As a new season rolls around, we have another fantastic line-up to help banish the blues and get you ready to cosy up with a good book (or two) this autumn. 

To begin, Janice Hallett  joins us to talk about her long-awaited sequel, The Silent Appeal. A huge star of crime fiction,  Janice is the author of six Sunday Times bestselling novels, including her smash-hit debut novel, The Appeal, which was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and won the CWA Debut Dagger Award. 

Next up prizewinning social historian Hallie Rubenhold will discuss her gripping examination of one of the most infamous murders of the twentieth century. In her latest book, Story of a Murder: The Wives, The Mistress and Dr Crippen Hallie once again gives voice to those who have never properly been heard – the women. 

In the lead-up to the Booker Prize 2026 announcement, the 2025 recipient David Szalay joins us to discuss his winning novel, Flesh. David’s other works include, All That Man Is, for which he was awarded the Gordon Burn Prize and Plimpton Prize for Fiction and shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2016 and Turbulence, which won the Edge Hill Prize. 

The Norwich Book Festival returns in late October and we’re delighted to launch proceedings with UEA graduate Louise Doughty of Apple Tree Yard fame alongside poet, novelist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Jill Dawson. Join us as two of the UK’s most acclaimed contemporary writers talk about their latest books, their writing processes and their lives. 

In November, we will be in the company of one of the most distinctive, exciting and celebrated writers of her generation, Zadie Smith. The author of White Teeth, On Beauty and Swing Time will discuss her illuminating new essay collection, Dead and Alive, showing audiences once again her unrivalled ability to think through critically and humanely about some of the most urgent preoccupations and tendencies of our troubled times.  

Acclaimed journalist and author of Capital and The Wall, John Lanchester closes out the season to explore themes of resentment and entitlement in his latest novel. Look What You Made Me Do is a darkly comedic page-turner about two very different women from two very different generations, heading toward a battle only one of them can win.