"I'D NORMALLY be in the middle of a Year 11 class at the minute" admits author Brian McGilloway when we call to discuss his new novel, The Last Crossing.

BOOK OF THE WEEK Apeirogon by Colum McCann is published in hardback by Bloomsbury, priced £18.

1. When did you think about a career in writing and what were your first steps into it?I’d always wanted to write, but never thought I could.

WILLIAM Drennan was born in the manse of First Presbyterian Church in Rosemary Street, Belfast, in 1754.

TYRONE Lindo – aka Big Narstie – has gone from selling drugs after school at age 13, to forging a career as a grime artist and TV personality with a talent for comedy, collaborating with Ed Sheeran, Craig David and Robbie Williams among others.

"CLEAR Bright Future is challenging to people because it answers questions that a lot of people don't know they need to ask," explains Paul Mason of his recent tome in which he posits potential system-changing humanist solutions to our current democratic and economic problems.

WE all have lists in our heads – shopping lists, to-do lists, wish lists.

BOOK OF THE WEEK A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry is published in hardback by Faber & Faber, priced £18.