Charles Cumming was born in Scotland, educated at Ludgrove School, Eton College and the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with 1st Class Honours in English Literature. In 1995, Charles was approached for recruitment by the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), an inspiration for a number of his books.

Cumming's novels have been translated into fourteen languages. His work is published in the United Kingdom by Harper Collins, in the United States by St Martin's Press, in Spain by Salamandra and in Germany by Goldmann.

He is one of the trustees of The Pierce Loughran Memorial Scholarship fund which provides tuition fees for the Yeats Summer School in Sligo, Ireland. He is also the founder and President of the Jose Raul Capablanca Memorial Chess Society.

Celebrated historians and journalists, husband and wife duo Peter Snow and Ann MacMillan, are the perfect guides to take us through 4,000 years of history, delving into itspolitical, military, artistic, and scientific spheres to examine the significance of some extraordinary artefacts.

With awealth of experience on political, social, cultural and military history, and today’s current affairs between them, they talk here to David Perry about 50 pivotal documents that changed the course of history, brought leaps in technology, helped shape humanity, and reveal how some only survived by chance.

Murray Lachlan Young is a British poet, stand-up performer, broadcaster, playwright, screenwriter and children’s author. He came to prominence during the Brit Pop era of the mid 1990’s, when he became the only poet to sign a contract worth £1m.

Currently the poet in residence on BBC 6 Music radio station, touring the UK with his solo stand-up show and the collection of his work ‘How Freakin’ Zeitgeist are you?’, published by Unbound books.

Julia Johnson’s stories frequently focus on the history and culture of the Arabian Peninsula. She is keen to preserve and continue the oral tradition of storytelling, and to encourage an awareness of the rich and colourful heritage of the Gulf through her writing by weaving together fact with fiction in stories and rhymes which are easily accessible to young people.

She won the “Best International Children’s Book” award for “The Turtle Secret” at the Sharjah Book Fair in 2014 and received a Kirkus Star review for “The Leopard Boy”.

Amanda Craig is a British novelist, short-story writer and critic. Born in South Africa in 1959, she grew up in Italy, where her parents worked for the UN, and was educated at Bedales School and Clare College Cambridge. She was the children’s critic for The Independent on Sunday and The Times, and one of the first to spot the Harry Potter books, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Twilight, How to Train Your Dragon and The Hunger Games. She is regarded as a state of the nation novelist, commenting on the gulf between rich and poor.

Anthony Sattin is a British writer and broadcaster who has been described as ‘a cross between Indiana Jones and a John Buchan hero’ and ‘one of the key influences on travel writing today.’  His most recent work, Young Lawrence, tells the story of T.E. Lawrence and the Middle East on the eve of World War I, and has been hailed a key work in the field. His award-winning journalism on travel and books has appeared regularly in the Sunday Times, Financial Times, Conde Nast Traveller and publications around the world.

Carlos Andrés Gómez is a Colombian American poet, speaker, actor, and author of Fractures, winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, Hijito, winner of the Broken River Prize, Foreword INDIES Gold Medal, and a #1 SPD bestseller, and the memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood, released by Penguin Random House.

For the second time, we welcome Anthony Horowitz to our studio to discuss his career as a writer for Young Adults, having been on previously to discuss his adult fiction. From Alex Rider in print and on the big screen, through channelling Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Fleming, to how and why his wife built a motorway, Anthony leaves no stone unturned. At the heart of all he does is his profound and abiding joy in creating great stories.

Jessica Jarlvi’s debut novel, the psychological thriller When I Wake Up, featured on bestseller lists in the US and Australia, and was selected “Book of the Year” by Magrudys in 2018. Her latest book, What Did I Do? deals with mental health and human trafficking. Born in Sweden, she’s lived in the UK, the US and the UAE, and has worked in publishing and PR. A former Montegrappa prize winner, she now balances her time between writing and her growing young family.

Jonas Hassen Khemiri is the author of five novels, six plays, and a collection of plays, essays, and short stories.  His first novel, One Eye Red (Ett öga rött), received the Borås Tidning Award for Best Literary Debut Novel and became the bestselling paperback in Sweden of any category in 2004. With his inventive literary acrobatics and his unwavering social pathos, Jonas Hassen Khemiri is constantly reinventing himself and what language can do – both on the page and in society at large.

In partnership with The Boxser Diversity Initiative

Timothy Patrick McCarthy  is an award-winning scholar and educator, public servant, and social justice activist who has taught on Harvard’s faculty since 2005. He holds a joint appointment in the undergraduate honors program in History and Literature, Graduate School of Education, and John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he is Core Faculty at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

In partnership with The Boxser Diversity Initiative

Michael Jeffries is the Class of 1949 Professor in Ethics and American Studies at Wellesley College. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and is the author of three books, most recently, Behind the Laughs: Community and Inequality in Comedy (Stanford University Press, 2017). His two previous books are Paint The White House Black: Barack Obama and the Meaning of Race in America (Stanford University Press, 2013) and Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-Hop (University of Chicago Press, 2011).

In partnership with The Boxser Diversity Initiative

Ladee Hubbard is the author of The Talented Ribkins, which received the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, The Times Literary Supplement, Arkansas International, Copper Nickel and Callaloo among other venues.

Lewis Pugh’s decision to become an ocean advocate didn’t happen all at once. It began with the stories of exploration he loved as a child, and in the flights of imagination sparked by the world maps his father hung around their home. The oceans cover over 70% of the Earth’s surface. We rely on them entirely for our survival – and the amazing creatures that live in them now rely on us for protection.

Robert Twigger is a British author, poet and adventurer. After attending Oxford University he trained with the Tokyo Riot Police, which became the subject of his bestselling book Angry White Pyjamas. He is the author of eight books, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as several collections of poetry.

Hands up if you know where Lamonic Bibber is and why the Lamonical Chronicle is the town’s only and second best newspaper. Yes, you’ve entered the world of Mr Gum, a sort of League of Gentlemen for kids and the creation of Andy Stanton whose works have been translated into thirty two languages, sold some 4 million copies in the UK alone and which delight children of all ages... even some of the 50plus year old kids who help run Lockdown LitFest. Andy is a complete marvel and we are utterly delighted - and little bit scared - to have him join us in our studio!

Gianrico Carofiglio’s Guido Guerrieri series of legal thrillers is like John Grisham. But Italian. And better. Why? Well as a former anti-Mafia prosecutor, governmental advisor and Senator he is a stickler for accuracy, writes like a relaxed Umberto Eco and really knows how to tell a story. Imagine a tauter, more toned version of Andrea Camilleri’s engaging Montalbano, if Salvo M were a lawyer. Yes, that good.

“Survival's about making the most of the opportunities and the moment, to enable you to get back to what you want to be doing, to what you'd rather be doing,” says John Hudson, discussing his must-read book with Julia Wheeler.

Such an iconic name for what was actually just a wooden shed. Even the name has a rather prosaic origin. But what Iain Macgregor gets does is get behind the icon and heads straight to the human costs and truth of what Checkpoint Charlie represented, through superb interviews with guards on both sides, escapees and more.