NEW DELHI: BBC World News has launched a new season ofTalking Books, the in-depth interview programme featuring international bestselling authors from around the globe.

From Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood to Children?s laureate Michael Morpurgo, American historical novelist Tracy Chevalier to Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid, the 12-part series explores the best of 21st century fiction writing.

The first episode has kicked off with Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose first novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003), was awarded the 2005 Commonwealth Writers? Prize for Best First Book. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction. Chimamanda?s latest novel, Americanah (2013) focuses on romance, race and identity following a young woman?s journey from Nigeria to America.

Presenters Razia Iqbal and Gavin Esler uncover the themes that run through each writer?s work, the characters they have invented and the development of their writing style. It airs weekly on BBC World News every Saturday at 1.00pm and Sunday at 6.00pm.

Mohsin Hamid, the Pakistani author best known for his novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) which saw him shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and has been adapted into a film by Mira Nair is also being featured. His three novels offer a vision of Pakistani modernity that challenges the prevailing stereotype of the country since 9/11. He tells Talking Books: ?The self-help form allowed me to be honest about what I do which is write as a kind of self-help and also allowed me to raise the notion that readers read in part as a kind of self-help too.? 

Tracy Chevalier, a London-based expatriate from Washington is author of New York Times bestseller Girl with a Pearl Earring(1999) which was later adapted into a film garnering three Academy Award nominations. The novel has since sold three million copies worldwide. Tracy?s subsequent works includeBurning Bright (2007), set in the 18th century neighbourhood of poet William Blake. Her latest novel The Last Runaway (2013), visits a Quaker community in Ohio where freedom is limited and slavery is rife.