From Jonathan Kellerman’s favourite and the novel Marlon James can’t write without to the story that started Bonnie Garmus journaling and the one that made Sam Lloyd want to be a writer, here are the books that had the biggest influence on some of our favourite authors.
Julietta Henderson
Author of The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman
“The books that truly move me are the ones defined by the simplicity of their writing and the complexity of their observations. I’m drawn to authors who I think achieve this brilliantly; people like Nick Hornby, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, Tony Parsons, Marian Keyes and David Nicholls. Three books that will never fall out of my top ten and that continue to inspire me are Man and Boy (Tony Parsons), How to Be Good (Nick Hornby) and One Day (David Nicholls).”
READ A Q&A WITH JULIETTA HENDERSON >>
Mary Beth Keane
“I think the biggest influence on my writing is William Trevor, for his detail and his restraint. I don’t think any reader wants to be told how to feel, and he is a master at getting the reader there with simple, mostly objective details.
I’m also a huge fan of Louise Erdrich, Elizabeth Strout, Mary Gordon – three writers who manage to be so smart but at the same time write with so much heart.
I read Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels while I was writing Ask Again, Yes and tried to understand how she could track the minutiae of growing up without ever losing my interest.
I love everything by Mohsin Hamid. Whenever I felt stuck, I put the novel aside for a few days and read something good. When I went back to the novel, it was as if a fog had cleared.”
Sam Lloyd
“My dad read me The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien when I was five and I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since. Otherwise, I’m a huge fan of Thomas Harris, Stephen King, Gillian Flynn. I love meaty characters and epic twists.”
“Spare me the kind of book described by P.G. Wodehouse as ‘People sit around talking for 200 pages and then the adolescent doesn’t kill himself.’”
– Jonathan Kellerman, author of City of the Dead
Menna van Praag
Author of Night of Demons and Saints, A Sisters Grimm Novel
“To anyone who creates excellence in my favourite fields. Angela Carter for writing The Bloody Chamber – a work of stunning beautiful and impossible tension. Nora Ephron and Richard Curtis for writing fantastic romantic comedies – by far the hardest film genre to do effectively. Neil Gaiman for writing Stardust, a small book of perfection or a book of small perfection. Hannah Gadsby for Nanette. Angela Merkel for her immigration policy. Virginia Woolf, and every other artist, who’s managed to write works of genius while living with mental illness. Naturally, I could go on and on.”
Jonathan Kellerman
Author of City of the Dead, an Alex Delaware novel
“James T. Farrell, Conan Doyle, Dumas, Verne, Ross McDonald. Stephen King will be read centuries from now – he’s the Edgar Allan Poe of our generation. Elmore Leonard and Ruth Rendell are masters. Just a few among many. In general, I admire writers with a robust sense of story. Spare me the kind of book described by P.G. Wodehouse as ‘People sit around talking for 200 pages and then the adolescent doesn’t kill himself.’”
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
“There are a handful of writers who are never far from my mind and, I hope, my writing. Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things had a profound influence on me when I read it so many years ago. Toni Morrison’s Beloved; anything Earl Lovelace has written; Isabelle Allende’s House of the Spirits; Kei Miller’s Augustown, Olive Senior’s poems in Gardening in the Tropics; Lorna Goodison’s poems in I Am Becoming My Mother. Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. Audrey Niffenegger’s Her Fearful Symmetry. Anything by Jesmyn Ward or Sarah Hall. These days I’m reading and rereading my way through Saidiya Hartman, Sylvia Wynter and Dionne Brand. No finer inspiration to be found.
And then I am interested in and influenced by folkways and deathways and the movement of Black Atlantic cultures. I am a believer in the magic of luck and the science of the ‘get through’. I am constantly amazed by my grief and my good fortune.”
READ A Q&A WITH AYANNA LLOYD BANWO >>
Paddy Crewe
“John Irving, Peter Carey, Dickens – these were all massively important to me when I first read them in my teens. Aside from all their technical skills, they’re all great storytellers, and that’s top of my list.”
READ AN EXTRACT FROM My Name is Yip BY PADDY CREWE >>
“I’ve always gravitated towards darker, more psychological stories that explore the contemporary lives of women, especially mothers.”
– Ashley Audrain, author of The Push
Victoria Mas
Author of The Mad Women’s Ball
“Top lists are hard! L’amant (The Lover) by Marguerite Duras, sealed my desire to become a writer. Then, I’d prefer to quote authors than a specific book. I am always very impressed and left with a sense of awe by the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and Victor Hugo. Emile Zola novels have had a deep impact on me with their incomparable imagery and energy. Reading Charles Bukowski is raw and uncomfortable, yet there’s poetry in every corner. Not limited to novels, I’m also deeply inspired by the revolutionary and immense body of work of psychoanalyst Carl G. Jung.”
READ AN EXTRACT FROM The Mad Women's Ball BY VICTORIA MAS >>
Marlon James
Author of Moon Witch, Spider King, a Dark Trilogy novel
“Funnily enough, for Moon Witch, Spider King, I wasn’t inspired by much fantasy, other than Black American and African folklore. The two authors that inspired this book the most were Toni Morrison and Hilary Mantel, to the point where through the entire time I was writing this novel, copies of Beloved, and Wolf Hall sat at my desk. Even during the pandemic, when I had to quickly relocate, I ordered new copies when I realised I left the old ones behind.”
READ AN EXTRACT FROM Moon Witch, Spider King BY MARLON JAMES >>
Ashley Audrain
“I’ve always gravitated towards darker, more psychological stories that explore the contemporary lives of women, especially mothers (which won’t be a surprise!). I was completely rapt as a teenager by then-popular books like White Oleander by Janet Fitch and The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard, more so than traditional thrillers or mysteries. As a reader, I’ve always loved a book that I can’t put down because I want to uncover the “why” of what’s happened, but I also want the writing to be so compelling that I savour each sentence at the same time. Now, there are so many brilliant writers perfecting this kind of suspenseful read: Leila Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny, Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, Helen Phillip’s The Need, Marjorie Celonas’ How A Woman Becomes A Lake, and Elizabeth Kay’s Seven Lies are some recent favourites … but I could go on!”
Bonnie Garmus
Author of Lessons in Chemistry
“One of my biggest influences is Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. Harriet was a role model for me. She’s the reason I started keeping notebooks.”
READ A Q&A WITH BONNIE GARMUS >>
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