Artists at Work

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Jostein Gaarder Jul 05, 2014

Show notes

In this edition of World Book Club on BBC World Service, Jostein Gaarder talks to Harriett Gilbert about his novel Sophie’s World at The House of Literature, Oslo.

A chart-topping global surprise bestseller Sophie’s World draws us into the world of the great philosophers through the intriguing character of 14-year-old Sophie and her mysterious teacher. As their relationship develops a story emerges which raises profound questions about the biggest questions of all: where we come from, the origin of the universe and the meaning of life.

The prolific and prize-winning Norwegian writer explains to a room full of his readers how amazed he was by the phenomenal success of the novel and how attached he got to his characters as he created his multi-layered tale.

Per Petterson Jun 07, 2014

Show notes

This month World Book Club comes to a surprisingly sunny Oslo as part of our mini Norwegian season to talk to one of the country’s most feted novelists Per Petterson, about his phenomenally successful novel Out Stealing Horses.

Per will be answering questions from a rapt audience here in the elegant canteen of his publishers about his poignant, compelling multi-award-winning tale.

Through passages of often achingly beautiful prose Out Stealing Horses explores universal themes of isolation, loss of innocence, paternal love and sexual passion and the unexpected betrayals that can follow in their wake.

Photo: Per Petterson by Tom Martinsen)

Maya Angelou - I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings May 31, 2014

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Maya Angelou reflects on some of her earliest and most difficult memories and talks about her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in this special commemorative edition of World Book Club from our archive.

Harlan Coben May 03, 2014

Show notes

This month chart-topping US writer and showman Harlan Coben will be talking to Harriett Gilbert and a studio full of his readers about his page-turner of a thriller, Six Years.

Jake Fisher, a lovelorn professor of political science searches out the girl of his dreams who suddenly dumped him for another man six years ago and begged him not to contact her. When he finds himself entangled with a bunch of ruthless killers and criminals from the underworld Jake knows he should back off but passion for his lost love draws him further into a terrifying web of intrigue and murder.

Hear what Harlan has to say about how he creates such tightly coiled plots and why the sound of an upstairs toilet flushing is the scariest noise you can hear.

Malorie Blackman: Noughts and Crosses Apr 05, 2014

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Bestselling British writer Malorie Blackman talks about her page-turning novel for teenagers and young adults Noughts and Crosses.

A gripping modern-day tale of star-crossed lovers which aims to challenge our perceptions of race, power and truth, Noughts and Crosses is set in an alternative world where whites are the oppressed underclass and blacks are all-powerful and, often, all corrupt. An excited audience of all ages gathers to discuss the novel with Malorie Blackman.

Elif Shafak - The Forty Rules of Love Mar 01, 2014

Show notes

This month we’re talking to one of Turkey’s foremost writers Elif Shafak.

She’s answering your questions about her bestselling novel The Forty Rules of Love, an investigation into love, mysticism and the life of the famed Sufi poet Rumi.

Crossing continents and centuries two parallel love stories unfold and lives are turned upside down: Ella, an unhappily married modern day American housewife falls for a mysterious email correspondent and Rumi, the 13th Century mystic encounters his spiritual mentor, the wandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz.

Photo: Mychele Daniau/AFP/Getty Images.

Christos Tsiolkas Feb 01, 2014

Show notes

World Book Club talks to the chronicler of 21st Century urban Australia Christos Tsiolkas. He talks to Harriett Gilbert about his controversial, award-winning novel The Slap which has polarised opinion in his native country and across the globe. In it he presents an apparently minor domestic incident, when a man smacks a badly behaved child, from eight very different perspectives and examines how its aftermath reverberates through the lives and communities of everyone who witnesses it happen.

(Photo: Christos Tsiolkas)

Pat Barker Jan 04, 2014

Show notes

This month World Book Club is in a reflective mood as we mark the beginning of the centenary commemorations for World War One by inviting multi-award-winning British writer Pat Barker on to the programme.

She'll be talking to us about her internationally renowned novel Regeneration, the first in the trilogy which culminated in the Booker Prize winner The Ghost Road.

Also shortlisted for the Booker Prize and now recognised, twenty-two years after its publication, as a modern war classic, Regeneration is a part-historical, part-fictional exploration of how the traumas of war brutalised a generation of young men.

Picture: WW1 patients recuperating in hospital in 1918, Credit: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Brian Aldiss Dec 07, 2013

Show notes

Prize-winning author Brian Aldiss, the grand old man of British science fiction writing, talks about his 1964 classic sci-fi novel Greybeard.

Set decades after the Earth's population has been sterilised as a result of nuclear bomb tests in space, the world is gradually emptying of humans. The remaining ageing, childless population are left to face the fact that there is no younger generation coming to replace them. Instead, nature is reclaiming the earth and Greybeard and his clan wander this strange new and dangerous land searching out a place of safety to grow ever older in.

(Photo: Brian Aldiss, courtesy of Brian)

Albert Camus - The Outsider Nov 02, 2013

Show notes

One hundred years after his birth this month’s World Book Club, will be discussing Albert Camus' seminal novel The Outsider with his acclaimed biographer Oliver Todd, and Professor of French at Sheffield University, David Walker. And appropriately the programme comes from the heart of the Left Bank of Paris to hear from them – at the world famous bookshop Shakespeare and Company overlooking Notre Dame. Here an eager audience gathers in the upstairs attic room where aspiring novelists are regularly to be found sleeping off their exertions in quiet alcoves.

As well as questions from the audience in the bookshop and from our wider audience abroad World Book Club also hears from feted writers from around the world explaining why they think this most startling tale of sun, sea, sand and murder is still one of the great classic novels of our age.

To complement this edition of World Book Club you can listen to a BBC drama of The Outsider and also to The Insider, a new play imagining the story of the silent Algerian characters that appear in Camus’ novel.

Picture: Kurt Hutton/Picture Post/Getty Images.

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