thinner and hopefully on the trains and planes you will see people reading this smaller book. i have read that you work seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year, is that true, do you not even take a day off for christmas day? christmas i would say would be a very light day but generally it is seven days a week. somebody said you are lucky if you find something you like to do and it is a miracle if somebody will pay you to do it. and that is my situation. doing these bookshots, it has been the most fun year of my life, because i love to tell stories and i was blocked with the books i had because i had the alex cross series and the woman's murder club and it was like we don't need any more hardback, so there was no place for me to let my imagination go and now there is. i will have more content than marvel by the end of this year. it is little wonder that you are known as the busiest man in publishing, notjust because of the number of books you write,

but because of the time and the money you spend on championing literacy, why is that so important? for me, the most important thing is getting kids reading. because if our kids do not become competent readers, especially kids at risk, how are they going to getjobs and go to school? if they get through, ten and ii and they are not competent... there'll be a drag on society and the city and all of us, and it will make for a harder life for them and the thing about... as an individual i can't do much to solve global warming or health care crisis, whatever, but as an individual we can all get the kids in our homes reading, mostly, we can help the local school, we can help the local libraries, libraries are a big issue now and how they get funded in england. ijust hope that people will stand up and go,

our libraries are really important, we need the money for libraries. how much does your interest in this stem from the fact that you had a son who was a reluctant reader? well, jack is a bright guy. when he was eight—years—old, that summer, we said you can read every day and he said, "do i have to?" and we said yes, unless you want to live in the garage because we read in our house. but we said this is going to be painless, we'll buy books you'll like, so we've got a dozen books like percy jackson, and one of mine and by the end of the summerjack had read a dozen books and his reading skills went up dramatically, and ultimately they have sat scores in america so a perfect score in reading is 800 and he had 800 in reading, and he is going to an ivy league college. in terms of what can happen, if you take charge

with your children, make it your responsibility. there is nothing more important than a mother or father or grandparents to do than make sure the kids read. it is good you get them out with exercise but they have to be able to read. you are hugely successful, a writer of commercial mainstream fiction, do you hanker after writing the great american novel? i have already — they are just commercial! no, i love what i do. i think it serves a purpose. on my gravestone, "james kept a lot of people up late at night." and bookshots are going to be one of the reasons. bookshots are a revolution. this is going to change the way people read. although she says that she thinks of

it as comic, the comedy is darker than forever. for one of our most prolific and most read authors crock lat was an international bestseller and memorable film. sler an exploration of some of the most troubling relationships between teachers and pupils and the havoc they can sometimes wreak. it strikes me that schools attract you, you like them, don't you?” me that schools attract you, you like them, don't you? i am very fobbed of schools, i taught in them for 15 years and they're wonderful observations of community. the observation here is as i said at the beginning, pretty dark. it's funny, it's touching. but it goes to some very dark places. both in terms of the staff and their charges. some very dark places. both in terms of the staff and their chargesm does. ifound of the staff and their chargesm does. i found that schools are a kind of perpetual stage for tragedy and farce and everything in between.

so many things can happen. it's an unpredictable environment. and that isn't just because of unpredictable environment. and that isn'tjust because of setting, it's because of the age of those involved. you are talking about adolescents going through crises, some imagined, some real and relationships with teachers which are inevitably delicate things. relationships with teachers which are inevitably delicate thingslj think so, yes. it's an intense stage of life, adolescence, you feel things very strongly. you can experience experience things for the first time and they can be powerful that they're completely create an upheaval in your life. i found that they're completely create an upheaval in your life. ifound it interesting to be part of but it's daunting as well because later i realised as a teacher you can really influence somebody‘s life and people remember you and they remember what you said and if it was unfair they will resent it in a way that an aduu will resent it in a way that an adult i don't think would resent. some bad things happen in this book, i will not talk about what they are, it's safe to say you are led into territory that's become more familiar to us territory that's become more familiarto us in territory that's become more familiar to us in the last two or

three years, allegations of sexual impropriety and misconduct and so on and emotional trauma with staff and pupils, did you know that's what you we re pupils, did you know that's what you were getting into when you started? not entirely, no. i think what happened was i started off with a germ of an idea in this book and then in real life operation yewtree started to unfold and i found there was an uncomfortable crossover in what i was writing about and what happened in the world. it became much darker and more topical than i thought it would be. you touch on the question in this book of atmospheres that can develop, rather hysterical ones leading to a kind of almost a witch—hunt atmosphere, or a territory where there are false accusations and difficulties and great damage done as a consequence. it's something that clearly fascinates you, the unfairness that is lurking there under the surface. yes, i think so. also the past and how the past affects the present. and how memory is not inherently a reliable tool, particularly when

dealing with experiences of trauma, how memory can be affected by all kind of things happening in the present day and how memory can sometimes be both unreliable and frightening. the main character has been a teacherfor a frightening. the main character has been a teacher for a long time, frightening. the main character has been a teacherfor a long time, this has happened to him again and again. there's that interesting sense of having seen generations of pupils coming through in his case to learn classics or not to learn, first of all, you clearly adore him. classics or not to learn, first of all, you clearly adore himlj classics or not to learn, first of all, you clearly adore him. i am very fond of him. we are not entirely the same person but i might have grown into him if i stayed at the school in which i taught for long enough. he's flawed in a lot of ways but ultimately he has a good heart. he is warm, he is affectionate. he loves hisjob. he is aware of the consequences of the job that he does. he is aware that he is affecting young lives and he has a strong sense of duty. i also like the fact that he is a bit of a subversive. that he has various

prejudices which is unaware of, he has favourites and he is unaware of this. he is bad with technology. he likes the odd sneaky fag outside when he shouldn't have. one of the interesting things about the way you construct the narrative here is that you have got an older man talking but you have youngsters as well so they're inhabiting but you have youngsters as well so they‘ re inhabiting different but you have youngsters as well so they're inhabiting different — they're inhabiting different — they're inhabiting different — they're in the same place in the school. that's right. i had the benefit of being in that environment for long enough to pick up a lot of voices, to remember the way teenager boys talked, the way older members of staff talked, and so i have borrowed from colleagues, from pupils who are now ex—pupils and watch the whole process with joy from twitter and facebook. you are a great twitter user? i am, yes. a lot of boys say i remember this and read

this book and often they turn up to readings and of course they all think i am writing about them, which isn't quite true, but there are certainly little vinets. it's a dark story but you are having fun. you area story but you are having fun. you are a successful author, widely read, are you irritated when people say you are the chocolate woman? does it sometimes hang around your neck? inevitably a little. i am very grateful for the response to it and the fact that people loved it and i love it too and i am still writing about those characters. what i find irssome, if anything, about those characters. what i find irssome, ifanything, is about those characters. what i find irssome, if anything, is that assumption i will do the same thing. i could go in almost any direction and have done, i am lucky in that sense. you are and you take what i might call the authorial responsibility seriously. you are speaking up for authors and recently you talked about not going to one

na meless you talked about not going to one nameless literary festival because they were expecting all kind of things and exclusive contracts and saying, hang on, authors deserve to be treated in a better way. it's not just about me, about me wanting money or special treatment, com pletely money or special treatment, completely the opposite. i would like is for people to see writing as ajob, like is for people to see writing as a job, it's a profession. and to treat authors professionally and this is particularly important for young authors who have a real difficulty sometimes in getting to festivals because of what it's going to cost them. they don't make much money writing, contrary to public opinion. absolutely. the average salary for professional author is £11 thousand a year, according to the society of authors, this isn't much, not many of us get to write for a living and make a reasonable living out of it. you are an author who conforms i think to one of the wonderful stereotypes, you work in a shed at the bottom of the garden. wonderful stereotypes, you work in a shed at the bottom of the gardenlj shed at the bottom of the garden.” do, yes. you enter a different world when you are there? shed world is a

specific space. it's psychologically important for an author to have a work space, particularly somebody like me who was on a timetable for a long time, it's difficult to manage time and difficult to get into the psychological head space of writing. soi psychological head space of writing. so i think it's important to create a place where you work and nothing else happens, whether it's a shed, whether it's a desk, when i was just starting off i didn't have a desk, so starting off i didn't have a desk, soi starting off i didn't have a desk, so i had two objects that i would put in front of my laptop when i wa nted put in front of my laptop when i wanted to write and that created the work space, wherever it was. sometimes i am working on two at once, in fact nearly always because i have books i write on sunny days and book i write on dark days. this was a dark day book? definitely a dark day book. although it has some glimpses of sunshine in there.” should say it's fun, as well. joanne harris, thank you very much. well, this is about as much snow as ican well, this is about as much snow as i can offer in this weather

forecast. it's going to be an incredibly mild christmas, pretty windy too, especially across scotland, particularly boxing day. it will be stormy there. this is the next storm, storm conor out there in the atlantic. it's a powerful wind storm, it's drawing all of that mild airfrom the storm, it's drawing all of that mild air from the southern climes and is pushing that warm air in our direction. so i would go as far as saying it's going to be warm. temperatures by the early hours of christmas day morning will be around 11 across the south, so certainly not a hint of any frost across the country at this stage. those winds will increase, particularly across the north—west, here outbreaks of rain and for many of us a cloudy gloomy day. sunshine from time to time, butjust in a few areas, perhaps north—east of scotland, to the east of the pennines, i wouldn't be surprised if there is sunshine there. you can see rain pushing

through scotland and northern ireland and these temperatures, 13, 14, ireland and these temperatures, 13, 1a, even a slim chance we could get up 1a, even a slim chance we could get up to 15. the rest of the south and the south—west, plymouth also around 13 with a few spots of rain. that's how it will continue through the rest of christmas day. one thing that is going to happen is it's going to cool off in the north. turning colder across the north of scotland. this is storm conor at this stage, there is a chance of some wintriness, particularly across the hills. more disruptive will be the gusts of wind, gales up to 80mph across the northern isles and the north of scotland. and very windy elsewhere. this is boxing day. another blustery day with some rain in the north and bits and pieces of rain across wales and the south—west. again look at the temperatures, double figures from the southall the way to the north, evenin the southall the way to the north, even in shetland and orkney. then beyond that after all of this

windy weather, it's going to calm down. high pressure builds and u nfortu nately down. high pressure builds and unfortunately it looks as though fog could be the problem on tuesday and wednesday, particularly in the morning. some sunshine around but frost and fog could prove to be a hazard. bye. if this is bbc news. i'm reeta chakrabarti. the headlines at eight: authorities in tunisia arrest three people suspected of being part of a terror cell connected to the berlin christmas market attacker, anis amri. a man and woman have appeared in court in london charged with making preparations for a terrorist attack. israel condemns as shameful a un security council vote calling for an end to settlements on occupied palestinian land. tributes are paid to the status quo guitarist rick pariftt, who has died in hospital in spain at the age of 68. also in the next hour: the prime minister calls for unity

after the brexit vote. in herfirst christmas message, theresa may urges britain to move forward as the country prepares to leave the eu. merry christmas, everybody.