Hello, I'm Rihanna Dillon and welcome to the Penguin podcast and another episode of Ask Penguin.

The nights are drawing in and as the temperature drops and the fairy light sparkle,

it's the perfect opportunity to curl up under a blanket with a book, all three,

and while away the winter evenings to see you through Christmas and beyond.

But which book? Do you go classical? Everything from a Christmas carol to the nutcracker?

Or maybe nostalgia's what you need? The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper or Philip Pullman's

His Dark Materials trilogy. I always like to go old school and return to the books of my

childhood. Whether you're looking for something full of Christmas spirit for the festive season

or just something beautifully written to reflect the wintry days ahead, then you're in the right

place for some brilliant ideas because I'm going to be canvassing the penguin team to ask them their favourite Christmas

read to see you through the festive season. But before that, I'll be putting your Ask Penguin

questions to a very special author who's joining me in the studio. Her latest work, and indeed

all her many other titles, should definitely be in your winter reading pile.

She published her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, at just 25, returning to that

material in her best-selling memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Her writing covers fiction and non-fiction, short stories, children's books and screenplays.

And her latest work, Nightside of the River, is described as a genre-bending and dazzling new collection of ghost stories.

Jeanette Winterson, welcome to The Penguin Podcast.

Thank you for having me. It's great to be back.

Thank you so much for coming

on. So as my introduction hinted, your writing is incredibly wide ranging. So what is it about

ghost stories that inspired you to write this new collection? Well, it's wide ranging because I've

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