The Writers behind the Books – Author profiles by the journalist Mark Dapin

Karl Ove Knausgaard  

“The Soloist”, Good Weekend (2014)

There’s something of the storm about the phenomenally popular Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard, a breath of the winter’s wind…  CLICK FOR FULL STORY

Stieg Larsson  

“Larsson’s Legacy”, Good Weekend (2010)

Eva Gabrielsson, the widow of Swedish author Stieg Larsson, selects her words precisely, with an angry, wounded calm. She feels robbed of her partner twice over: first by his sudden death at 50 years old, then by the battle with his family over his estate…  CLICK FOR FULL STORY

Anthony Horowitz   

“Revenge of the Nerd”, Good Weekend (2015)

Throughout his adult life, English author Anthony Horowitz has kept faith with his childhood memories: the ghosts of unforgotten feelings of helplessness, and the impotent realisation that discipline and punishment never hurt others more than it hurt himself…  CLICK FOR FULL STORY

Jeffrey Archer  

“Call me Jeffrey”, Good Weekend (2008)

The concierge at the Thameside apartment building – a thickset, polished black man – picks up his desk phone and rings through to Jeffrey Archer’s secretary. He says Lord Archer has a visitor…  CLICK FOR FULL STORY

Nikki Gemmell   

“Secret Women’s Business”, The Sydney Morning Herald (2006)

When Nikki Gemmell tells me she works in Starbucks, I begin to doubt the rumours that she received a six-figure advance for the follow-up to her 2003 novel, The Bride Stripped Bare….  CLICK FOR FULL STORY

Conn Iggulden  

“Who’s a Naughty Boy, Then?”, Good Weekend (2007)

Conn Iggulden, co-author of The Dangerous Book for Boys, looks at me with genial befuddlement, as if he is not quite sure what has happened in the past two hours…  CLICK FOR FULL STORY

Frederick Forsyth  

“Right, said Fred”, Good Weekend (2006)

I do not want to be stuck in a tunnel. I am already late to meet Frederick Forsyth, the author of hugely popular thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and The Dogs of War. I have heard he is a High Tory curmudgeon, a bad-tempered toff, an irritable contrarian who does not suffer fools gladly – and I am nothing if not a fool…  CLICK FOR FULL STORY