Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times.

Today Jonathan spends ten minutes or so talking with multiple award winner Aliette de Bodard about reading and writing during these difficult and distracting times, the joys of reading romance novels, pirates and the South China Sea, and much more.

Books mentioned include:

The House of Sundering Flames by Aliette de Bodard

Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight by Aliette de Bodard

Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders by Aliette de Bodard

Like Froth Floating on the Sea: The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial South China by J. Antony Robert

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Lord of the Last Heartbeat by May Peterson