This month, Ryan Van Winkle and our own Sasha de Buyl interview best-selling YA authors Garth Nix (@garthnix), Leigh Bardugo (@LBardugo) and David Levithan (@loversdiction) about returning to different worlds, crafting a series and creating characters that break the mould.

Garth Nix is the Australian-born author of the Old Kingdom series, the Keys to the Kingdom series and the Seventh Tower series. Written almost 20 years ago, Sabriel was the first book in the Old Kingdom series and told the story of a young girl tasked with making sure the dead stay dead. Though Garth hasn't returned to the world of the Old Kingdom since 2003's Abhorsen, last year's Clariel found him back there, this time several hundred years before the events of Sabriel. Garth talks to Sasha about what it was like to go back, and why he went there again.

Leigh Bardugo is the Jerusalem-born, LA-raised author of The Grisha Trilogy, a YA fantasy series that comprises Shadow and Bone, Seige and Storm and the third in the trilogy, Ruin and Rising. Shadow and Bone tells the story of Alina Starkov, an orphan who has to harness powers she didn't even know she had in order to save her best friend. The novel debuted on the New York Times bestseller list and the series has proved incredibly popular. Leigh talks to Ryan about crafting a trilogy, realising your potential and never taking a break.

David Levithan is the hugely popular American author of a number of YA books, including Boy Meets Boy and The Realm of Possibility, and books for adults including The Lover's Dictionary. In collaboration with Rachel Cohn, he wrote Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which was adapted into a film in 2008. His newest novel Every Day tells the the story of A, a character that wakes up in a different body and in a different life each morning. David talks to Ryan about creating a character without physical characteristics, what makes us ourselves and the nature of love.

Podcast contents

00:00 - 01:02 Introduction01:10 - 14:08 Garth Nix interview14:09 - 22.39 Leigh Bardugo interview22:40 - 36:27 David Levithan interview

Book Talk is produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions.