Writer and publisher Michael Williams, a familiar columnist of this newspaper, has interviewed more authors in Cornwall than anyone else, dead or alive.

That is certainly a bold and unusual claim, but there is no doubting its validity.

When I first met and chatted with him, well over half a century ago on the terraces of the then new Penlee Park football ground at Penzance, he was already interviewing such stalwarts as painter, horseman and motorcyclist Charles Simpson and the contrastingly quiet Wallace Nichols, who had cared for Newlyn Art Gallery and helped John Gielgud and Edith Evans proclaim the glories of the English language.

These were youthful days for this Penzance schoolmaster – and so much more was to follow. He revelled to fall under the spell of giants such as Winston Graham, Daphne du Maurier, Charles Causley, Derek Tangye, great luminaries and personalities, so different in style and manner yet each weaving a thread of gold in the Cornish literary tapestry.

Whether, in his early years of contributing to Denys Val Baker's much-treasured Cornish Review for a half-guinea an article or later publishing his long list of Bossiney titles as a full-time professional, Michael Williams has retained that most amiable relationship with the distinguished authors in Cornwall through the second half of the 20th century.

His pen-pictures of more than 20 authors are captured in the delightful Writers In Cornwall, published by Tor Mark of Redruth. They range from the grandee A L Rowse to the neighbouring "angry young man" Colin Wilson, to the unique John Betjeman, novelist E V Thompson, the clay-country poet Jack Clemo, J C Trewin, Anne Treneer, Mary Wesley, Rosamunde Pilcher , Arthur Caddick and many more.

Unlike so many literary interviewers, he modestly approached his subjects with respect and admiration: delighted to have the opportunity to talk with them. As a result his book is filled with off-the-cuff observations and memories in his personal style.

He writes of the dialect genius Charles Lee – who lodged with my great grandparents at Newlyn.

He also recaptures anecdotes by his writers. Charles Causley, who played the piano with gusto, saw no conflict between writing and teaching, stating: "Those children teach me as much as I teach them. The poet is really talking to himself and other people are lucky enough to overhear."

Daphne du Maurier reminded him to "get maximum publicity for your titles and make sure they're in the shops".

Meanwhile, Winston Graham, who greatly admired Angharad Rees, the Demelza heroine of Poldark, once recalled: "Whenever I invited her to lunch at my club, my popularity leapt. Men would think of excuses to come over and speak to me."

The author comments that on the death of Denys Val Baker national newspapers gave generous obituaries, but lamenting: "Oh, that they had reviewed his books with the same generosity."

And he says that Derek Tangye deserved more attention from the heavyweight critics. "They failed to understand the animals in his titles were often symbolic," says Michael.

There is special attention also to a favourite writer of mine, Crosbie Garstin, of Lamorna, author of the Penhale trilogy and of that colour-filled poem, On Newlyn Hill. His painter father Norman created the classic The Rain It Raineth Every Day and his wife was Lilian, a mayor of Penzance and orchestra leader.

Crosbie was reported drowned in an accident at Salcombe in 1930, when saving the life of a young woman. His body was never recovered. When Michael Williams wrote of this incident in 1981, a Middlesex reader wrote to him of knowing such a man working in the office of a London firm in 1960. He was in his 70s and had admitted to writing The Owl's House and stated that he had written under the names of Crosbie Garstin, John Garstin and Norman Leslie. The correspondent told Michael "he wore beautiful expensive shoes, a legacy of his more prosperous days, not the kind of shoes you'd expect a clerk to be wearing".

Opinions, observations, humour, even an enigma and a mystery, Michael Williams, gives full measure throughout the 50 pages.

Writers In Cornwall by Michael Williams is published by Tor Mark at £3.99.