What was the inspiration behind Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights series? How does he want readers to feel on Lyra’s final adventure in The Rose Field? Has his demon changed now that he has got to the end of this writing journey, and how do you say goodbye to characters you love?

In this special edition of Ask Penguin, host Rhianna Dhillon visits Philip Pullman at his Oxford home, surrounded by books (and barking cockapoos), to mark thirty years since the world met Lyra Belacqua in Northern Lights we ask the award-winning author reflects on a lifetime of storytelling, returning to Lyra’s world one final time in The Book of Dust series, The Rose Field.

Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here: here

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Philip Pullman is one of the most highly respected children's authors writing today. Winner of many prestigious awards, including the Carnegie of Carnegies and the Whitbread Award, Pullman’s epic fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials has been acclaimed as a modern classic. It has sold 17.5 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages. In 2005 he was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He lives in Oxford.

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Why do we still love Jane Austen’s novels 250 years later? What makes her stories continue to inspire readers and creators today? And if Jane were alive now, which book would you recommend she read?

In this special episode, recorded at Jane Austen’s family home in Alton, host Rhianna Dhillon is joined by Miss Austen author and president of the Jane Austen Society, Gill Hornby, alongside author and creator of the West End show Austentatious Andrew Hunter Murray, to explore Austen’s legacy and provide some regency-inspired book recommendations.

Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here: Jane Austen Episode

Visit Jane Austen’s home: janeaustens.house

To put a question to future podcast guests, and for exclusive content and book giveaways, join our Broadcast channel on Instagram: @PenguinUKBooks

Gill Hornby is a writer and journalist. Her novels Miss Austen and Godmersham Park were Sunday Times bestsellers, and Miss Austen was adapted into a four-part BBC drama starring Keely Hawes as Cassandra Austen. She is also the President of the Jane Austen Society.

Andrew Hunter Murray is a writer, broadcaster and comedian. His first novel, The Last Day, was a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller, and one of the top 10 fiction debuts of 2020; his second, The Sanctuary, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month; and his third, A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering, was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic literature. in 2011, Murray was a founding member of the West End comedy show Austentatious.

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I'm looking for a novel that reads like poetry - where should I start? Can you recommend a queer love story with a happy conclusion? What are the best books that explore small-town life? We put your book dilemmas to bestselling author Ocean Vuong and Penguin Editor and award-winning poet Sarah Howe.

Joining Rhianna this week is Ocean Vuong, whose latest book The Emperor of Gladness has been dubbed the first 'millennial Great American Novel' – but what does that really mean, and which classic American novels have inspired him? The author and poet also reflects on the themes and inspirations behind the book, from small-town Connecticut to intergenerational friendships.

Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here

To ask a question and for exclusive content and giveaways join our Broadcast channel on Instagram: @PenguinUKBooks

Ocean Vuong is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize for his poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds, and his debut novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous was a literary sensation, going on to sell more than a million copies. Amongst many other accolades, he was a recipient of the MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ in 2019 and The Whiting Award in 2016.

The Emperor of Gladness, Vuong’s latest novel, explores themes of chosen family and the ways in which our lives can be changed by the most unexpected people.

Sarah Howe is Poetry Editor for Chatto & Windus an imprint of Penguin as well as an award-winning author. Sarah’s first collection, Loop of Jade won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2015, and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award the same year. Her follow-up collection, Foretokens, continues to explore ideas and complications of belonging, identity and inheritance.

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