readers will take away from Wayward Girls?

I’ve never shied away from dealing with controversial subjects in my books. I believe fiction can be a safe space to explore difficult realities that many people face. My approach is always to ask whether including disturbing content serves the story and characters in a meaningful way. I hope readers come away with insights about the enduring resilience of the human spirit rather than just feeling shocked.

For me as an author, the most gratifying feedback from a reader is to hear that not only were they transported and entertained, but that they gained something of lasting value from reading my book. Just last week, I received this moving note from a reader who is looking forward to Wayward Girls:

I have a personal history and I am still uncomfortable at times “coming out”, so to speak. While I am not in the book it was my experience in 197* ….At 16 I was sent to the Zoar Home for Unwed Mothers through the Catholic Diocese of Steubenville Ohio.

I look forward to your beautiful writing portraying this story and adding continued society enlightenment of the traumatic experiences and shame those of us suffered, as we are still bearing the pain while continuing to navigate this life and memories….
Thank you Susan

Well. When an author gets a note like this from a reader, she has no higher calling. I only hope this reader will feel seen by Wayward Girls.

Tell us a little bit about your writing process. Do you have a particular place or time you like to write, or a specific routine you follow? Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Thank you for this question. I love talking shop! I’ve written 50+ novels, and no matter how the world (and technology) changes, my process is always the same. I write my first draft in longhand, using a fountain pen with peacock blue ink, in a Clairefontaine or Leuchtturm 1917 grid-ruled notebook. People who are left-handed know why—it helps me avoid dragging my sleeve through the wet ink, because the fountain pen ink dries instantly.

This process keeps me away from the computer, which I find to be a delightful distraction. Writing a novel of 130,000 words requires enormous focus. Eventually, I type it up (these days by dictation) in proper manuscript format and revise it about eleven hundred seventy-seven times, and send it to my literary agent and editor for notes. Then I revise it about eight hundred more times until I’m convinced that I’ve done my very best for my readers.

Instead of “aspiring writers,” I like the term “emerging writers.” They are already writing. They are just learning and polishing their craft as their stories emerge. I wish I could say there’s a magic formula to vault you into success, but there isn’t. The first job is to define what success looks like for you, personally. A traditional commercial publisher like HarperCollins? An indie-published book? Or just the sense of accomplishment that you’ve put your heart on paper?

Once you know what you want as a writer, find the journey that will take you there. It probably won’t be easy, but what goal worth having is? For traditional publishing, you need to find a literary agent (never ever ever pay a fee to an agent!) who will place your book with a publisher.

I don’t even know what to say about AI. A novel is meant to be a personal artistic expression–the author’s unique perspective, experiences, and voice. Having AI generate text defeats the purpose of creative writing. If you want to write a novel, the struggle and growth that comes from doing it yourself is actually the point.

In terms of WHAT to write, please write the story you’re dying to tell, not the thing that’s hot in bookstores and on Booktok right now. Those books were conceived and published long ago, so by the time you jump on the bandwagon, it has already left. Make yourself happy with your writing. Reach out to a writers’ group in your community. The local library is a good place toconnect. Take a class. Write together, trade chapters, talk shop.

Writing fiction is like being the ultimate master of your own personal universe. There’s something deeply satisfying about finally having complete control over something, even if it’s just whether your protagonist gets coffee or gets hit by a bus.

It’s also the socially acceptable way to have elaborate conversations with imaginary people. You can kill off that annoying character who’s clearly based on your ex, give yourself superpowers through a thinly veiled alter ego, and resolve conflicts in ways that would never work, or win every argument with a perfectly timed witty comeback.

Plus, fiction lets you experience the rare joy of creating problems on purpose just so you can solve them. It’s like being a chaos agent and a benevolent fixer all at once. Where else can you ruin someone’s entire life in chapter three and then feel genuinely proud of yourself for it?

But I’ve strayed from the question! The answer is, READ. Read new books hot off the press. Read beloved older titles. Read the classics, the ones you thought were so boring when you were a kid in school. Because chances are, these books mean something to you now.

And at the end of the day, the very long writing day, that’s all an author can hope for—that readers were willing to spend their time reading a book filled with the deepest secrets of her heart.

Don’t shy away from your writing dreams. Tell your family/partner/friends that you have two sacred hours every day you’re going to devote to writing. And then write. WRITE.

What’s next for you? Do you have any books in the offing that you can share with us?

This is my second-favorite place to be in the writing journey. I have a blank page in front of me and I get to start something fresh!

In the meantime, there will be lots of editions of my books coming out—new paperback versions, new audiobooks, interesting new formats to explore.

Tell us about your library. What’s on your own shelves?

My library grows and changes over time. While books come and go, there are a few permanent fixtures: the first book I read (The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss), the first book I bought (Yertle the Turtle by Dr Seuss), the first book I took from the library (You Were Princess Last Time by Laura Fisher), and the first long book I read in one sitting and immediately reread (Diary of Anne Frank).

I do love my keepers, but I tend to give books away after I’ve read them. I’m always sending books I’ve loved to my reader friend and family. But I always keep the books signed by the author, because that signature makes me feel like I’m a member of an exclusive club. Although it’s bittersweet, I am especially fond of my books signed by authors who aren’t with us anymore—Madeleine L’Engle, Anne Rice, Sir Roger Bannister, Ray Bradbury, Crosby Bonsall.

What have you been reading lately, and what would you recommend to other readers?

I am on a mission to read all the books I can get my hands on by the people who read the early draft of Wayward Girls, because I know what a time commitment it is, how busy we all are, and what fantastic writers they are. So I’ve been reading books by Jodi Picoult, Adriana Trigiani, Patti Callahan Henry, Robert Dugoni, Kristina McMorris, and Shana Abé. All of these authors remind me of why I decided to write in the first place—to transport, entertain, surprise, and delight the reader.