Ella Leya’s childhood in Azerbaijan is the inspiration for her novel Orphan Sky. She talks to Tracy Chevalier about growing up in Azerbaijan, her experiences with the Moscow Yiddish Theatre and her immigration to the West. A composer, singer and author, Ella Leya’s songs have appeared in films such as Ocean’s Twelve. A natural entertainer, Ella will also perform some jazz.

Tracy Chevalier and Esther Freud are two of our finest novelists and are both contributors to Reader, I Married Him – a soon-to-be-published anthology of stories inspired by Jane Eyre. They talk about the creative process, their stories, writing historical fiction, and their latest novels, At the Edge of the Orchard and Mr Mac and Me, with documentary maker Olivia Lichtenstein.

Is the novel an inherently feminine form? And is it a distinctive thing to be a female novelist or is that in itself a misogynistic idea? Focusing on the writing that best illustrates their careers, Tracy Chevalier, Ayelet Gundar-Goshen and Fay Weldon — with literary critic and token male Sam Leith — explore these and other questions such as: where do the voices in their fiction come from, and what does it give them (and take away)? Do they feel connected to fellow female novelists, liv...