American novelist David Baldacci is well-regarded as a prolific writer, having sold over 150 million books worldwide  and inspired film and TV adaptations afterwards.

He's best known for writing legal thrillers and suspense novels - and he's no stranger to tapping into controversial topics, having been subject to death threats in recent years.

He explained limiting himself to safe topics would have negatively impacted his writing output.

"Books can inspire people in many different ways - both for the good and for the bad. I've always felt that if people were angry enough at something I wrote and would threaten to take my life, I'd gotten to them a little bit."

Baldacci is set to speak at the Auckland Writers Festival on January 30th in his first-ever public event in New Zealand.

LISTEN ABOVE