World Book Club
Encyclopedia
World Book Club is a radio programme on the BBC World Service
. Each edition of the programme, which is broadcast on the first Saturday of the month with repeats into the following Monday, features a famous author discussing one of his or her books, often the most well-known one, with the public. Since the programme began in 2002 it has been presented by Harriett Gilbert
.
The programme was launched at the Edinburgh Festival
in 2002. The first book featured was Lake Wobegon Days
by Garrison Keillor
.
Until November 2008 it was a half-hour programme broadcast on the last Tuesday of each month in the slot of The Word
, a defunct book programme whose remit was absorbed within the output of The Strand
, the BBC World Service's new daily arts and entertainment show. With the end of The Word and the beginning of The Strand, World Book Club became an hour long programme broadcast on the first Saturday in the month in slots otherwise occupied by the weekly highlights compilation of The Strand. Some repeats are in an edited 30 minute version to fit The Strands half hour slot. The first hour long programme featured Alice Walker.
As well as 'live' radio transmissions and repeats, current programmes can be listened to online as part of the BBC's usual 'listen again' streaming. Previous programmes are archived and can also be listened to online at any time. Some recent programmes are available to download as podcasts.
The producer of the programme, Karen Holden, runs its Facebook
page.
This is a list of the writers who have taken part on World Book Club and whose programmes can be heard online (with the books that were the focus of discussion and date of first broadcast): (p = also available to download as podcast http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/wbc/rss.xml)
Nine winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature have taken part: Günter Grass
(1999), J.M.G. Le Clézio (2008), Doris Lessing
(2007), Toni Morrison
(1993), V. S. Naipaul
(2001), Orhan Pamuk
(2006), Wole Soyinka
(1986), Mario Vargas Llosa
(2010) and Derek Walcott
(1992).
Seventeen winners of the Booker Prize have taken part: Margaret Atwood
(2000), Julian Barnes
(2011), A.S. Byatt (1990), Peter Carey (1988) & (2001), Kiran Desai
(2006), Roddy Doyle
(1993), Kazuo Ishiguro
(1989), Howard Jacobson
(2010), Thomas Keneally
(1982), Penelope Lively
(1987), Ian McEwan
(1998), Yann Martel
(2002), V. S. Naipaul
(1971), Ben Okri
(1991), Michael Ondaatje
(1992), Arundhati Roy
(1997), and Salman Rushdie (1981).
Seven Whitbread (now called Costa) Book of the Year Award
winners have taken part: Peter Ackroyd
(1985), William Boyd
(1981), Kazuo Ishiguro
(1989), Andrea Levy
(2004), David Lodge
(1980), Philip Pullman
(2006) and Colm Tóibín
(2009).
Five winners of the Pulitzer Prize
have taken part: Richard Ford
(1996), Toni Morrison
(1988), E. Annie Proulx
(1994), Jane Smiley
(1992), and Alice Walker
(1983).
Seven winners of the Orange Prize for Fiction
have taken part: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
(2007), Kate Grenville
(2001), Barbara Kingsolver
(2010), Andrea Levy
(2004), Lionel Shriver
(2005), Zadie Smith
(2006), and Rose Tremain
(2008).
Recordings usually take place in London, but sometimes in other places. See the World Book Club homepage for details of time and location, booking a place, or to ask for further information.
- the BBC World Service's daily arts and entertainment programme
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
. Each edition of the programme, which is broadcast on the first Saturday of the month with repeats into the following Monday, features a famous author discussing one of his or her books, often the most well-known one, with the public. Since the programme began in 2002 it has been presented by Harriett Gilbert
Harriett Gilbert
Harriett Sarah Gilbert is an English writer, academic and broadcaster, particularly of arts and book programmes on the BBC World Service. She is the daughter of the writer Michael Gilbert...
.
History
World Book Club features a famous writer who answers questions submitted by the public about one of his or her books. It is usually recorded in front of a live audience. Listeners around the world can submit questions before the recording.The programme was launched at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in 2002. The first book featured was Lake Wobegon Days
Lake Wobegon Days
Lake Wobegon Days is a novel by Garrison Keillor, first published in hardcover by Viking in 1985. Based on material from his radio show A Prairie Home Companion, the book brought Keillor's work to a much wider audience and achieved international success...
by Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
.
Until November 2008 it was a half-hour programme broadcast on the last Tuesday of each month in the slot of The Word
The Word (radio)
The Word was a weekly half-hour radio programme on the BBC World Service about books and writers. Its final edition was in October 2008. Once a month its slot was taken over by World Book Club in which listeners sent in questions to a famous writer. Both programmes were presented by Harriett Gilbert...
, a defunct book programme whose remit was absorbed within the output of The Strand
The Strand (radio)
The Strand is the BBC World Service's daily arts show. It was launched on Monday 27 October 2008. It is regularly hosted by Harriett Gilbert, Mark Coles, Anna McNamee, and Bidisha.-Format:...
, the BBC World Service's new daily arts and entertainment show. With the end of The Word and the beginning of The Strand, World Book Club became an hour long programme broadcast on the first Saturday in the month in slots otherwise occupied by the weekly highlights compilation of The Strand. Some repeats are in an edited 30 minute version to fit The Strands half hour slot. The first hour long programme featured Alice Walker.
As well as 'live' radio transmissions and repeats, current programmes can be listened to online as part of the BBC's usual 'listen again' streaming. Previous programmes are archived and can also be listened to online at any time. Some recent programmes are available to download as podcasts.
The producer of the programme, Karen Holden, runs its Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page.
Writers and books
Announced upcoming programmes are (with date of first broadcast):- Peter AckroydPeter AckroydPeter Ackroyd CBE is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award...
- HawksmoorHawksmoor (novel)Hawksmoor is a 1985 novel by the English writer Peter Ackroyd. It won Best Novel at the 1985 Whitbread Awards.-Story:Set in the late seventeenth century, architect Nicholas Dyer is progressing work on several churches in London's East End...
(recording December 2011, broadcast 5 May 2012) - Witi IhimaeraWiti IhimaeraWiti Tame Ihimaera-Smiler, DCNZM, QSM , generally known as Witi Ihimaera , is a New Zealand author, and is often regarded as one of the most prominent Māori writers alive.-Biography:...
- Whale Rider (recording 9 October 2011, broadcast TBA) - Howard JacobsonHoward JacobsonHoward Jacobson is a Man Booker Prize-winning British Jewish author and journalist. He is best known for writing comic novels that often revolve around the dilemmas of British Jewish characters.-Background:...
- The Finkler QuestionThe Finkler QuestionThe Finkler Question is a 2010 novel written by British author Howard Jacobson. The novel won the Man Booker Prize in 2010 and was the first comic novel to win the prize since Kingsley Amis's The Old Devils in 1986....
(recording 23 September 2011, broadcast TBA) - Penelope LivelyPenelope LivelyPenelope Lively CBE, FRSL is a prolific, popular and critically acclaimed author of fiction for both children and adults. She has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize, winning once for Moon Tiger in 1987.-Personal:...
- Moon TigerMoon TigerMoon Tiger is a 1987 novel by Penelope Lively which spans the time before, during and after World War II. The novel won the 1987 Booker Prize . It is written from multiple points of view and moves backward and forward through time...
(recording 2 November 2011, broadcast 3 December 2011)
This is a list of the writers who have taken part on World Book Club and whose programmes can be heard online (with the books that were the focus of discussion and date of first broadcast): (p = also available to download as podcast http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/wbc/rss.xml)
- David GrossmanDavid GrossmanDavid Grossman is an Israeli author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and have won numerous prizes.He is also a noted activist and critic of Israeli policy toward Palestinians. The Yellow Wind, his non-fiction study of the life of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied...
- To the End of the LandTo the End of the LandTo the End of the Land is a 2008 novel by Israeli writer David Grossman depicting the emotional strains that family members of soldiers experience when their loved ones are deployed into combat...
(5 November 2011) p - Lionel ShriverLionel Shriver-Early life and education:Lionel Shriver was born Margaret Ann Shriver on May 18, 1957 in Gastonia, North Carolina, to a deeply religious family . At age 15, she changed her name from Margaret Ann to Lionel because she did not like the name she had been given, and as a tomboy felt that a...
- We Need to Talk About KevinWe Need to Talk About KevinWe Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver, published by Serpent's Tail, about a fictional school massacre. It is written from the perspective of the killer's mother, Eva Khatchadourian, and documents her attempt to come to terms with her son Kevin and the murders he committed...
(1 October 2011 rpt from July 2009) p - Hisham MatarHisham MatarHisham Matar is a Libyan author. His debut novel In the Country of Men was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. Matar’s essays have appeared in the Asharq Alawsat, The Independent, The Guardian, The Times and The New York Times. His second novel, Anatomy of a Disappearance, was published on...
- In the Country of MenIn the Country of MenIn the Country of Men is the debut novel from Libyan author Hisham Matar, first published in 2006 by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Books. It was nominated for the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. It has so far been translated into 22 languages and was awarded the 2007 Royal...
(3 September 2011) p - Colm ToibinColm TóibínColm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
- BrooklynBrooklyn (novel)-Plot summary:Eilis Lacey is a young woman who is unable to find work in 1950s Ireland. Her older sister Rose organizes a meeting with Father Flood visiting from New York. He tells Eilis of the wonderful opportunities awaiting her with very good employment prospects. Because of this she emigrates...
(6 August 2011) p - Henning MankellHenning MankellHenning Mankell is a Swedish crime writer, children's author, leftist activist and dramatist, best known for a series of mystery novels starring his most famous creation, Inspector Kurt Wallander.-Life and career:...
- Faceless KillersFaceless KillersFaceless Killers is a crime novel by Swedish writer Henning Mankell, and the first in his acclaimed Wallander series. The English translation by Steven T...
(2 July 2011) p - Val McDermidVal McDermidVal McDermid is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of suspense novels starring her most famous creation, Dr. Tony Hill.-Biography:...
- A Place of ExecutionA Place of ExecutionA Place of Execution is an acclaimed crime novel by Val McDermid, often cited as her magnum opus, first published in 1999. The novel won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the 2001 Dilys Award, was shortlisted for both the Gold Dagger and the Edgar Award, and was chosen by the New York Times as one...
(4 June 2011) p - Boris AkuninBoris AkuninBoris Akunin is the pen name of Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili , a Russian writer. He is an essayist, literary translator and writer of detective fiction.-Life and career:...
- The Winter QueenThe Winter Queen (novel)The Winter Queen is the first novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels, written by Russian author Boris Akunin...
(7 May 2011) p - Jo NesbøJo NesbøJo Nesbø is an Edgar Award nominated Norwegian author and musician. As of September 2008 more than one and a half million copies of his novels have been sold in Norway, and his work has been translated into over forty languages....
- The Redbreast (broadcast 2 April 2011) p - Javier CercasJavier CercasJavier Cercas is a writer and, since 1989, a Professor of Spanish literature at the University of Girona, Spain. He is a frequent contributor to the Catalan edition of El País and the Sunday supplement...
- Soldiers of Salamis (5 March 2011) p - P.J. O'Rourke - Eat the RichEat the Rich (book)Eat the Rich is a 1998 book by P. J. O'Rourke which explains economics in a humorous way. Its chapters include Good Capitalism , Bad Capitalism , Good socialism , Bad socialism , and an intermission on "Economics 101", teaching facts that your economics professor didn't tell you, including the "ten...
(5 February 2011) p - Bernhard SchlinkBernhard SchlinkBernhard Schlink is a German jurist and writer. He was born in Bethel, Germany, to a German father and a Swiss mother, the youngest of four children. Both his parents were theology students, although his father lost his job as a Professor of Theology due to the Nazis, and had to settle on being a...
- The ReaderThe ReaderThe Reader is a novel by German law professor and judge Bernhard Schlink, published in Germany in 1995 and in the United States in 1997...
(1 January 2011) p - Damon GalgutDamon GalgutDamon Galgut is an award-winning South African playwright and novelist.-Life and career:Galgut was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1963. His family, of European stock, had strong ties to the South African judiciary. When he was six years old, Galgut was diagnosed with cancer, a trauma which he...
- The Good DoctorDamon GalgutDamon Galgut is an award-winning South African playwright and novelist.-Life and career:Galgut was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1963. His family, of European stock, had strong ties to the South African judiciary. When he was six years old, Galgut was diagnosed with cancer, a trauma which he...
(4 December 2010) p - Kamila ShamsieKamila ShamsieKamila Shamsie is a Pakistani novelist who writes in the English language. She was brought up in Karachi and attended Karachi Grammar School....
- Burnt ShadowsKamila ShamsieKamila Shamsie is a Pakistani novelist who writes in the English language. She was brought up in Karachi and attended Karachi Grammar School....
(6 November 2010) p - Barbara KingsolverBarbara KingsolverBarbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the former Republic of Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before...
- The Poisonwood BibleThe Poisonwood BibleThe Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver isa bestselling novel about a missionary family, the Prices, who in 1959 move from Georgia to the village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo, close to the Kwilu River...
(2 October 2010) p - Carlos Ruiz ZafonCarlos Ruiz ZafónCarlos Ruiz Zafón is a Spanish novelist who has lived in Los Angeles since 1993, where he spent a few years writing scripts whilst developing his career as a writer....
- The Shadow of the WindThe Shadow of the WindThe Shadow of the Wind is a 2001 novel by Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and a worldwide bestseller. The book was translated into English in 2004 by Lucia Graves and sold over a million copies in the UK after already achieving success on mainland Europe, topping the Spanish bestseller lists for...
(3 July 2010) p - David MitchellDavid Mitchell (author)David Stephen Mitchell is an English novelist. He has written five novels, two of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize.- Biography :...
- Cloud Atlas (5 June 2010) p - Richard FordRichard FordRichard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early...
- The SportswriterThe SportswriterThe Sportswriter is a 1986 novel by Richard Ford. It is about a failed novelist turned sportswriter who undergoes an existential crisis following the death of his son. In 1995, it was followed by a sequel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Independence Day...
(1 May 2010) p - J.M.G. Le Clézio - DésertDésert (novel)Désert is the title of a novel written by French author and Nobel laureate J. M. G. Le Clézio, considered to be one of his breakthrough novels. It won the Académie française's Grand Prix Paul Morand in 1980.-Plot summary:Two stories are interwoven...
(3 April 2010) p - John BoyneJohn BoyneJohn Boyne is an Irish novelist.- Biography :He was educated at Terenure College, before heading to trinity college, dublin, and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where he won the Curtis Brown prize. But it was during his time at Trinity that he began to get published...
- The Boy in the Striped PyjamasThe Boy in the Striped PyjamasThe Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2006 novel from the point of view of an innocent young boy, written by Irish novelist John Boyne. Unlike the months of planning Boyne devoted to his other books, he said that he wrote the entire first draft of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in two and a half...
(6 March 2010) p - Andrea LevyAndrea LevyAndrea Levy is a British author, born in London to Jamaican parents who sailed to England on the Empire Windrush in 1948.-Identity and writings:...
- Small IslandSmall IslandSmall Island is a 2004 prize-winning novel by British author Andrea Levy. It was adapted for television in two episodes by the BBC in 2009....
(6 February 2010) p - Kiran DesaiKiran DesaiKiran Desai is an Indian author who is a citizen of India and a permanent resident of the United States. Her novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award...
- The Inheritance of LossThe Inheritance of LossThe Inheritance of Loss is the second novel by Indian author Kiran Desai. It was first published in 2006. It won a number of awards, including the Man Booker Prize for that year, the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award in 2007, and the 2006 Vodafone Crossword Book Award.It was written over a...
(2 January 2010) p - James EllroyJames EllroyLee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...
- American TabloidAmerican TabloidAmerican Tabloid is a 1995 novel by James Ellroy. The novel chronicles three rogue American law enforcement officers from November 22, 1958 through November 22, 1963. Each becomes entangled in a web of interconnecting associations between the FBI, CIA, and the Mafia, which eventually leads to their...
(5 December 2009) p - Alaa Al AswanyAlaa Al AswanyAlaa al-Aswany is an Egyptian writer, and a founding member of the political movement Kefaya.-Biography:Alaa Al Aswany studied to be a dentist, first in Egypt, and then later Chicago....
- The Yacoubian BuildingThe Yacoubian BuildingThe Yacoubian Building is a novel by Egyptian author Alaa-Al-Aswany. The book was made into a film of the same name in 2006 and into a TV series in 2007....
(7 November 2009) p - Günter GrassGünter GrassGünter Wilhelm Grass is a Nobel Prize-winning German author, poet, playwright, sculptor and artist.He was born in the Free City of Danzig...
- The Tin DrumThe Tin DrumThe Tin Drum is a 1959 novel by Günter Grass. The novel is the first book of Grass's .- Plot summary :The story revolves around the life of Oskar Matzerath, as narrated by himself when confined in a mental hospital during the years 1952-1954...
(3 October 2009) p - Lionel ShriverLionel Shriver-Early life and education:Lionel Shriver was born Margaret Ann Shriver on May 18, 1957 in Gastonia, North Carolina, to a deeply religious family . At age 15, she changed her name from Margaret Ann to Lionel because she did not like the name she had been given, and as a tomboy felt that a...
- We Need to Talk About KevinWe Need to Talk About KevinWe Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver, published by Serpent's Tail, about a fictional school massacre. It is written from the perspective of the killer's mother, Eva Khatchadourian, and documents her attempt to come to terms with her son Kevin and the murders he committed...
(4 July 2009) p - Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieChimamanda Ngozi AdichieChimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer.Her family is of Igbo descent. In 2008 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.-Early life and education:...
- Half of a Yellow SunHalf of a Yellow SunHalf of a Yellow Sun is a novel by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Published in 2006 by Knopf/Anchor, it tells the story of two sisters, Olanna and Kainene, during the Biafran War.-Plot:...
(6 June 2009) p - Nawal El SaadawiNawal El SaadawiNawal El Saadawi , born October 27, 1931, is an Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician and psychiatrist. She has written many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of female genital mutilation in her society....
- Woman at Point ZeroWoman at Point ZeroWoman at Point Zero is a novel by Nawal El Saadawi published in Arabic in 1975. The novel is based on Saadawi's encounter with a female prisoner in Qanatir Prison and is the first-person account of Firdaus, a murderess who has agreed to tell her life story before her execution...
(2 May 2009) p - Kate GrenvilleKate GrenvilleKate Grenville is one of Australia's best-known authors. She's published nine novels, a collection of short stories, and four books about the writing process....
- The Secret RiverThe Secret RiverThe Secret River, written by Kate Grenville in 2005, is a historical fiction about an early 19th century Englishman transported to Australia for theft. The story explores what may have happened when Europeans colonised land already inhabited by Aboriginal people. The book is also one of careful...
(4 April 2009) p - Mohsin HamidMohsin HamidMohsin Hamid is a Pakistani author best known for his novels Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist .- Biography :...
- The Reluctant FundamentalistThe Reluctant FundamentalistThe Reluctant Fundamentalist is a novel by Mohsin Hamid, published in 2007.The novel uses the technique of a frame story, which takes place during the course of a single evening in an outdoor Lahore cafe, where a bearded Pakistani man called Changez tells a nervous American stranger about his love...
(7 March 2009) p - David GutersonDavid GutersonDavid Guterson is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist.-Early life:David Guterson was born May 4, 1956, in Seattle, Washington. During his childhood, he attended Seattle public schools and later attended the University of Washington where he earned Bachelor of...
- Snow Falling on CedarsSnow Falling on CedarsSnow Falling on Cedars is a 1994 novel written by American writer David Guterson. Guterson, who was a teacher at the time, wrote the book in the early morning hours over a ten-year period...
(7 February 2009) p - Toni MorrisonToni MorrisonToni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
- BelovedBeloved (novel)Beloved is a novel by the American writer Toni Morrison, published in 1987. Set in 1873 just after the American Civil War , it is based on the story of the African-American slave, Margaret Garner, who escaped slavery in 1856 in Kentucky by fleeing to Ohio, a free state...
(3 January 2009) p - Derek WalcottDerek WalcottDerek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
- OmerosOmerosOmeros is a 1990 epic poem by Nobel Prize-winning author Derek Walcott. Many consider it his finest work.-Overview:The epic is set on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Although its name is Omeros it has just a minor touch of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.The narrative of Omeros is multilayered...
(6 December 2008) p - Alice WalkerAlice WalkerAlice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
- The Color PurpleThe Color PurpleThe Color Purple is an acclaimed 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker. It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction...
(1 November 2008) p - E. Annie ProulxE. Annie ProulxEdna Annie Proulx is an American journalist and author. Her second novel, The Shipping News , won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for fiction in 1994, and was made into a film in 2001...
- The Shipping NewsThe Shipping NewsThe Shipping News is a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning novel by American writer E. Annie Proulx which was published in 1993. It was adapted into a film of the same name, released in 2001.-Plot summary:...
& Brokeback MountainBrokeback Mountain (short story)"Brokeback Mountain" is a short story by American author Annie Proulx. It was originally published in The New Yorker on October 13, 1997, and was subsequently published in a slightly expanded version in Proulx's 1999 collection of short stories, Close Range: Wyoming Stories. The story won an O....
(30 September 2008) p - David LodgeDavid Lodge (author)David John Lodge CBE, is an English author.In his novels, Lodge often satirises academia in general and the humanities in particular. He was brought up Catholic and has described himself as an "agnostic Catholic". Many of his characters are Catholic and their Catholicism is a major theme...
- Nice WorkNice WorkNice Work is a novel by British author David Lodge. It won the Sunday Express Book of the Year award in 1988 and was also shortlisted for the Booker prize. In 1989 it was made into a four-part BBC television series directed by Christopher Menaul and starring Warren Clarke and Haydn Gwynne...
(26 August 2008) p - Chinua AchebeChinua AchebeAlbert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...
- Things Fall ApartThings Fall ApartThings Fall Apartis a 1958 English language novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first African...
(29 July 2008 repeat from June 2006) p - John IrvingJohn IrvingJohn Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978...
- The World According to GarpThe World According to GarpThe World According to Garp is John Irving's fourth novel. Published in 1978, the book was a bestseller for several years.A movie adaptation of the novel starring Robin Williams was released in 1982, with a screenplay written by Steve Tesich....
(24 June 2008) p - Khaled HosseiniKhaled HosseiniKhaled Hosseini , is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician of ethnic Tajik origin. He is a citizen of the United States where he has lived since he was fifteen years old. His 2003 debut novel, The Kite Runner, was an international bestseller, selling more than 12 million copies worldwide....
- The Kite RunnerThe Kite RunnerThe Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it is Hosseini's first novel, and was adapted into a film of the same name in 2007....
(27 May 2008) p - Sebastian FaulksSebastian Faulks-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire...
- BirdsongBirdsong (novel)Birdsong is a 1993 war novel by the English author Sebastian Faulks. Faulks' fourth novel, it tells of a man called Stephen Wraysford at different stages of his life both before and during World War I...
(29 April 2008) p - Jane SmileyJane SmileyJane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained an A.B. at Vassar College, then earned an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the...
- A Thousand AcresA Thousand AcresA Thousand Acres is a 1991 novel by American author Jane Smiley. It won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 1991 and was adapted to a 1997 film of the same name....
(25 March 2008) p - Patricia CornwellPatricia CornwellPatricia Cornwell is a contemporary American crime writer. She is widely known for writing a popular series of novels featuring the heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner.-Early life:...
- PostmortemPostmortem (novel)Postmortem is a crime fiction novel by author Patricia Cornwell. The first book of the Dr. Kay Scarpetta series, it received the 1991 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.-Plot summary:The novel opens as Dr...
(26 February 2008) p - Edna O'BrienEdna O'BrienEdna O'Brien is an Irish novelist and short story writer whose works often revolve around the inner feelings of women, and their problems in relating to men and to society as a whole.-Life and career:...
- The Country GirlsThe Country GirlsThe Country Girls was the first novel written by Irish author Edna O'Brien. It was released in 1960, and later made into a movie.-Plot synopsis:Kate and Baba are two young Irish country girl who have spent their childhood together...
(29 January 2008) p - Umberto EcoUmberto EcoUmberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
- The Name of the RoseThe Name of the RoseThe Name of the Rose is the first novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
(25 December 2007) p - Sara ParetskySara ParetskySara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction.-Life and career:Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa and raised in Kansas, graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in...
- Indemnity Only (November 2007) p - Michael OndaatjeMichael OndaatjePhilip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
- The English PatientThe English PatientThe English Patient is a 1992 novel by Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje. The story deals with the gradually revealed histories of a critically burned English accented Hungarian man, his Canadian nurse, a Canadian-Italian thief, and an Indian sapper in the British Army as they live out...
(October 2007) p - Armistead MaupinArmistead MaupinArmistead Jones Maupin, Jr. is an American writer, best known for his Tales of the City series of novels, based in San Francisco.-Early life:...
- Tales of the CityTales of the CityTales of the City refers to a series of eight novels written by American author Armistead Maupin. The stories from Tales were originally serialized prior to their novelization, with the first four titles appearing as regular installments in the San Francisco Chronicle, while the fifth appeared in...
(September 2007) p - Irvine WelshIrvine WelshIrvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
- TrainspottingTrainspotting (novel)Trainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is written in the form of short chapters narrated in the first person by various residents of Leith, Edinburgh, who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are...
(August 2007) - Richard DawkinsRichard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
- The Selfish GeneThe Selfish GeneThe Selfish Gene is a book on evolution by Richard Dawkins, published in 1976. It builds upon the principal theory of George C. Williams's first book Adaptation and Natural Selection. Dawkins coined the term "selfish gene" as a way of expressing the gene-centred view of evolution as opposed to the...
(July 2007) - Thomas KeneallyThomas KeneallyThomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
- Schindler's ArkSchindler's ArkSchindler's Ark is a Booker Prize-winning novel published in 1982 by Australian Thomas Keneally, which was later adapted into the highly successful movie Schindler's List directed by Steven Spielberg...
(June 2007) - Wole SoyinkaWole SoyinkaAkinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African in Africa and...
- Ake: The Years of Childhood (May 2007) - Mario Vargas LlosaMario Vargas LlosaJorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
- Aunt Julia and the ScriptwriterAunt Julia and the ScriptwriterAunt Julia and the Scriptwriter is the fifth novel by Mario Vargas Llosa. It was published by Editorial Seix Barral, S.A., Spain, in 1977. Set in Peru during the 1950s, it is the story of an 18 year old student who falls for a 32 year old divorcee...
(April 2007) - Iain BanksIain BanksIain Banks is a Scottish writer. He writes mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks, and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, including the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies...
- The Wasp FactoryThe Wasp FactoryThe Wasp Factory was the first novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks. It was published in 1984.-Overview:It is written from a first person perspective, told by sixteen-year-old eunuch Frank Cauldhame, describing his childhood and all that remains of it...
(March 2007) - Rose TremainRose TremainRose Tremain CBE is an English author.-Life:Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on August 2, 1943 in London and attended Francis Holland School then Crofton Grange School from 1954 to 1961; the Sorbonne from 1961–1962; and graduated from the University of East Anglia in 1965 where she then...
- RestorationRestoration (Tremain novel)Restoration is a novel by Rose Tremain, published in 1989. It was short listed for the Booker Prize in 1989 and was the Sunday Express Book of the Year. It was made into a film in 1995.-Plot summary:...
(February 2007) - Yann MartelYann MartelYann Martel is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi.-Early life:Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain where his father was posted as a diplomat for the Canadian government. He was raised in Costa Rica, France, Mexico, and Canada...
- Life of PiLife of PiLife of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age...
(January 2007) - John le CarréJohn le CarréDavid John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
- A Perfect SpyA Perfect SpyA Perfect Spy by John le Carré is a novel about the mental and moral dissolution of a secret agent.-Plot introduction:A Perfect Spy is the tale of Magnus Pym, a long-time spy for the United Kingdom. After attending his father's funeral, Pym mysteriously disappears...
(December 2006) - William BoydWilliam Boyd (writer)William Boyd, CBE is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter.-Biography:Of Scottish descent, Boyd spent his early life in Ghana and Nigeria, in Africa...
- Brazzaville BeachBrazzaville BeachBrazzaville Beach is a novel by William Boyd, for which he was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 1990, and the McVitie's Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year. The book tells the story of a woman researching chimpanzees, Hope Clearwater, and the circumstances that brought her to...
(November 2006) - Frank McCourtFrank McCourtFrancis "Frank" McCourt was an Irish-American teacher and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, best known as the author of Angela’s Ashes, an award-winning, tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood....
- Angela's AshesAngela's AshesAngela's Ashes is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt. The memoir consists of various anecdotes and stories of Frank McCourt's impoverished childhood and early adulthood in Brooklyn, New York and Limerick, Ireland, as well as McCourt's struggles with poverty, his father's...
(October 2006) - Arnold WeskerArnold WeskerSir Arnold Wesker is a prolific British dramatist known for his contributions to kitchen sink drama. He is the author of 42 plays, 4 volumes of short stories, 2 volumes of essays, a book on journalism, a children's book, extensive journalism, poetry and other assorted writings...
- Chicken Soup with BarleyChicken Soup with BarleyChicken Soup with Barley is a 1956 play by British playwright Arnold Wesker. It is the first of a trilogy and was first performed on stage in 1958 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, where Wesker's two other plays of that trilogy—Roots and I'm Talking About Jerusalem—also premiered...
(September 2006) - Ian RankinIan RankinIan Rankin, OBE, DL , is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.-Background:He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath...
- Black and BlueBlack and Blue (novel)Black and Blue is a 1997 crime novel by the Scots author Ian Rankin. The eighth of the Inspector Rebus novels, it was the first to be adapted in the Rebus television series starring John Hannah, airing in 2000....
(August 2006) - Joanna TrollopeJoanna TrollopeJoanna Trollope OBE , is an English novelist.-Life:Joanna Trollope was educated at Reigate County School for Girls followed by St Hugh's College, Oxford. From 1965 to 1967, she worked at the Foreign Office...
- The Rector's Wife (July 2006) - Chinua AchebeChinua AchebeAlbert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...
- Things Fall ApartThings Fall ApartThings Fall Apartis a 1958 English language novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first African...
(June 2006) - Kurt VonnegutKurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
- Slaughterhouse-FiveSlaughterhouse-FiveSlaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a satirical novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim...
(May 2006) - Orhan PamukOrhan PamukFerit Orhan Pamuk , generally known simply as Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing....
- My Name is RedMy Name is RedMy Name Is Red is a 1998 Turkish novel by Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk. The English translation won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2003,. The French version won the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger and the Italian version the Premio Grinzane Cavour in 2002...
(April 2006) - Alexander McCall SmithAlexander McCall SmithAlexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE, is a Rhodesian-born Scottish writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In the late 20th century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and international committees...
- The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (March 2006) - Scott TurowScott TurowScott F. Turow is an American author and a practicing lawyer. Turow has written eight fiction and two nonfiction books, which have been translated into over 20 languages and have sold over 25 million copies...
- Presumed InnocentPresumed InnocentPresumed Innocent, published in 1987, is Scott Turow's first novel, which tells the story of a prosecutor charged with the murder of his colleague, an attractive and intelligent prosecutor, Carolyn Polhemus. It is told in the first person by the accused, Rǒzat "Rusty" Sabich...
(February 2006) - Louis de BernieresLouis de BernièresLouis de Bernières is a British novelist most famous for his fourth novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a promotion in Granta magazine...
- Captain Corelli's MandolinCaptain Corelli's MandolinCaptain Corelli's Mandolin, released simultaneously as Corelli's Mandolin. in the United States, is a 1994 novel written by Louis de Bernières which takes place on the island of Cephallonia during the Italian and German occupation of World War II. The main characters are Antonio Corelli, an...
(January 2006) - Philip PullmanPhilip PullmanPhilip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
- Northern LightsNorthern Lights (novel)Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass in North America, is the first novel in English novelist Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy...
(December 2005) - Vikram SethVikram SethVikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.-Early life:Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta...
- A Suitable Boy (November 2005) - Maya AngelouMaya AngelouMaya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
- I Know Why The Caged Bird SingsI Know Why the Caged Bird SingsI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a six-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma...
(October 2005) - Salman Rushdie - Midnight's ChildrenMidnight's ChildrenMidnight's Children is a 1981 book by Salman Rushdie about India's transition from British colonialism to independence and the partition of India. It is considered an example of postcolonial literature and magical realism...
(September 2005) - André BrinkAndré BrinkAndré Philippus Brink, OIS, is a South African novelist. He writes in Afrikaans and English and is a Professor of English at the University of Cape Town....
- A Dry White SeasonA Dry White SeasonA Dry White Season is a film released in 1989 by Davros Films and Sundance Productions and distributed by MGM. It was directed by Euzhan Palcy and produced by Paula Weinstein, Mary Selway and Tim Hampton. The screenplay was by Colin Welland and Euzhan Palcy, based upon André Brink's novel of the...
(August 2005) - Joyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
- BlondeBlonde (novel)Blonde is a bestselling 2000 historical novel by Joyce Carol Oates that chronicles the inner life of Marilyn Monroe, though Oates insists that the novel is a work of fiction that should not be regarded as a biography. It was a finalist for the National Book Award...
(July 2005) - Carlos FuentesCarlos FuentesCarlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
- The Death of Artemio CruzThe Death of Artemio CruzThe Death of Artemio Cruz is a novel written in 1962 by Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes and is considered to be a contributor to the Latin American literary movement known as the Latin American "Boom".-Plot summary:...
(June 2005) - Nick HornbyNick HornbyNick Hornby is an English novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He is best known for the novels High Fidelity, About a Boy, and for the football memoir Fever Pitch. His work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists.-Life and career:Hornby was...
- Fever PitchFever PitchFever Pitch: A Fan's Life is the title of a 1992 autobiographical book by British author Nick Hornby. The book is the basis for two films: Fever Pitch was released in 1997, and Fever Pitch in 2005...
(May 2005) - Wilbur SmithWilbur SmithWilbur Addison Smith is a best-selling novelist. His writings include 16th and 17th century tales about the founding of the southern territories of Africa and the subsequent adventures and international intrigues relevant to these settlements. His books often fall into one of three series...
- When the Lion Feeds (April 2005) - Ian McEwanIan McEwanIan Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
- AtonementAtonement (novel)Atonement is a 2001 novel by British author Ian McEwan.On a fateful day, a young girl makes a terrible mistake that has life-changing effects for many people...
(March 2005) - Zadie SmithZadie SmithZadie Smith is a British novelist. To date she has written three novels. In 2003, she was included on Granta's list of 20 best young authors...
- White TeethWhite TeethWhite Teeth is a 2000 novel by the British author Zadie Smith. It focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones, and their families in London...
(February 2005) - P. D. JamesP. D. JamesPhyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL , commonly known as P. D. James, is an English crime writer and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, most famous for a series of detective novels starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh.-Life and career:James...
- Original SinOriginal Sin (novel)Original Sin is a 1994 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. It is set in London, mainly in Wapping in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, and centers around the city's oldest publishing house, Peverell Press, headquartered in a mock-Venetian palace on the River Thames.-Plot...
(January 2005) - Paulo CoelhoPaulo CoelhoPaulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist.-Biography:Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical,...
- The AlchemistThe Alchemist (novel)The Alchemist is an allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho first published in 1988. The Alchemist was originally written in Portuguese. It has sold more than 65 million copies in more than 150 countries, becoming one of the best-selling books in history....
(December 2004) - Kazuo IshiguroKazuo IshiguroKazuo Ishiguro OBE or ; born 8 November 1954) is a Japanese–English novelist. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and his family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing...
- The Remains of the DayThe Remains of the DayThe Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro's third published novel. One of the most highly-regarded post-war British novels, the work was awarded the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1989...
(November 2004) - Roddy DoyleRoddy DoyleRoddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993....
- The CommitmentsThe CommitmentsThe Commitments is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, and is the first episode in The Barrytown Trilogy. It is a tale about a group of unemployed young people in the north side of Dublin, Ireland, who start a soul band.-Plot summary:...
(October 2004) - Anita DesaiAnita DesaiAnita Mazumdar Desai is an Indian novelist and Emeritus John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
- Fasting, Feasting (September 2004) - Amos OzAmos OzAmos Oz is an Israeli writer, novelist, and journalist. He is also a professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva....
- My MichaelThe Alchemist (novel)The Alchemist is an allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho first published in 1988. The Alchemist was originally written in Portuguese. It has sold more than 65 million copies in more than 150 countries, becoming one of the best-selling books in history....
(August 2004) - Gillian SlovoGillian SlovoGillian Slovo is a South African born novelist, playwright and memoirist.Her novels were at first predominantly of the crime and thriller genres, including a series featuring the detective Kate Baeier but she has since written more literary fiction...
- Red DustRed Dust (2004 film)Red Dust is a 2004 British drama film starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It was directed by Tom Hooper. The story, written by Troy Kennedy-Martin, is based on the novel Red Dust by Gillian Slovo...
(July 2004) - Ken FollettKen FollettKen Follett is a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels. He has sold more than 100 million copies of his works. Four of his books have reached the number 1 ranking on the New York Times best-seller list: The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, Triple, and World Without End.-Early...
- Eye of the NeedleEye of the NeedleEye of the Needle is a spy thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. It was originally published in 1978 by the Penguin Group titled Storm Island. This novel was Follett's first successful, bestselling effort as a novelist, and it earned him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the...
(June 2004) - Tracy ChevalierTracy ChevalierTracy Chevalier is a bestselling historical novelist. She lives in London with her husband and son.Chevalier was raised in Washington, D.C and graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland. After receiving her B.A...
- Girl with a Pearl EarringGirl with a Pearl Earring (novel)Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 1999 historical novel written by Tracy Chevalier. Set in 17th century Delft, Holland, the novel was inspired by Delft school painter Johannes Vermeer's painting Girl with a Pearl Earring. Chevalier presents a fictional account of Vermeer, the model, and the painting...
(May 2004) - Germaine GreerGermaine GreerGermaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
- The Female EunuchThe Female EunuchThe Female Eunuch is a book first published in 1970 that became an international bestseller and an important text in the feminist movement. The author, Germaine Greer, became well known in broadcast media of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and her home of Australia...
(April 2004) - A. S. ByattA. S. ByattDame Antonia Susan Duffy, DBE is an English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner...
- PossessionPossession: A RomancePossession: A Romance is a 1990 bestselling novel by British writer A. S. Byatt. It is a winner of the Man Booker Prize.Part historical as well as contemporary fiction, the title Possession refers to issues of ownership and independence between lovers, the practice of collecting historically...
(March 2004) - Martin Cruz SmithMartin Cruz SmithMartin Cruz Smith is an American mystery novelist.-Early life and education:Born Martin William Smith in Reading, Pennsylvania, he was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing in 1964...
- Gorky ParkGorky Park (novel)Gorky Park is a 1981 crime novel written by Martin Cruz Smith set in the Soviet Union. It follows Arkady Renko, a chief investigator for the Militsiya, who is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park, an amusement park in Moscow, who have had their faces and fingertips cut off...
(February 2004) - Amy TanAmy TanAmy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...
- The Joy Luck ClubThe Joy Luck ClubThe Joy Luck Club is a best-selling novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco, California who start a club known as "the Joy Luck Club," playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods...
(January 2004) - V. S. NaipaulV. S. NaipaulSir Vidiadhar Surajprasad "V. S." Naipaul, TC is a Nobel prize-winning Indo-Trinidadian-British writer who is known for his novels focusing on the legacy of the British Empire's colonialism...
- A House for Mr BiswasA House for Mr BiswasA House for Mr Biswas is a 1961 novel by V. S. Naipaul, significant as Naipaul's first work to achieve acclaim worldwide. It is the story of Mr Mohun Biswas, an Indo-Trinidadian who continually strives for success and mostly fails, who marries into the Tulsi family only to find himself dominated by...
(December 2003) - Isabel AllendeIsabel AllendeIsabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...
- The House of Spirits (November 2003) - Peter Carey - Oscar and LucindaOscar and LucindaOscar and Lucinda is a novel by Peter Carey which won the 1988 Booker Prize, the 1989 Miles Franklin Award, and was shortlisted for The Best of the Booker.-Plot introduction:...
(September 2003) - Frederick ForsythFrederick ForsythFrederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan and The Cobra.-...
- Day of the Jackal (October 2003) - Ruth RendellRuth RendellRuth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, , who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an English crime writer, author of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries....
- A Judgement in StoneA Judgement In StoneA Judgement In Stone is a 1977 novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, widely considered to be one of her greatest works. The novel is famous in the world of crime fiction for its opening line: "Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write"...
(August 2003) - Julian BarnesJulian BarnesJulian Patrick Barnes is a contemporary English writer, and winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize, for his book The Sense of an Ending...
- Flaubert's ParrotFlaubert's ParrotFlaubert's Parrot is a novel by Julian Barnes that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984 and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize the following year...
(July 2003) - Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
- The Colour of MagicThe Colour of MagicThe Colour of Magic is a 1983 comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series. Pratchett has described it as "an attempt to do for the classical fantasy universe what Blazing Saddles did for Westerns."...
(May 2003) - Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
- The Handmaid's TaleThe Handmaid's TaleThe Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel, a work of science fiction or speculative fiction, written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1985...
(April 2003) - Jung ChangJung ChangJung Chang is a Chinese-born British writer now living in London, best known for her family autobiography Wild Swans, selling over 10 million copies worldwide but banned in the People's Republic of China....
- Wild SwansWild SwansWild Swans: Three Daughters of China is a family history that spans a century, recounting the lives of three female generations in China, by Chinese writer Jung Chang. First published in 1991, Wild Swans contains the biographies of her grandmother and her mother, then finally her own autobiography...
(March 2003) - Doris LessingDoris LessingDoris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
- The Grass is SingingThe Grass Is SingingThe Grass Is Singing is the first novel, published in 1950, by British Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing. It takes place in Rhodesia , in southern Africa, during the 1940s and deals with the racial politics between whites and blacks in that country...
(February 2003) - Hanif KureishiHanif KureishiHanif Kureishi CBE is an English playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, novelist and short story writer. The themes of his work have touched on topics of race, nationalism, immigration, and sexuality...
- The Buddha of Suburbia (January 2003) - Ben OkriBen OkriBen Okri OBE FRSL is a Nigerian poet and novelist. Okri has become the leading figure of his generation of Nigerian writers who have largely abandoned the social and historical themes of Chinua Achebe, and brought together modernist narrative strategies and Nigerian oral and literary...
- The Famished RoadThe Famished RoadThe Famished Road is the Booker Prize-winning novel written by Nigerian author Ben Okri. The novel, published in 1991, follows Azaro, an abiku or spirit child, living in an unnamed most likely Nigerian city. The novel employs a unique narrative style incorporating the spirit world with the "real"...
(December 2002) - Arundhati RoyArundhati RoyArundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...
- The God of Small ThingsThe God of Small ThingsThe God of Small Things is the debut novel of Indian author Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much." The book is a description of how the small things in...
(November 2002) - Martin AmisMartin AmisMartin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...
- MoneyMoney (novel)Money: A Suicide Note is a 1984 novel by Martin Amis. Time magazine included the novel in its "100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present".-Plot summary:...
(October 2002) - Garrison KeillorGarrison KeillorGary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
- Lake Wobegon DaysLake Wobegon DaysLake Wobegon Days is a novel by Garrison Keillor, first published in hardcover by Viking in 1985. Based on material from his radio show A Prairie Home Companion, the book brought Keillor's work to a much wider audience and achieved international success...
(September 2002)
Prize winners
Many winners of the major literary prizes have taken part in the programme, for instance:- Nobel Prize
Nine winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature have taken part: Günter Grass
Günter Grass
Günter Wilhelm Grass is a Nobel Prize-winning German author, poet, playwright, sculptor and artist.He was born in the Free City of Danzig...
(1999), J.M.G. Le Clézio (2008), Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
(2007), Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
(1993), V. S. Naipaul
V. S. Naipaul
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad "V. S." Naipaul, TC is a Nobel prize-winning Indo-Trinidadian-British writer who is known for his novels focusing on the legacy of the British Empire's colonialism...
(2001), Orhan Pamuk
Orhan Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamuk , generally known simply as Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing....
(2006), Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African in Africa and...
(1986), Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
(2010) and Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott
Derek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
(1992).
- Booker Prize
Seventeen winners of the Booker Prize have taken part: Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
(2000), Julian Barnes
Julian Barnes
Julian Patrick Barnes is a contemporary English writer, and winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize, for his book The Sense of an Ending...
(2011), A.S. Byatt (1990), Peter Carey (1988) & (2001), Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai is an Indian author who is a citizen of India and a permanent resident of the United States. Her novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award...
(2006), Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993....
(1993), Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro OBE or ; born 8 November 1954) is a Japanese–English novelist. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and his family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing...
(1989), Howard Jacobson
Howard Jacobson
Howard Jacobson is a Man Booker Prize-winning British Jewish author and journalist. He is best known for writing comic novels that often revolve around the dilemmas of British Jewish characters.-Background:...
(2010), Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
(1982), Penelope Lively
Penelope Lively
Penelope Lively CBE, FRSL is a prolific, popular and critically acclaimed author of fiction for both children and adults. She has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize, winning once for Moon Tiger in 1987.-Personal:...
(1987), Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan
Ian Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
(1998), Yann Martel
Yann Martel
Yann Martel is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi.-Early life:Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain where his father was posted as a diplomat for the Canadian government. He was raised in Costa Rica, France, Mexico, and Canada...
(2002), V. S. Naipaul
V. S. Naipaul
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad "V. S." Naipaul, TC is a Nobel prize-winning Indo-Trinidadian-British writer who is known for his novels focusing on the legacy of the British Empire's colonialism...
(1971), Ben Okri
Ben Okri
Ben Okri OBE FRSL is a Nigerian poet and novelist. Okri has become the leading figure of his generation of Nigerian writers who have largely abandoned the social and historical themes of Chinua Achebe, and brought together modernist narrative strategies and Nigerian oral and literary...
(1991), Michael Ondaatje
Michael Ondaatje
Philip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
(1992), Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...
(1997), and Salman Rushdie (1981).
- Whitbread/Costa Book of the Year
Seven Whitbread (now called Costa) Book of the Year Award
Costa Book Awards
The Costa Book Awards are a series of literary awards given to books by authors based in Great Britain and Ireland. They were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2005, after which Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship....
winners have taken part: Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award...
(1985), William Boyd
William Boyd (writer)
William Boyd, CBE is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter.-Biography:Of Scottish descent, Boyd spent his early life in Ghana and Nigeria, in Africa...
(1981), Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro OBE or ; born 8 November 1954) is a Japanese–English novelist. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and his family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing...
(1989), Andrea Levy
Andrea Levy
Andrea Levy is a British author, born in London to Jamaican parents who sailed to England on the Empire Windrush in 1948.-Identity and writings:...
(2004), David Lodge
David Lodge (author)
David John Lodge CBE, is an English author.In his novels, Lodge often satirises academia in general and the humanities in particular. He was brought up Catholic and has described himself as an "agnostic Catholic". Many of his characters are Catholic and their Catholicism is a major theme...
(1980), Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
(2006) and Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
(2009).
- Pulitzer Prize
Five winners of the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...
have taken part: Richard Ford
Richard Ford
Richard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early...
(1996), Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
(1988), E. Annie Proulx
E. Annie Proulx
Edna Annie Proulx is an American journalist and author. Her second novel, The Shipping News , won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for fiction in 1994, and was made into a film in 2001...
(1994), Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained an A.B. at Vassar College, then earned an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the...
(1992), and Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
(1983).
- Orange Prize
Seven winners of the Orange Prize for Fiction
Orange Prize for Fiction
The Orange Prize for Fiction is one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary prizes, annually awarded to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English, and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year...
have taken part: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer.Her family is of Igbo descent. In 2008 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.-Early life and education:...
(2007), Kate Grenville
Kate Grenville
Kate Grenville is one of Australia's best-known authors. She's published nine novels, a collection of short stories, and four books about the writing process....
(2001), Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the former Republic of Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before...
(2010), Andrea Levy
Andrea Levy
Andrea Levy is a British author, born in London to Jamaican parents who sailed to England on the Empire Windrush in 1948.-Identity and writings:...
(2004), Lionel Shriver
Lionel Shriver
-Early life and education:Lionel Shriver was born Margaret Ann Shriver on May 18, 1957 in Gastonia, North Carolina, to a deeply religious family . At age 15, she changed her name from Margaret Ann to Lionel because she did not like the name she had been given, and as a tomboy felt that a...
(2005), Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith is a British novelist. To date she has written three novels. In 2003, she was included on Granta's list of 20 best young authors...
(2006), and Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain CBE is an English author.-Life:Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on August 2, 1943 in London and attended Francis Holland School then Crofton Grange School from 1954 to 1961; the Sorbonne from 1961–1962; and graduated from the University of East Anglia in 1965 where she then...
(2008).
Asking questions or attending recordings
Apart from attending the recording in person, listeners can submit questions beforehand by email, telephone, or using the form on the World Book Club homepage.Recordings usually take place in London, but sometimes in other places. See the World Book Club homepage for details of time and location, booking a place, or to ask for further information.
Quote
Harriett Gilbert has said about the programme,"For a book addict, I have the dream job...On World Book Club, I introduce those writers to their readers, all around the world and sit back while they enjoy themselves. If only Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
were still alive!"
See also
The StrandThe Strand (radio)
The Strand is the BBC World Service's daily arts show. It was launched on Monday 27 October 2008. It is regularly hosted by Harriett Gilbert, Mark Coles, Anna McNamee, and Bidisha.-Format:...
- the BBC World Service's daily arts and entertainment programme
External links
- World Book Club homepage
- World Book Club programme times
- Programmes available on the "listen again" facility
- Programmes available to download as podcasts
- World Book Club on FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...