Yep, it’s birthday party time here at WWJ Towers and, in a reversal of the norm, we’re giving you a present. Approximately 50,000 presents, actually, for that’s the record number of words this issue contains. It’s our biggest, bestest, magnificentest issue yet!

We start by interviewing an author who’s almost as famous for not giving interviews as he is for his novels – Paolo Coelho. The 100 million selling Alchemist and Aleph author talks exclusively about his life, work and philosophy and makes a triumphantly fitting cover star for our World Literature themed issue.

But that’s not all. We have the story of a play that’s been performed only once in the twenty years since it was written; Catriona Troth explores the Well of Lost Libraries; the Scottish idiot goes back to the Wigtown Book Festival for the third year running; we announce the shortlist of winners for our £500 Cornerstones Critique in Comp Corner; Derek ruminates on the YA bandwagon; Dan Holloway dives into the world of literary blogs; Sarah Bower gives sage advice on scene setting and description and Anne Stormont takes us on a tour of the wonderful and varied world of literature.

We've got 2 copies of Aleph to give away in December's Comp Corner ... FREE entry