Dave Eggers draws on his lifelong friendships in Contrapposto

Why American author Dave Eggers' new novel Contrapposto has taken over 20 years to write, and debut novelist Maria Takolander takes us to a future world ravaged by climate change in which she says "there's no time for romance, but always time for love." Firstly, Dave Eggers is the celebrated author of the memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and his many novels, including The Circle and You Shall Know Our Velocity! There are also children's books and he's the founder of the publishing house and literary journal McSweeney's. But did you know that he's also an artist? His novel Contrapposto is about two friends in the American Midwest with big artistic dreams and what it takes to realise their ambitions. The book includes a number of nude illustrations and Eggers tells Claire Nichols why he wants to maintain the mystery about who created them. Then, Australian poet Maria Takolander explains how Elon Musk's plans for the Moon and Mars fuelled her debut novel The End of Romance. It's a haunting dystopian novel set in a future world, where a mother and son struggle to survive in an abandoned house amid societal collapse.