At 14 Julie Burchill fell in love. Not with a boy, but “with a whole race of people – the Jews”. The journalist and novelist has been learning Hebrew and even chose Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, as her single record choice for Desert Island Discs. Unchosen, which will be published in spring 2014 through crowdfunding, is all about this love affair. In a special pre-publication event the inveterate nonconformist shares with Tanya Gold why she’s such a fan.

Doyennes of the media and stage, Melanie Phillips and Maureen Lipman, explore their politics, passions, writing, journalism and broadcasting, coinciding with the print publication of Melanie Phillips’ memoir, Guardian Angel, and her first novel, The Legacy.

Steven Morris has always cooked; his photographer son Rick Pushinsky has always eaten. Just Not Kosher is a stunning collection of recipe cards that began as a family archive of Steven’s 60 years of ‘making a mess in the kitchen’. For Rick, this repository was not just a set of instructions for his father’s favourite dishes; it represented the entire story of his family, told one tablespoon at a time.

International bestselling author and historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore selects over 100 letters, from Rameses, Suleiman the Magnificent and Elizabeth I, to Stalin, Emmeline Pankhurst and Leonard Cohen, from ancient times to the present. He examines human strength and frailty, presenting the most intimate thoughts of visionaries, artists and great leaders. Montefiore, a master storyteller, discusses with Tanya Gold why these letters are essential reading: how they enlighten our past, enrich the...

Food: a subject close to our hearts and souls, as well as our stomachs. Two award-winning foodies —  journalist and Spectator restaurant critic, Tanya Gold, and journalist, broadcaster and Observer food critic Jay Rayner — and one incredibly successful restaurateur, Jeremy King of Corbin & King – talk about subjects including why the people of the book became so passionate about what we put into our bodies; the role of the food critic in today’s society...