William Boyd

William Boyd's books include A Good Man in Africa, winner of the Whitbread Award and the Somerset Maugham Award; An Ice-Cream War, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Brazzaville Beach, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; Any Human Heart, winner of the Prix Jean Monnet; Restless, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year; and Ordinary Thunderstorms.

From the author's 2007 Q & A with Rosanna Greenstreet in the Guardian:

What is your favourite book?

The collected stories of Anton Chekhov.
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What is your favourite word?

It changes all the time. At the moment 'luminosity'. Last week 'riverine'.
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Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

William Shakespeare, Percy Shelley, Anton Chekhov, Elizabeth Bishop, Louise Brooks, Barbara Skelton.
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What keeps you awake at night?

The human condition.

Read the complete Q & A.

Learn about the importance of his characters' names to Boyd.

--Marshal Zeringue