Advice from our authors

The debut author of the YA novel soon to hit Netflix on discipline, working with Daniel Kaluuya, and the complications of writing about time travel.

Over the course of five years, Sophy Roberts embarked on an unlikely mission: to track down the forgotten pianos in one of the most remote places in the world. She tells us how she transformed it into a book.

From Moby-Dick to The Color Purple, here are the best first lines in fiction.

It's often said that the first line in a book is the most important. But what about the last line? The most powerful payoffs can stop us in our tracks, and suddenly change the entire meaning of a novel. Others can, in a single sentence, shift the focus from the characters onto ourselves. And some can just give us an ineffable sense of closure after a long, emotional read. Done well, a last line can stick in the mind forever.

The Booker Prize-shortlisted author felt “he’d said what he had to say” after finishing The Overstory – until one bestselling author suggested otherwise.

The broadcaster, campaigner and author of The Transgender Issue speaks to the Penguin Podcast about the challenges of writing about marginalisation.