2018 is the fortieth anniversary of Virago Modern Classics. To celebrate this milestone, Virago have published an anthology entitled Writers as Readers, collecting forty of the wonderful introductions to Virago Modern Classics editions from the past four decades. Essays in the collection include: Hilary Mantel on Elizabeth Taylor, Kate Saunders on Barbara Pym, Alexander McCall Smith on Angela Thirkell, Jane Gardam on Barbara Comyns, Sarah Dunant on Daphne du Maurier, Angela Carter on Charlotte Bronte, Paula McLain on Mary McCarthy, Linda Grant on Beryl Bainbridge, Penelope Lively on Edith Wharton, Rachel Cooke on Stevie Smith, Mark Bostridge on Vera Brittain, Jonathan Coe on Rosamond Lehmann, Maggie O'Farrell on Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jilly Cooper on E. M. Delafield, Julie Burchill on Jacqueline Susann, Carmen Callil on Angela Carter, Sophie Dahl on Stella Gibbons, Diana Souhami on Radclyffe Hall, Amanda Craig on Rebecca West and Marina Lewycka on Monica Dickens, as well as many other Virago Modern Classics treasures.