Award-winning author of Cahokia Jazz and Light Perpetual, Francis Spufford, talks to Claire Armitstead about his new novel set in London in 1939, a blend of speculative history and literary adventure with the city on the brink of catastrophic war.

Francis Spufford is an award-winning writer whose fictional works include Cahokia Jazz, Light Perpetual, and Golden Hill, as well as numerous acclaimed works of non-fiction. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. His fiction has been longlisted for the Booker Prize and he is winner of the Costa First Novel Award; the RSL Ondaatje Prize; and the Desmond Elliott Prize.

Former writer and editor at the Guardian, Claire Armitstead joined the newspaper in 1992 and worked there for over 30 years as arts editor, literary editor, head of books, and as editor, Culture. She is the editor of Tales of Two Londons: Stories from a Fractured City; and is a regular commentator on radio.

Photo © Antonio Olmos