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Penelope Lively

December 2022

  • Marguerite Duras at home in Paris, France

    The Easy Life by Marguerite Duras review – experiments of youth

    Family life is fraught with suspicion, sexual tension and betrayal in this early novel, translated into English for the first time

December 2021

  • Penelope Lively

    The books of my life
    Penelope Lively: ‘Beatrix Potter seemed so exotic, unlike my world of palm trees’

    The author on reading Peter Rabbit in Egypt, the allure of Lawrence Durrell – and the humour of Stella Gibbons

December 2018

  • .<br>Penelope Lively Writer 01-11-2016 Photograph by Martin Godwin

    The Guardian Books podcast
    Penelope Lively on MR James' Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad – books podcast

    You’ll never sleep in a twin bedroom again after hearing this classic Edwardian ghost story, selected by Penelope Lively and read by Simon Callow as part of our seasonal series of short stories selected by leading novelists

June 2018

  • Clockwise from top left: Hilary Mantel, Marlon James, Anne Enright, Howard Jacobson, Margaret Atwood and Julian Barnes.

    What it is like to win the Booker prize, by Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel, Peter Carey and more

    As the Man Booker prize turns 50 and readers vote for their favourite ever recipient, novelists reveal the highs (and lows) of winning ‘the Oscar’ of the literary world

March 2018

  • Midnight’s Children

    Further reading
    Penelope Lively picks five books about renewal

    From horticulture to tsarist Russia, the novelist chooses works that represent new growth

December 2017

  • .<br>Penelope Lively Writer 01-11-2016 Photograph by Martin Godwin

    Books that made me
    Penelope Lively: my debt to roasted grasshopper with ladybird sauce

    The Booker prizewinner on why Beatrix Potter influenced her writing and how she was defeated by one of the greatest novels of the 20th century

September 2017

  • Penelope Lively

    My writing day
    Penelope Lively: ‘One of the pleasures of old age is the thought that I shall never see Heathrow again’

    The Booker prizewinning novelist tries to fit in a couple of hours of writing a day, but she no longer feels guilty if she would rather be in the garden

July 2016

  • Sarah Moss

    Book of the day
    The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss review – a portrait of parental anxiety

    With the NHS a central theme, this story about the effect of a child’s illness on her family is a novel for our times

March 2016

  • Illustration by Harriet Lee-Merrion.

    Jeanette Winterson, Julia Donaldson, Julian Barnes, David Hare … my mother before I knew her

    Inspired by Carol Ann Duffy’s poem Before You Were Mine, writers reflect on photographs of their mothers before they were born

September 2014

  • Gardens: Deborah Moggach

    Gardens: novel gardening

    A source of inspiration – or a simple sanctuary? Writers Deborah Moggach, Patrick Gale and Penelope Lively on why they relish gardening

August 2014

  • holsPenelopeLively

    Writers' holiday photos: postcards from my past

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Howard Jacobson, Penelope Lively, William Boyd, Will Self and others share the photographs that capture their favourite summer memories

December 2013

  • Illustration by Pietari Posti.

    Guardian Weekend magazine's Christmas ghost stories
    Christmas ghost stories: Stairs by Penelope Lively

    An exclusive short story by the Booker-winning veteran author

November 2013

  • odd job man

    A Sixpenny Song by Jennifer Johnston – review

  • Illustration by Rachel Gannon

    Writers and critics on the best books of 2013

October 2013

  • penelope lively illustration

    Penelope Lively: 'So this is old age'

    When we are young we can never imagine getting old, and yet so many of us are now living longer. Amid all the aches and pains and indignities, there are surprising consolations, reflects Penelope Lively

September 2012

  • Saffron Walden

    Part of the Spell by Rachel Heath – review

    Penelope Lively on small-town dramas

February 2012

  • Clifford Harper illustration of a wooden table laid for dinner

    This Is Paradise by Will Eaves - review

    Penelope Lively explores the intimate and perilous territory of family life

November 2011

  • WG Hoskins

    My hero
    My hero: WG Hoskins by Penelope Lively

    'Those years stumping around in muddy fields gave me an imagery of the juxtaposition of past and present that would feed into fiction for years to come'

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