Better known in 1882 as a cultural icon than a serious writer, Oscar Wilde was brought to North America for a major lecture tour on Aestheticism and the decorative arts.
The leading figure in the development of cyberpunk, William Gibson (born in 1948) crafted works in which isolated humans explored near-future worlds of ubiquitous and intrusive computer technology and cybernetics.
Under his own name and numerous pseudonyms, John Brunner (1934-1995) was one of the most prolific and influential science fiction authors of the late twentieth century.
Gregory Benford is perhaps best known as the author of Benford's law of controversy: "e;Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.
Shouting Down the Silence presents the first complete biography of Stanley Elkin, a preeminent novelist who consistently won high marks from critics but whose complexities of style seemed destined to elude the popular acclaim he hoped to attain.
Challenging convention with the SF nonconformist Roger Zelazny combined poetic prose with fearless literary ambition to become one of the most influential science fiction writers of the 1960s.
Award-winning epics like the Mars Trilogy and groundbreaking alternative histories like The Days of Rice and Salt have brought Kim Stanley Robinson to the forefront of contemporary science fiction.
Experimental, strange, and unabashedly feminist, Joanna Russ's groundbreaking science fiction grew out of a belief that the genre was ideal for expressing radical thought.
'A joyful examination of two artists from different centuries and the unlikely parallels in their life and work' Guardian'An ardent fan letter from Hornby that makes you want to reread Great Expectations whilst listening to Sign o'the Times' Vogue_____________________The essential gift for lovers of Prince, Dickens and everyone in between!
From the International Man Booker Prize-winning author of Can't and Won't and The End of the Story - a crystalline collection of literary essays for fans of Susan Sontag and Joan Didion'She's a joy.
The Sunday Times bestseller Paul Theroux collects a rich feast of his writing and essays - from travel to personal memoir - published all together here for the first timeDrawing together a fascinating body of writing from over 14 years of work, Figures in a Landscape ranges from profiles of cultural icons (Oliver Sacks, Elizabeth Taylor, Robin Williams) to intimate personal remembrances; from thrilling adventures in Africa to literary writings from Theroux's rich and expansive personal reading.
A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF THE 21ST CENTURYWINNER OF THE PRIX FEMINA ETRANGER 2020Following on from the critically acclaimed Things I Don't Want to Know, discover the powerful second memoir in Deborah Levy's essential three-part 'Living Autobiography'.
THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING MEMOIR OF SPY-WRITING LEGEND JOHN LE CARR *NOW A MAJOR APPLE TV MOTION PICTURE*'As recognizable a writer as Dickens or Austen' Financial TimesFrom his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War to a career as a writer, John le Carr has lived a unique life.
A Sunday Times Top 10 BestsellerIn this remarkable memoir of love, loss and literature, acclaimed biographer Claire Tomalin turns her eye to another fascinating literary life: her own.
A classic novel of post-war Europe, haunting and timelessly beautiful'The greatest writer of our time' Peter CareyIn 1939, five-year-old Jacques Austerlitz is sent to England on a Kindertransport and placed with foster parents.
This winter, take the time to reflect on an extraordinary year with this perfectly distilled set of essays from one of our wisest and most humane thinkersFrom the critically acclaimed author of Feel Free, Swing Time, White Teeth and many more'There will be many books written about the year 2020: historical, analytic, political and comprehensive accounts.
'Hilarious, subversive, sharp without being lethal, and loving without an ounce of sentiment, Shirley Jackson's more-or-less autobiographical account of life as a mother of four and faculty wife (and brilliant writer) is an eternal, comic joy' Amy Bloom'Our new house was waiting for us, eager, expectant, and empty'Shirley Jackson skewered the trials of domestic life in 1950s America with wry wit and uncanny precision.
A moving portrait of the landscape that shaped the life of Laurie Lee, the beloved author of Cider With Rosie 'Before I left the valley I thought everywhere was like this.