Liaquat Ahamed, author of Lords of Finance, winner of the 2009 Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, talked to Andrew Hill, FT associate editor, about how he went about writing the book. This is an edited transcript.

Andrew Hill: One of the things that intrigued all of us who were involved in the prize was how you found the time to produce a book of such high quality and depth in between all your other roles?