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‘The voice of the outsider’ – Author Elizabeth Day on writing ‘The Party’

Author Elizabeth Day on the inspiration behind writing The Party and her fascination with unreliable narrators. I started writing The Party by ditching something else. For months, I’d been forcing myself to tell the story of an unhappy English girl transplanted to Northern Ireland in the 1980s, at the… Read More

Brand New Shop Display Packs – Order Now!

We have some brand new display packs available for shops to order, featuring some our most exciting new 2022 publications. If you’d like to order a pack for your shop, email us independentthinking@harpercollins.co.uk or tweet us @IndieThinking with your details and shop address. Pack numbers are limited, so… Read More

Find out how Dr. Seuss makes reading FUN!

Dr. Seuss may not have been an official doctor, but his prescription for fun has delighted readers for more than 70 years. Watch now to discover all sorts of wonderfully Seussian facts and fantastic books! HarperCollins Children’s Books are celebrating all things Dr. Seuss this year! 600 million Dr. Seuss… Read More

Wendy Walker discusses writing about violence in All Is Not Forgotten

Many early readers have been amazed that you’ve managed to write a ‘must-read’ about a topic as difficult to talk and hear about as rape, particularly given the graphic descriptions at the start of the novel – how do you find the balance when writing a darker story? How you… Read More

T.J. Lebbon discuses how his home in rural Monmouthshire inspired the settings in The Family Man

“I think that writing about somewhere real – however fictionalized it becomes – means that you know what it smells like, looks like, and how it feels to stand there” “Place plays a huge part in my novels. I can’t think of anything I’ve written where location and environment hasn’t… Read More

Read: An extract from AN UNSAFE HAVEN by Nada Awar Jarrar

Imagine trying to live a normal life in a world which changes daily and where nothing is certain… Set in contemporary Beirut, An Unsafe Haven is a rich, illuminating and deeply moving novel about a group of friends whose lives are shaped and affected daily by the war in… Read More

When Tiger Came To Tea at Wenlock Books!

Indie Thinking competition winners Wenlock Books talk about the day the Tiger really did come to tea at their bookshop! Pictured right is the winning tweet, and below bookseller Jasmine Denholm shares photos and customer experiences from the day: “On Saturday 27th August the wonderful people at HarperCollins… Read More

“Blaze a trail. Be who you are.” – An interview with Rob Biddulph

“Nothing compares to engaging a child with a story you’ve created. Seeing those eyes light up is a truly magical thing.” Indie Thinking chats to the award-winning picture book author and illustrator, Rob Biddulph. Can you tell us what you enjoy most about creating picture books? Tricky. Making a picture… Read More

The HarperCollins Independent Bookshop Initiative 2017

We’re delighted to launch our brand new Independent Bookshop Initiative 2017 – a three-pronged campaign to support new and existing independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland. The initiative was announced by Group Sales Director, Oliver Wright at HarperCollins’ Indie Thinking Evening on 13th October at The News Building. Read More

Christian O’Connell introduces RADIO BOY

Meet Spike, aka Radio Boy: a new Adrian Mole on the radio for the internet generation. Spike’s your average awkward 11 year old, funny and cheeky and with a mum to reckon with. When he becomes the first presenter ever to be sacked from hospital radio, he decides to carry… Read More

‘Moving On’ – Author Katerina Diamond on potential and possibility in writing

Katrina Diamond talks about inspiration, communication and moving on with writing. Her second novel, The Secret, is out now. I am in the process of moving house, into a much smaller house with my family, right on the other side of town. This has caused me to go through all… Read More

‘It doesn’t matter about the period of the story; much of what occurs is relevant today’ – Author Robert Lautner discusses THE DRAUGHTSMAN

Author Robert Lautner discusses his inspirations for writing new novel The Draughtsman, and how the issues in the book are still relevant today. I’m not a political person. I can play devil’s advocate and I can be the staunchest of supporters, but what I cannot stand is hypocrisy. And who… Read More

Title Picks for Shakespeare Saturday

Are you planning a “The Bard is My Bag” celebration in your bookshop? Following on from the industry-wide Books Are My Bag (BAMB) and ‘Civilised Saturday’ campaigns, The Booksellers Association are encouraging bookshops to celebrate with a humorous twist on the BAMB theme. Saturday 23rd April is therefore ‘Shakespeare Saturday’,… Read More

Author Q&A with Eleanor Wasserberg

Eleanor Wasserberg is a graduate of the Creative Writing Programme at the University of East Anglia. Originally from Staffordshire, she now lives in Norwich. Her debut novel Foxlowe it out on 2nd June 2016, and here Eleanor answers a few questions about being an author. What I’m… Read More

“At that point I only wanted to read books that shook me.” – Katerina Diamond talks to Indie Thinking

The Teacher is the Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling debut novel by Katerina Diamond. Here, Katerina tells Indie Thinking about reading during her childhood and the books she grew up with. I started reading when I was very young: before I got to school. When I eventually did… Read More