Julia Donaldson, Iain Sinclair, Gary Bell, Michael Booth

Midweek

Libby Purves meets children's writer Julia Donaldson; author Iain Sinclair; QC Gary Bell and journalist and food writer Michael Booth.

Michael Booth is a travel and food writer who became something of a a cultural phenomenon in Japan after his book Sushi and Beyond became a bestseller. The book, which traces his culinary journey across Japan, was transformed into a cartoon series on Japanese television featuring Michael and his family as characters. Michael is attending this year's Hyper Japan Festival to talk about starring in his own animated series. The Hyper Japan Festival is at various locations at the O2 Arena, London.

Gary Bell QC is a defence barrister who specialises in fraud cases and is known as BBC's The Legalizer. He grew up in poverty on a Nottingham council estate and his career history includes stints as a lawnmower mechanic, fireman and forklift truck driver. He was also a self-confessed football hooligan who was convicted of fraud before turning his life around and becoming a Queen's Council. His autobiography, Animal QC - My Preposterous Life, is published by Monday Books.

Julia Donaldson MBE is former Children's Laureate and the author of over 120 books and plays. Her breakthrough book was the Gruffalo, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which has sold over 13m copies, won several prizes for children's literature and played in the West End and on Broadway. The shows Gruffalos, Ladybirds and Other Beasts - with Julia Donaldson and the Scarecrow's Wedding - both based on her books - are showing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh.

Iain Sinclair is a writer, poet and filmmaker, long associated with psychogeography - the study of the effects of the geographical environment on people's emotions and behaviour. In his new book, Black Apples of Gower, he takes a rare excursion out of London to walk along the cliff-top paths of his childhood in South Wales and rediscovers the Gower Peninsula, a place he first explored in his youth. Black Apples of Gower is published by Little Toller Books.

Producer: Paula McGinley.