Bookclub

James Naughtie and readers quiz Nicholas Shakespeare about his book, Six Minutes In May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister. It chronicles the dramatic political and military events of 1940 which led to the momentous Norway Debate and Chamberlain’s resignation. Upcoming recordings at BBC Broadcasting House in London: Wednesday 15 May at 1300: Lucy Caldwell[...]

Clare Chambers talks to James Naughtie and readers about her bestselling novel, Small Pleasures. Set in the London suburbs in the 1950s, it tells the story of Jean Swinney, a journalist who is asked to investigate a letter sent to her paper, from a mother claiming her daughter is the result of a virgin birth.[...]

Bookclub travels to Northumberland to meet best-selling crime writer Ann Cleeves. She joins James Naughtie and listeners to discuss her novel, Hidden Depths: Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope sets out to solve two murders which are apparently linked, although there are no clues to connect the victims.Upcoming recordings - 1830 BBC Broadcasting House in London :[...]

Graeme Macrae Burnet joins James Naughtie and readers to reveal the secrets behind his award-winning historical novel, His Bloody Project. Set in the Scottish Highlands in 1869, His Bloody Project explores crime, justice and retribution through the confessions of a young man accused of murder, and an account of his trial.Upcoming recordings at BBC Broadcasting[...]

Marking 200 years since the birth of Wilkie Collins, crime writer, and Collins admirer, Elly Griffiths discusses one of his best known works -The Moonstone - with James Naughtie and a group of readers.Upcoming recording Wednesday 24th January at 1830 at BBC Broadcasting House, London: Graeme Macrae Burnet on His Bloody Project.

Donal Ryan discusses his book The Spinning Heart with a group of readers, It's a powerful, moving novel told through twenty one individual voices. Set in Ireland in the immediate aftermath of the Celtic Tiger 'boom' years, each character reveals how the sudden and dramatic 'bust' affected their lives. At the centre is Bobby Mahon,[...]

Katherine Heiny answers readers questions about Standard Deviation, her hilarious novel about marriage, parenting and the road not travelled. Audra is married to Graham, who is divorced from Elspeth. While Audra is sociable, loving, outspoken, tactless, kind and funny, Elspeth is contained, reserved, controlled and reticent. Despite loving Audra, Graham begins to wonder if his[...]

Bernardine Evaristo joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss Mr Loverman, her 2013 novel about Barrington Walker, a married man with a secret life. Ever since his teens in Antigua, Barry has been in love with Morris and despite both men moving to London, marrying and having children, their love affair has never faltered. Now[...]

James Naughtie is joined by Denise Mina to talk about her book The Long Drop. This intriguing true-crime story is set in 1950s Glasgow when notorious serial killer Peter Manuel spread fear throughout the city. The Long Drop alternates between Manuel's trial and a extraordinary night he spent with Glaswegian businessman William Watt, whose own[...]

Mick Herron answers readers' questions about his novel, Slow Horses, the first in his hugely popular Slough House series. In it we meet the 'Slow Horses’ for the first time; failed spies who instead of being pensioned off, find themselves working in Slough House, near the Barbican in London. Here, they carry out menial administrative[...]

To mark our 25th anniversary, Julian Barnes returns to Bookclub. He’s answering readers' questions about his Booker-shortlisted novel Arthur and George. It's based on real events and tells the story of Arthur Conan Doyle’s campaign to overturn the conviction of a young solicitor, George Edalji,Upcoming recording:Thursday 13 July 1830 at BBC Broadcasting House in London[...]

Mary Lawson joins James Naughtie and a group of readers to answer questions about her novel, Crow Lake. An international bestseller, it tells the story of four siblings, orphaned by a road accident who have to find a new way to live as a family. The story is narrated by Kate, looking back at that[...]

James Naughtie and readers are joined by novelist Sarah Winman, answering questions about her novel Tin Man. It's a moving and intimate portrait of three characters, Michael, Ellis and Annie. They variously fall in love, and fall out of touch, but are always deeply connected. Tin Man is a short and powerful novel about love,[...]

Tan Twan Eng talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about The Garden of Evening Mists. A lyrical novel set largely in 1950s Malay (now Malaysia), it tells the story of Yun Ling, imprisoned by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War, and Aritomo, a master gardener who once worked for the Emperor[...]

Nadifa Mohamed joins James Naughtie and readers to talk about her award-winning novel The Fortune Men. Set in Cardiff in the 1950s, the novel is based on the real-life trial of Mahmood Mattan, a Somali seaman accused of murder. It's a powerful, moving read and a dazzling portrait of a proud, bewildered young man and[...]

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Cal Flyn about her acclaimed book, Islands of Abandonment, an exploration of places which have been reclaimed by nature. She talks about her travels to Cyprus, the Orkney Islands, First World War battlefields in France, and beyond, chronicling the fightback that plants have staged once humans[...]

Historian Ross King answers listener questions about his book Brunelleschi's Dome. An incredible story of one man's determination to build an apparently impossible structure, it's a tale of ingenuity, artistic rivalries, and single-minded obsession. Although building had started on Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore in the late thirteenth century, it wasn't until 1418 that local[...]

James Naughtie is joined by writer A J Pearce and a group of listeners, as she answers their questions about her bestselling novel Dear Mrs Bird. Set in London in the 1940s, it’s the story of Emmy who has ambitions to be an intrepid war reporter, but instead finds herself working as a secretary on[...]

Juan Gabriel Vasquez answers audience questions about The Sound of Things Falling. Set in Colombia, the novel examines the personal and private impact of the drug wars that ravaged the country during the 1970s, 80s and 90s. It's the story of a strange friendship between two men, Antonio and Ricardo, told through Antonio's eyes. He[...]

Curtis Sittenfeld answers listener questions about American Wife, a novel which follows Alice Lindgren's path from school librarian to First Lady, and is based on the life of former First Lady Laura Bush. Our next recording is at Broadcasting House in London on 13th October 2022. Juan Gabriel Vasquez will talking about his novel, The[...]

In a special programme first broadcast in 2013, Hilary Mantel discusses Bring Up the Bodies, her second Man Booker Prize-winning novel with James Naughtie and his Bookclub audience.England, 1535. A one-time mercenary, master-politician, lawyer and doting father, Thomas Cromwell has risen from commoner to become King Henry VIII's chief adviser. He learnt everything he knew[...]

Bookclub travels to Edinburgh where Scotland's Makar Kathleen Jamie answers readers questions about her Selected Poems, and her writing life.Many poems here celebrate the natural world; Kathleen Jamie writes about animals and plants with a forensic and empathetic eye, often focussing on unloved and unsung creatures like daisies, spiders and frogs. In this collection there[...]

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, James Naughtie is joined by an in-person audience who are putting their questions to Kevin Barry, about his novel Night Boat To Tangier. It’s a darkly comic, melancholy novel about two gangsters, Maurice and Charlie, waiting in the port of Algeciras, hoping to spot Maurice’s[...]

John Preston talks to a group of readers about his novel The Dig, a fictional take on the excavations at Sutton Hoo. Set in the summer of 1939, with war looming, the novel re-imagines this celebrated discovery of Anglo-Saxon treasure, The extraordinary finds attracted the attention of eminent professors and national museums but the original[...]

Diana Evans answers listener questions about Ordinary People, her page-turner of a novel about contemporary black middle class experience in the London of today. An absorbing tale of two couples and their family, the novel documents their struggles with identity, parenthood, sex, grief, ageing, friendship and love.Next month's book: The Dig by John Preston. Email[...]

Nick Harkaway answers listener questions about his extraordinary novel Angelmaker. A blend of fantasy, thriller and adventure the novel tells the stories of a young, disillusioned clock maker Joe Spork, former spy, ninety year old Edie Bannister, and the strange events that bring them together.Next month's book: Ordinary People by Diana Evans. Email bookclub@bbc.co.uk to[...]

Novelist Karen Joy Fowler joins James Naughtie to answer listener questions about her Booker shortlisted novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, a surprising story about an unusual family, and the lasting impact of an unconventional childhood. Narrator Rosemary looks back fondly on her early years with her sister Fern, but all is not as[...]

Sarah Moss joins James Naughtie to answer listener questions about her novel The Tidal Zone - a story of healthcare, parenting, and the echoes of the past. Adam and Emma are parents to 15 year old Miriam and 8 year old Rose. One day, Miriam collapses at school: her heart briefly stopped beating. She is[...]

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Stacey Halls about her novel The Foundling, set in 18th century London. It's the story of Bess, who gives up her new born baby to the Foundling Hospital. When Bess returns six years later to claim her child, she finds that her daughter has been taken[...]

James Naughtie and Bookclub readers talk to Abir Mukherjee about A Rising Man, the first in his Wyndham and Bannerjee detective series, set in Calcutta during the time of the Raj. Sam Wyndham is new to the police force and new to India. His sergeant, Bannerjee, offers him invaluable help not only with investigating a[...]

James Naughtie is joined by bestselling writer Rachel Joyce who is answering listener questions about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. This moving, heartwarming story follows Harold as one day he impulsively sets off on a walk from Devon to Northumberland to visit his long lost friend Queenie; despite having no map, no plan, and[...]

The History of Bees by Maja Lunde is set in three different times and in three different countries - nineteenth century England, present day Ohio and Beijing at the end of the 21st century. Each storyline considers the lot of bees and beekeepers: William is designing a new type of hive, George; in Ohio, is[...]

Anthony Doerr talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about his novel All the Light We Cannot See, which won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Set largely in St Malo in the 1940's, It tells the twin stories of Werner and Marie Laure,. They are on opposite sides during World War Two,[...]

Lissa Evans talks to James Naughtie and a group of her readers about her novel Old Baggage.Set in 1928, it tells the story of Matilda Simpkin, who was an activist during the Women’s Suffrage Campaign. Jailed five times, Mattie marched, sang, gave speeches and smashed windows, and nothing since then has had the same depth[...]

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam is set fifty years ago, during the Bangladesh War of Independence. The conflict is seen through the eyes of Rehana, a fiercely protective mother, whose children join the fighting. Rehana, though not a natural revolutionary, becomes involved in the conflict herself, determined to do whatever it takes to keep[...]

Francis Spufford’s novel Golden Hill won the Costa Book Award, the Ondaatje Prize and the Desmond Elliot Prize and was shortlisted for a host of others. It’s been described by critics as ‘a crackerjack novel of old Manhattan’, ‘Like a newly discovered novel by Henry Fielding with extra material by Martin Scorsese’, and ‘utterly captivating’.[...]

Melissa Harrison is an acclaimed nature writer, novelist and podcaster. She joins James Naughtie and a group of her readers to discuss her novel All Among the Barley, set in Suffolk in the mid 1930’s. Centring on the experiences of teenage Edie Mather whose family have been farming the land for generations, the novel touches[...]

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Australian author Liane Moriarty about her New York Times bestselling novel Big Little Lies. Set in the sunny world of Pirriwee Public Primary School in the beautiful North Shore area of Sydney, there’s a dark thread of hidden violence running under the surface of the novel.[...]

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Amor Towles about his bestselling novel A Gentleman in Moscow. The 30 year story of Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov takes in the sweep of Russian history from the period just after the Russian Revolution, through the Stalinist purges, and heading towards Kruschev’s thaw – all experienced[...]

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to award winning poet, novelist and essayist Kei Miller about his Forward Prize Winning poetry collection The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion.The collection is set on Jamaica and structured through conversations between the map maker, trying to organise and lay down history with a[...]

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to acclaimed Irish crime writer Tana French about her novel The Wych Elm, which was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2018, and a Best Book of 2018 by NPR, The New York Times Book Review, Amazon, The Boston Globe, LitHub, Vulture, Slate, Elle, Vox,[...]

Kazuo Ishiguro, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, discusses his novel Never Let Me Go with James Naughtie and a group of invited readers.In one of the most acclaimed novels of recent years, Kazuo Ishiguro tells the story of Kathy, Tommy, Ruth and other school friends growing up in a darkly skewed version of[...]

David Vann discusses his novel Legend of a Suicide with James Naughtie and this month's group of readers.Legend of a Suicide is an intimate and profound account of a family tragedy, told in six linked stories that deal with the complicated misunderstandings between a son and his father, and describes the love, guilt and the[...]

Tayari Jones discusses An American Marriage, which won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019. The novel tells the story of Roy and Celestial, a newly wed and successful African-American couple in Atlanta whose marriage is tested when the husband is imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit.The book tackles the shadow cast by the judicial[...]

Joseph O'Connor talks about his novel of Irish emigration at the time of the Famine, Star of the Sea with James Naughtie and readers.In the winter of 1847, the Star of the Sea sets sails from Ireland for New York. Among the refugees are a maidservant, a bankrupt aristocrat, an aspiring novelist and a maker[...]

Oyinkan Braithwaite talks about her novel My Sister, The Serial Killer, a story full of deadpan wit and dark humour about two sisters in Lagos.Korede is bitter and jealous of her beautiful sister Ayoola, who is the favourite child. A kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where Korede works is the bright spot in her[...]

James Naughtie and Louise Welsh discussed Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

August's edition is a Classic Bookclub - Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped - and is part of BBC Radio 4's ongoing support for students during the Covid-19 crisis. In the absence of Stevenson, our guide to the book is author Louise Welsh, who has written an opera inspired by him. Kidnapped is one Stevenson’s best loved[...]

Scott Turow talks about his first thriller, Presumed Innocent, with James Naughtie and a group of readers. The novel was first published in Britain in 1987 and Scott's books have since sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. The novel was seen as groundbreaking as it spawned a whole generation of legal thrillers. Presumed Innocent[...]

Max Porter talks about his highly acclaimed novel Lanny, which was nominated for the Booker Prize 2019, and recently released in paperback. Max is one of the most exciting literary talents to emerge in recent years, with Lanny his follow-up novel to his 2015 debut, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers.Lanny is the story of[...]

Rebecca Solnit is a leading American essayist and writer. She talks to James Naughtie and a group of invited readers about The Faraway Nearby, her recollections of her mother's advancing Alzheimer's and the power of storytelling.One summer, as their mother was diagnosed with dementia Rebecca's brother decided to harvest all the apricots from their mother’s[...]

American novelist Jenny Offill talks to James Naughtie and readers about her novel Dept. of Speculation.The novel is the story of a relationship between two people whose names we never know. They meet by chance - she’s a writer and he's an artist working with sound. They write to each other and the return address[...]

Marian Keyes talks about one of her most popular novels, Rachel's Holiday.Rachel Walsh is an Irish woman in her late 20s living in New York, but whose life is disintegrating around her. She's lost her dead-end job; her boyfriend Luke has broken up with her; her best friend and flat-mate Brigit can't cope with her[...]

Journalist James Meek talks about his novel The People's Act of Love, first published in 2005, a bold and imaginative work based in the wilds of Siberia where a strange and violent group of individuals come together with sinister results.Set in a time of great social upheaval, warfare, and terrorism, and against a stark, lawless[...]

American author Erin Morgenstern talks about her fantasy novel The Night Circus which has become a cult favourite with readers. James Naughtie presents and an invited group of readers ask the questions.It's the story of a mysterious Victorian travelling circus that only opens at night and is constructed entirely in black and white. Although there[...]

American author Ben Lerner talks about Leaving the Atocha Station, his first novel narrated by a young man living outside his usual experience. Adam Gordon is a brilliant, if highly unreliable, young American poet on a prestigious fellowship in Madrid, struggling to establish his sense of self and his relationship to art. Instead of following[...]

To mark Bookclub's 21st birthday Helen Fielding talks about her creation Bridget Jones, with the first novel in the series, Bridget Jones's Diary. Bridget has now become an iconic figure in modern fiction.Bridget Jones started life as a weekly column in the pages of The Independent in 1995, when Fielding worked on the news desk.[...]

Colson Whitehead talks about his novel The Underground Railroad with James Naughtie and readersThe novel is a devastating and imaginative account of a young slave's bid for freedom from a brutal Georgian plantation in the American South. All the slaves lead a hellish existence, but Cora has it worse than most; she is an outcast[...]

Aminatta Forna discusses her novel The Memory of Love with James Naughtie and a group of readers. The Memory of Love has as its background three decades of unrest and violence in Sierra Leone, Aminatta Forna's father's home country and the one where she mostly grew up.The story deals with two sets of relationships, centering[...]

Owen Sheers talks about his novel I Saw A Man with James Naughtie and a group of readers at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea.After the sudden loss of his wife, Michael Turner moves from Wales to London to start again. Living on a quiet street in Hampstead, he develops a close bond with the Nelson[...]

Gail Honeyman talks about her novel Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine which won the 2017 Costa First Novel Award and has been a runaway success since. Gail was inspired to write her debut novel after reading an article in which a young woman described her lonely life. On the outside, her life was a success,[...]

David Szalay discusses his novel All That Man Is which was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2016. All That Man Is is a meditation of modern man told through the stories of nine men from across Europe, who are all at different stages of their lives.David says the three ages of man was[...]

Louise Doughty talks about her novel Apple Tree Yard, which went on to be a popular BBC television drama. It is the story of Yvonne, a high-flying married scientist, whose personal life is, by turns, erotic and troubled and, eventually, disastrous. Completely out of character, Yvonne has consensual sex with a stranger in the Palace[...]

Richard Holmes talks about The Age of Wonder, his non-fiction account of the Romantic age, as scientific and artistic thinking began to diverge. In the book he describes the scientific ferment that swept through Britain in the late-18th century and tells the stories of the celebrated innovators and their great scientific discoveries: from telescopic sight[...]

Simon Mawer talks about Tightrope, an espionage story featuring the enigmatic agent Marian Sutro which is set during World War II and the years into the Cold War. Tightrope opens as Marian returns to England having survived Ravensbruck concentration camp. She had been parachuted into France by the Special Operations Executive and captured by the[...]

Alice Oswald, Radio 4's Poet in Residence, discusses her collection Falling Awake which won the Costa Poetry Prize 2016. Falling Awake explores two of Alice Oswald’s recurring preoccupations - with the natural world, and with the myths of more ancient civilizations. Alice studied Classics at university and on graduation became a gardener. Homer, she says,[...]

Jessie Burton discusses The Miniaturist, her debut novel which was the subject of a bidding war between 11 publishers at the 2013 London Book Fair. Set in Amsterdam in 1686–87, the novel was inspired by Petronella Oortman's doll's house which is on display at the Rijksmuseum.Jessie explains how she created her own fictional version of[...]

Simon Armitage talks to James Naughtie about his translation of the Middle English epic.

American author Meg Wolitzer discusses her novel The Interestings, which follows a group of friends from teenage years through to middle age and marriage and children.Aged 15, the group first meet at on a warm night at Spirit in the Woods summer camp in 1974. They drink, smoke pot and share their dreams and vow[...]

The Gunpowder Plot by Antonia Fraser.

Andrew Michael Hurley discusses his book The Loney which won the Costa First Novel Award in 2015. Recorded with an audience at the Liverpool Literary Festival and presented by James Naughtie. First published in a print run of just 300 copies by a small press, The Loney went on to win The Costa First Novel[...]

A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary

Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard discusses A Death in the Family, which is the first part of My Struggle, his series of memoirs which have a devoted following.Already a successful novelist in his native Norway, almost ten years ago Knausgaard embarked on a huge project: a first person narrative about his life. In A Death[...]

A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary

James Naughtie and Madeline Miller discuss her debut novel The Song of Achilles which won the Orange Prize for Fiction 2012. In The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller presents a love story against the backdrop of the Trojan war - between Achilles, leading the Greek army, and his best friend Patroclus. Her imagined relationship between[...]

A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary

Neel Mukherjee talks about his Man Booker Prize nominated book The Lives of Others, which explores the way an Indian family's history is disrupted when one member becomes involved in extremist political activism.The programme was recorded in the library at Styal Prison, Cheshire, with a reading group of women prisoners, and with the support of[...]

A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary.

Colm Tóibín discusses his best-selling novel Brooklyn with James Naughtie and a group of invited readers. Brooklyn follows the fortunes of a young Irish woman Eilis Lacey as she leaves home to make a new life in 1950s New York. Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what[...]

A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary

Margaret Atwood discusses her dystopian masterpiece The Handmaid's Tale with James Naughtie and a group of readers. This edition celebrates Bookclub's 20th anniversary and includes contributions from former alumni of Bookclub such as Ali Smith, Eimear McBride and Evie Wyld; as well as the reading group made up of Radio 4 listeners. Thirty three years[...]

A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary

Jo Nesbo talks to James Naughtie about his book, The Snowman.

A treat from the Bookclub archive to celebrate our 20th anniversary.

Sarah Perry speaks to James Naughtie about her novel, The Essex Serpent.

A treat from the Bookclub archive to celebrate our 20th anniversary

Patrick Gale discusses his novel, A Place Called Winter, set at the beginning of the 20th century. The life of Patrick's own great-grandfather Harry Cane provides the backdrop for a fictional story about the character Harry Cane, who leaves behind his wife and daughter in order to keep a scandalous love affair with another man[...]

A treat from the Bookclub archive to celebrate our 20th anniversary

Eimear McBride discusses her book, A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to the renowned travel writer and novelist Colin Thubron about his account of travelling through Russia in the late 1990s, In Siberia.It's the story of how Thubron made a 15,000-mile journey through an astonishing region - one twelfth of the land surface of the whole earth. He[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to Clive James about the first volume of his autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, which has sold over a million copies.Clive James is a poet, essayist, novelist, documentarist, critic, talk show host, travel writer, cultural commentator - and red-hot tango dancer. The audience talk to Clive about Unreliable Memoirs, which covers his[...]

In an extended version, Jennifer Egan talks about A Visit from The Goon Squad.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author Edward St Aubyn, who is best known for his five autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels, which dissect the agonies of family life with honesty, wit and precision. His debut novel Never Mind won a Betty Trask award, while our chosen book is the fourth in the[...]

Peter Høeg's internationally bestselling Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow was the original Scandi-crime thriller. First published in 1992 the novel's runaway success was due to its extraordinary central character, 37 year old Smilla Qaavigaaq Jasperson, as well as the unfamiliar backdrop of snowy Copenhagen and the icy wastes of Greenland. Smilla is half-Dane and half-Inuit;[...]

Patrick McCabe speaks to James Naughtie about his novel, The Butcher Boy

Anne Patchett on her award winning novel, Bel Canto.

Deborah Levy talks about her novel, Swimming Home.

Michael Chabon talks about The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay with James Naughtie and a group of readers. The novel follows the story of the teenage Josef Kavalier, who makes a daring escape from the Germans in Prague in 1939, leaving his family behind. He travels across Europe and eventually arrives at his cousin[...]

Sunjeev Sahota discusses his novel The Year of the Runaways which was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. The Year of the Runaways follows the stories of three undocumented Indian men who share a house in Sheffield. Tochi has fled India after his family were killed in a Caste-related massacre; Avtar arrives on a[...]

Jonathan Safran Foer talks about his acclaimed novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Set in the aftermath of 9/11, it is the story of a young boy coming to terms with the tragedy of his father's death in the World Trade Centre.hen he find s an envelope with the word 'Black' written on it in[...]

James Naughtie and audience talk to Kamila Shamsie about her novel Burnt Shadows

Novelist Barbara Trapido has been delighting readers over a forty year career. In The Travelling Hornplayer (1998) she spins a tale of betrayal, misunderstanding, coincidence and the passions of youth, all with her subversive and entertaining sense of humour.From its haunting start : "Early on in the morning of my interview, I woke up and[...]

John Lanchester talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about his novel Capital, which was a major BBC TV drama in 2015.The residents of an affluent street in London are busy getting on with their lives when one day something strange happens. Every house in the street has an identical, mysterious postcard pushed[...]

American writer Jay McInerney discusses his debut novel Bright Lights, Big City with James Naughtie and a group of readers.Bright Lights, Big City not only cemented Jay McInerney as a superstar among debut novelists, but came to define the culture of 80s New York in all its gritty yet glamorous glory. We follow the young[...]

James Naughtie discusses H is for Hawk with Helen Macdonald

James Naughtie talks to Don DeLillo about his novel Underworld

James Naughtie talks to Evie Wyld about After the Fire a Still, Small Voice

James Naughtie talks to Maggie O'Farrell about The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

James Naughtie and Tony Harrison discuss the poem 'v'

James Naughtie talks to Javier Marias about The Infatuations

James Naughtie and audience talk to Elizabeth Strout about Olive Kitteridge

James Naughtie and audience talk to Michael Holroyd about A Strange Eventful History

James Naughtie and audience talk to Kamila Shamsie about Burnt Shadows

James Naughtie talks to Richard Flanagan about The Narrow Road to the Deep North

James Naughtie talks to Colum McCann about TransAtlantic.

James Naughtie talks to China Mieville about The City and the City

James Naughtie talks to Tessa Hadley about Married Love

David Nicholls talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about his novel One Day

A M Homes talks to James Naughtie about her book May We Be Forgiven

Jon McGregor discusses his novel If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things

With James Naughtie.Doctors work under the oath 'do no harm', but the neurosurgeon Henry Marsh says the decision whether to operate on a brain is rarely that simple.His account of his working life Do No Harm has caught the attention of readers all round the country since its publication a year ago and has this[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to Hisham Matar about his gripping debut novel In The Country Of Men.This international bestseller is set in Colonel Gaddafi's Libya of 1979, as the narrator Suleiman looks back on his childhood summer and tries to makes sense of the bewildering world around him. His best friend's father disappears and[...]

Adam Foulds discusses his Man Booker shortlisted novel The Quickening Maze with James Naughtie and a group of readers.Set in the 1840s, The Quickening Maze tells the story of the poet John Clare, and his incarceration at High Beach Asylum in London's Epping Forest. Run by the charismatic and reformist Dr Matthew Allen, its principles[...]

Wilbur Smith discusses his novel When the Lion Feeds with James Naughtie and a group of readers.

With James Naughtie.Judith Kerr discusses her novel When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. First published in 1971, she wrote it for her son in order to explain the story of her own family's flight from Nazi Germany. Her father was a drama critic and a distinguished writer whose books were burned by the Nazis. The family[...]

James Naughtie's first guest on Bookclub for 2015 is Marina Lewycka.Marina was born in Kiel, Germany, after the war, and moved to England with her family when she was about a year old.Her first novel, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, has sold more than a million copies in the UK alone and was[...]

With James Naughtie. In a special 200th edition of the programme we celebrate the centenary of author Patrick O'Brian and Allan Mallinson is our guide to the first in his hugely popular series of Napoleonic naval stories, Master and Commander. Known as the Aubrey/Maturin novels, the twenty books are regarded by many as the most[...]

With James Naughtie. Poet Blake Morrison talks about his memoir of growing up in Yorkshire in the fifties and sixties, the son of two local GPs. It's an honest account of family life, father-son relationships and bereavement.The book also movingly chronicles his father's death in 1991, and attempted to resolve some of the secrets in[...]

With James Naughtie. Celebrated Australian writer Tim Winton discusses his novel Dirt Music with a group of readers.Tim reveals how after seven years of writing Dirt Music, he was unable to hand it in to his publisher on the agreed date. He felt ashamed of the novel and that it wasn't ready; if he found[...]

With James Naughtie. Recorded at the BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals, Allan Massie discusses his novel A Question of Loyalties. First published in 1989, the book is widely acclaimed as his finest.The novel engages with all the complexities and ambiguities of loyalty and nationality as it follows a family through the divisions in France during[...]

With James Naughtie. Sadie Jones talks about her novel The Outcast which won the Costa First Novel award in 2008.The book is about a boy called Lewis - his childhood and adolescence - as he grows up in the stultifying world of the home counties in the late forties and fifties. It's a tale of[...]

With James Naughtie. The celebrated American writer Lorrie Moore discusses her short novel Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? In the early nineties, Lorrie Moore was wandering through an art gallery when she came upon a painting with this same intriguing title, depicting two young girls looking at a pair of bandaged frogs. Lorrie Moore[...]

With James Naughtie. Emma Donoghue discusses her novel Room with an invited group of readers.Donoghue, an Irish writer living in Canada, tells the story of a five-year-old boy, Jack, who has been imprisoned with his mother in a tiny room - 11 feet by 11 feet - for his whole life. Emma was inspired to[...]

With James Naughtie.Australian novelist Christos Tsiolkas responds to readers' questions about his award-winning debut The Slap. The book generated considerable debate - should you slap a child who's misbehaving, but isn't yours? In this controversial novel Tsiolkas presents an apparently harmless domestic incident from eight very different perspectives and examines how its aftermath reverberates through[...]

With James Naughtie. Celebrated Irish writer John Banville discusses his novel The Sea which won the Man Booker prize in 2005.In The Sea, middle-aged art historian Max Morden loses his wife to cancer and is compelled to go back to the seaside resort where he spent childhood holidays. It is also a return to the[...]

With James Naughtie.Naomi Alderman, listed as one of Granta's Best Young Novelists 2013, responds to readers' questions about her first novel Disobedience.Alderman, herself a product of London's Jewish community, tells the story of Ronit, a young woman who's escaped her Orthodox upbringing for independence in New York. Ronit is forced to face her past when[...]

With James Naughtie.Khaled Hosseini talks about his global bestselling novel, The Kite Runner with a group of invited readers.The book describes how the happiness of an afternoon's kite flying competition in late-1970s Kabul is broken when young Amir fails to help his best friend Hassan avoid a terrible incident. The effects on the duo's friendship[...]

With James Naughtie.Donna Tartt discusses her cult debut novel The Secret History, first published in 1992."I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell."In a rare visit to the UK,[...]

With James Naughtie.Lee Child discusses the first in his hugely successful Jack Reacher series, Killing Floor, and published in 1997. He's now gone on to write 18 books featuring his grizzled action hero, a former military policeman of no fixed abode.Lee reflects on the genesis of Jack Reacher, who appeared when he decided to write[...]

With James Naughtie.Matthew Hollis discusses his Costa winning biography of the poet Edward Thomas, Now All Roads Lead to France.The book is an account of the final years of Thomas who died in action in the First World War in 1917.Although an accomplished prose-writer and literary critic, Edward Thomas only began writing poetry in 1914,[...]

With James Naughtie. The celebrated travel writer Paul Theroux discusses Dark Star Safari. The book is his account of an overland journey from Cairo to Cape Town, which he made 35 years after first living as a volunteer teacher in Malawi in the early 60s. In the programme he talks about the pleasures and hazards[...]

Deborah Moggach talks about her bestselling novel Tulip Fever, a story of love, greed and betrayal in 17th Century Amsterdam.Artist Jan van Loos falls for his married subject Sophia during 'tulipomania'. Prices for the recently introduced flower reached extraordinarily high levels - one bulb could fetch thousands of pounds - and then suddenly collapsed.James Naughtie[...]

Audrey Niffenegger discusses her bestselling novel The Time Traveler's Wife with James Naughtie.It's a romantic story about a man - Henry - with a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel, and the complications it creates for his marriage to Clare.The book opens when they meet in a Chicago library, and they both understand[...]

Jim Crace talks about his novel Quarantine. The novel is a re-working of the biblical account of Jesus' forty days spent in the wilderness; and, he says, has its roots in a 'Care in the Community' hostel in Moseley, Birmingham.First published in 1997, it was shortlisted for that year's Booker Prize for Fiction.James Naughtie presents[...]

The National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke discusses her collection Ice which was shortlisted for last year's TS Eliot prize.Inspired by the snowy winters of 2009 and 2010, the poems in Ice move through the seasons : from Gillian's experience of being snowed in to the sound of an icicle as it begins to melt.[...]

Turkey's leading female novelist Elif Shafak discusses her novel The Forty Rules of Love.The novel is about finding love and is written in two strands. One is the friendship between a whirling dervish and the Sufi poet Rumi in 13th century Anatolia; the other is about a mother in contemporary America who finds inspiration in[...]

Andrew Miller discusses his novel Pure, winner of the 2011 Costa Prize. Set in pre-revolutionary Paris, the book is a gripping, earthy story about the clearing of a huge cemetery in the area now known as Les Halles.When a young engineer Jean-Baptiste Baratte arrives in Paris from Normandy, he is charged with the huge task[...]

John Simpson, the BBC's World Affairs Editor and writer Hilary Spurling discuss George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, as part of the Radio 4 Real Orwell Season. Homage to Catalonia was first published in 1938 and is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War. This[...]

Ben Macintyre discusses Agent Zigzag - his bestselling book on the true story of a professional criminal named Eddie Chapman, a successful British double agent who infiltrated the Nazi intelligence services during World War II.A notorious safe-breaker before the war, Chapman duped the Germans so successfully that he was awarded their highest decoration, the Iron[...]

Sathnam Sanghera discusses his memoir The Boy With The Topknot, which won the 2009 Mind Book of the Year.Born to Punjabi parents in the West Midlands, the book is his account of his childhood in 1980s Wolverhampton. The youngest of a Sikh family, it wasn't until he was 24 that he discovered his mother had[...]

David Almond talks about his prize winning novel, Skellig, which is loved by children and adults alike.Skellig is the story of what happens when a Newcastle boy finds a strange man living in the garage of his new home.Michael sets out to help the ill Skellig recover. With him is his new unconventional friend Mina,[...]

American writer Marilynne Robinson talks to James Naughtie and readers about her novel Gilead, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.Marilynne Robinson enjoyed great success with her first novel, Housekeeping, when it was published in 1980. She reveals to Bookclub why there was a gap of twenty-four years before she was able to write Gilead, her[...]

Victoria Hislop talks to James Naughtie and readers about her debut novel The Island, a fictional account of a real life leper colony, the island of Spinalonga, just off the coast of Crete. First published in 2005, The Island has now sold over a million copies.Victoria says that when she first went to Spinalonga, as[...]

Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje talks to James Naughtie and readers about his 1992 Booker prize-winning novel The English Patient.The novel tells the story of the entanglement of four damaged lives in an Italian villa as the Second World War ends. The exhausted nurse Hana, the maimed thief Caravaggio, the bomb disposal expert Kip who are[...]

To celebrate the centenary of novelist Elizabeth Taylor, David Baddiel is our guide to her best known book, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont. Like many writers, David Baddiel thinks that Elizabeth Taylor has been overlooked and is one of the finest writers of the middle of the twentieth century. He has called her 'the missing[...]

Philippa Gregory, queen of historical fiction, talks about her best-selling tale of lust, jealousy and betrayal, The Other Boleyn Girl. James Naughtie presents and a group of readers ask the questions.The novel charts the lives of Anne Boleyn, and her sister Mary, thought to be the mistress of Henry VIII before Anne.Each in their turn[...]

Ross Raisin is a young writer who won much praise for his debut novel God's Own Country in 2008. He discusses the book with James Naughtie and a group of readers.It's the story of Sam Marsdyke who's a troubled nineteen year old young man living on a remote farm in the North Yorkshire Moors. It's[...]

Anne Enright talks to James Naughtie and readers about her 2007 Man Booker prize-winning novel The Gathering.The book was the surprise win of that year - beating Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach. Chair of Judges Howard Davies proclaimed the novel had one of the best closing sentences of any he had ever read.The Gathering of[...]

Alan Hollinghurst talks to James Naughtie and readers about his 2004 Man Booker prize-winning novel The Line of Beauty.Framed by the general elections of 1983 and 1987 which returned Margaret Thatcher to power, The Line of Beauty is a story of love, class, sex and money - and AIDs. It won praise for the way[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to the American writer and artist Art Spiegelman about his graphic novel Maus.First published in short frames in his experimental comic RAW in the 1970s, Maus the book has become a publishing phenomenon, selling over two million copies world wide.It tells the story of his parents, Vladek and Anja Spiegelman,[...]

Hunter Davies talks to James Naughtie and readers about his biography of The Beatles, first published in 1968. Recorded at the Cavern, Liverpool.In 1966-68 Hunter Davies spent eighteen months with the Beatles at the peak of their powers. As their only ever authorised biographer he had unparalleled access - not just to John, Paul, George[...]

December's Bookclub author is Sebastian Barry. Well known as a successful dramatist and novelist, his literary career became stellar when he won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year Award with this month's chosen book, The Secret Scripture; and he is considered one of Ireland's greatest living writers.The novel is told by Roseanne, who is[...]

Iain Banks meets James Naughtie and readers at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh to talk about his debut novel The Wasp Factory, first published in 1984.This shocking novel is an insight into the life of sixteen year old Frank, a brutal and disturbed teenager who enjoys killing animal and insects all too much.[...]

Arundhati Roy talks to James Naughtie and readers about her Booker prize winning novel The God of Small Things.It's Arundhati Roy's first and so far only book of fiction and it took the literary world by storm, winning the Booker Prize in 1997. It's a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives[...]

Mohsin Hamid talks to James Naughtie and readers about his bestselling book The Reluctant Fundamentalist. This edition of Bookclub will be broadcast just two days after the novel has been featured as Radio 4's Book at Bedtime, and it's a timely choice as we approach the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Shortlisted for the Man Booker[...]

Donna Leon talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about the first in her hugely successful crime series set in Venice, Death At La Fenice.The book launched the career of her fictional detective, Commissario Guido Brunetti in the early 1990s, and he is now beloved by readers. Like an Italian Maigret, he's a[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to William Fiennes about his memoir The Music Room.The book is his account of growing up in a castle with an epileptic brother. It's an honest yet discrete story of a fascinating family and how they deal with the eldest brother's struggle with epilepsy. In his upbeat moments, Richard brims[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to American writer Nicole Krauss, shortlisted for this year's Orange Prize.Our chosen novel is her critically acclaimed The History of Love.It's a complex tale of loss - a lost manuscript, lost homelands, characters grieving for lost loved ones. There are four separate narrators who are all drawn to the lost[...]

Andrew O'Hagan is a rising star in the literary world. He joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss his novel Be Near Me, the story of Father David, an aesthetic English Catholic priest working in a working class community in Ayrshire.This is a poignant story of a man who doesn't fit in. Father David is[...]

Recorded at the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry/City of Derry, James Naughtie and readers talk to one of Ireland's finest writers - Jennifer Johnston. Now in her eighties, Jennifer has been called 'The Quiet Woman' of Irish literature. Her distinguished career has spanned more than 40 years and has netted the Whitbread Prize among her[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to Benjamin Zephaniah, the poet and novelist who's equally popular with both adults and children. Our chosen novel is Refugee Boy, written for young adults. Benjamin is perhaps best known for his performance poetry with a political edge, but he has also written novels for young people. Benjamin is interested[...]

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to journalist Tim Butcher about his bestselling travel book Blood River. When Tim Butcher was appointed the Daily Telegraph's correspondent to South Africa in 2000, he became obsessed with the Democratic Republic of Congo. This vast country dominated a map of Africa on his office wall and[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to this year's Man Booker prize winner - Howard Jacobson. The chosen book for this edition of Bookclub is the one he says he wants people to read : The Mighty Walzer, first published in 1999.Peculiarly, it is a comic novel about the joy and despair of table tennis. It's[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to Sarah Hall about her novel The Carhullan Army, recorded at the Chapter and Verse Literature Festival in Liverpool.Sarah Hall is being tipped as one of the most interesting up and coming novelists of her generation. By the age of thirty-five she had already been shortlisted for the Man Booker[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to award winning biographer Claire Tomalin about her life of Thomas Hardy - The Time-Torn Man.Claire Tomalin is celebrated for her ability to create an intimacy of her subjects' life, whether it's Samuel Pepys, Jane Austen, Dickens's mistress Nelly Ternan or in this edition of Bookclub, the author and poet[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to the Irish writer Roddy Doyle about his Booker prize winning novel Paddy Clarke HA HA HA. In the novel ten year old Paddy rampages through the streets of suburban Dublin with a pack of like-minded boys, playing cowboys and Indians, etching their names in wet concrete and lighting fires.[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to the Canadian writer Yann Martel about his novel Life of Pi, which won the 2002 Man Booker prize and went on to be a global phenomenon. James Naughtie chairs the programme.October's Bookclub choice : 'Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha' by Roddy DoyleProducer : Dymphna Flynn.

James Naughtie and readers talk to American writer Siri Hustvedt about her novel What I Loved.Siri Hustvedt's novel is part love story, thriller, and part family saga.It's set in New York's glamorous art world, and starts in 1975 when an art historian buys a remarkable painting of a woman and tracks down the artist. The[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to the Swedish thriller writer Henning Mankell about his novel Sidetracked, featuring his detective Kurt Wallander. Henning Mankell's character is now in the pantheon of fictional detectives. Like Conan Doyle before him, Mankell receives letters from readers addressed to Kurt Wallander. They think he's real because he's like us. He's[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to the celebrated author Lynne Reid Banks about her first novel, The L-Shaped Room. It was an instant success and has been in print ever since it was published exactly fifty years ago. It's the story of Jane, a single young woman who falls pregnant. Reading The L-Shaped Room again[...]

Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's most prominent writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Fiction, joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss My Name is Red.The novel is a complicated mixture of murder mystery, fairy tale and exploration of the medieval world of the Turkish miniaturist painter. The novel begins - surreally - from the point[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to Jeanette Winterson about her breakthrough first novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, about a girl growing up in an Evangelical Christian group.This Spring Jeanette is celebrating twenty five years since the book was first published - the question the book has always raised is how much of it[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to Canadian author Douglas Coupland about his cult novel Generation X. First published in 1991, it became a worldwide bestseller and defined a generation. Set during a time of yuppies and youth unemployment, the characters in Generation X are all in their late 20s, highly educated but with no ambition[...]

World-wide bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith meets readers to discuss the first in his series of humorous novels set in Edinburgh - 44 Scotland Street. The presenter is James Naughtie.The book tells the story of the interlocking lives of the inhabitants of adjoining flats in a house in the Georgian New Town of Edinburgh -[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to celebrated American author John Irving about his novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany. The novel starts with a shock - the eponymous hero hits a foul ball in a baseball match and kills his best friend's mother. It then moves through to spooky premonitions during an amateur performance of[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to Linda Grant about her novel When I Lived in Modern Times, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000. Linda is known for bringing a strong Jewish identity to most of her writing. 'Scratch a Jew and you've got a story', remarks the main character Evelyn Sert on[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to Gillian Slovo about her novel Red Dust, a courtroom drama set in post-apartheid South Africa. Gillian is the daughter of Joe Slovo, one of the founding members of the African National Congress, and Ruth First, an anti-apartheid campaigner murdered by security forces in the early 1980s. The novel draws[...]

James Naughtie and readers talk to travel writer and literary critic Robert Macfarlane about his book The Wild Places, in which he sets out to discover if there remain any genuinely wild places in Britain and Ireland. It is an account of journeys that he made to the remaining wilderness in the islands. He climbs[...]

James Naughtie and readers meet the best-selling writer CJ Sansom. They discuss Dissolution, the first in his series of Tudor mysteries featuring the investigator Matthew Shardlake. Shardlake is sent to Sussex to investigate a murder in a monastery, just as Henry VIII is beginning his reformation of the Church.

James Naughtie and readers meet Northern Irish writer Bernard MacLaverty to discuss his Booker Prize-shortlisted novel Grace Notes, which concerns a young female composer very much in a man's world. Now living in Scotland, MacLaverty returns to his native Belfast especially for the recording of the programme.

Orange Prize winner Kate Grenville talks to James Naughtie about her novel The Secret River and answers questions from a group of readers. Told through the eyes of 19th-century deportee William Thornhill and his family as they arrive in Australia, the novel examines the themes of ownership, belonging and identity from the point of view[...]

James Naughtie and readers meet Chinese author Xiaolu Guo to talk about her novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. It is a story about discovery, language and understanding, and how cultural differences can sometimes be too great for a relationship to last.

As he prepares to leave the post, Andrew Motion talks to James Naughtie about his 10 years as Poet Laureate. He discusses his collection Public Property, which was the first to be published after he became Poet Laureate. Some of the poems were written to mark or celebrate events or people. Others reveal some of[...]

James Naughtie talks to the author and part-time stand-up comedian AL Kennedy about her 2007 Costa prize-winning novel, Day, the story of RAF gunner Alfred Day and how he comes to terms with the end of the Second World War.

James Naughtie talks to the novelist Bernard Cornwell. He joins an audience of readers to discuss the first novel in his series set in Saxon England, The Last Kingdom. The novel centres on the story of Uhtred Ragnarson, a Northumbrian boy captured by the invading Vikings and raised as one of their own, who returns[...]

James Naughtie talks to the psychologist Oliver James. He joins an audience of readers to put his case against 'affluenza', a virus which he says is sweeping through the English-speaking world. Written just before the advent of the credit crunch, he points out that the aspiration to and trappings of affluence might be emotionally harmful.

James Naughtie talks to the Indian writer Amitav Ghosh. He joins an audience of readers to discuss his novel The Glass Palace.

James Naughtie and Fay Weldon join an audience of readers to discuss her novel The Cloning of Joanna May, first published in 1989. She has written over 30 novels but maintains that this is the one that she is most proud of, with its characteristic black humour and impressive prescience about the science of cloning[...]

James Naughtie talks to Michael Morpurgo about his novel Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea, inspired by the history of English orphans transported to Australia after the Second World War.

James Naughtie talks to one of the great American men of letters - novelist, screenwriter, playwright, essayist, raconteur and notorious wit Gore Vidal. Now in his eighties but with his acerbity still intact, Vidal joins an audience of readers to discuss his memoir Point to Point Navigation.

Irish writer Colm Toibin joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss his Man Booker shortlisted novel The Master, a fictionalised account of five years in the life of Henry James. James is often thought of as a writer's writer and Toibin's story explores the difference and the tension between the master novelist and the private[...]

With James Naughtie. Norwegian author Asne Seierstad discusses The Bookseller of Kabul, the novelisation of her time in Afghanistan as a foreign correspondent just after 9/11.

Jan Morris joins James Naughtie and readers to talk about her portrait of the city of Venice. The book, simply entitled Venice, was written nearly fifty years ago.

Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie joins James Naughtie and readers to talk about Half of a Yellow Sun, winner of last year's Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

Poet Simon Armitage joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss his translation of the Middle English epic Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers are joined by William Hague to discuss his biography of William Pitt the Younger, who became the youngest ever prime minister in 1783.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers discuss Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus, an erotic thriller set in Renaissance Florence.

James Naughtie and readers meet American author Alice Sebold to discuss her debut novel The Lovely Bones, which remained on the New York Times hardback bestseller list for a year.

James Naughtie and readers meet the 1982 Booker Prize winner Thomas Keneally. The chosen book is Schindler's Ark, which remains one of the best evocations of the Holocaust.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers discuss American author Barbara Kingsolver's novel The Poisonwood Bible.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers talk to James Robertson about his historical novel Joseph Knight, winner of two major Scottish literary prizes in 2003/4.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers discuss Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, which began as a newspaper column and became a best-selling series of novels.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers talk to Colin Dexter about The Remorseful Day, Chief Inspector Morse's last case.

James Naughtie is joined by Germaine Greer to discuss her groundbreaking book The Female Eunuch. Published in 1970, the book changed women's lives and has been in print ever since.

From the Hay Festival, James Naughtie and an audience of readers talk to David Mitchell about Cloud Atlas, the novel that made him an overnight literary star.

James Naughtie and an audience talk to author Jodi Picoult. Her novel My Sister's Keeper is about a young girl who sues her parents for the right to make her own decisions.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers talk to comic fiction author Jonathan Coe, who discusses his novel What A Carve Up!

Eleanor of Aquitaine was the most powerful and enigmatic woman of her age. Historian Alison Weir discusses her biography of Eleanor with James Naughtie and a group of readers.

Val McDermid joins readers to discuss The Mermaids Singing, the story of a serial killer who stalks the gay subculture of a northern town. James Naughtie presents.

The author Jonathan Franzen discusses his novel The Corrections with James Naughtie and a group of readers at the British Library in London.

James Naughtie discusses Miss Garnet's Angel with its author Salley Vickers. The novel tells the tale of a retired teacher discovering love and art in Venice.

Under discussion is the scientist Lewis Wolpert's account of his experience of depression in Malignant Sadness. Wolpert joins readers and James Naughtie to discuss his approach to this debilitating disease.

James Naughtie talks to author Jane Gardam about her book Old Filth.

James Naughtie is joined by author Matthew Kneale, whose book English Passengers won Whitbread Book of the Year in 2000. They discuss this rampant and ambitious piece of writing that deals with big ideas like radical theory, genocide and Darwinism, yet is hilarious too.

In the 100th edition of Bookclub, James Naughtie is joined by American crime writer Elmore Leonard to discuss his book Rum Punch. The novel is set in Florida and features the character Jackie Burke, who became Jackie Brown in the film of the same name by Quentin Tarantino.

James Naughtie is joined by John Berendt to talk about his book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The story tells of what John Berendt experienced in Savannah, Georgia, in the early 1990s when the town was turned upside-down by a strange murder.

James Naughtie is joined by Lindsey Davis to discuss her thriller Time to Depart, about investigator Marcus Didius Falco, a kind of 1950s gumshoe detective, operating in the teeming bustle of Rome.

James Naughtie is joined in Brighton by novelist Ali Smith to talk about her book Hotel World.

Malorie Blackman joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss Noughts and Crosses, her novel set in an alternative reality in which people are either a Cross, with money, prospects and position, or a Nought, with very little.

Lionel Shriver joins James Naughtie and a studio audience to discuss her book We Need to Talk About Kevin, a novel about an unloved son who grows up to commit a horrifying crime.

James Naughtie is joined by American satirist P J O'Rourke to discuss Holidays in Hell, his account of his experiences as foreign correspondent for Rolling Stone Magazine in the late 1980s.

James Naughtie is joined by George Macdonald Fraser to talk about his Flashman books which use Thomas Hughes' bully character from Tom Brown's Schooldays.

American writer Joyce Carol Oates joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss We Were the Mulvaneys, the story of the break-up of a family after the random disaster of a rape.

James Naughtie is joined by historian Antonia Fraser to discuss her book The Gunpowder Plot.

Playwright, screenwriter, novelist and film-maker Hanif Kureishi discusses his semi-autobiographical book The Buddha of Suburbia with James Naughtie and readers.

Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier was Radio 4's Classic Serial in August. The novel cast a spell over a whole generation of French readers in the twentieth century, with its romanticism, its portrayal of adolescent friendship and its evocation of pastoral France. But does it still speak to readers today? Novelist and poet Michele Roberts[...]

James Naughtie talks to crime writer Michael Dibdin in front of a group of readers, about his novel Blood Rain, the ninth in his Aurelio Zen series.

James Naughtie talks to Dr Oliver Sacks about The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, a collection of case studies into neurological disorders, all written from the point of view of the Dr.

James Naughtie is joined by Sue Townsend to discuss the life of her best loved comic creation Adrian Mole.

Andrea Levy, who won last year's Orange Prize and Whitbread Prize for her novel Small Island joins readers to discuss the book.

James Naughtie is joined by American writer Richard Ford to discuss his novel, Independence Day.

The multi-talented Stephen Fry discusses and reads from his acclaimed novel The Hippopotamus, about a failed poet turned whiskey-sodden critic.

James Naughtie talks to author Bill Bryson about his book A Short History of Nearly Everything.

James Naughtie talks to Zadie Smith about the impact of her debut novel White Teeth.

James Naughtie's guest is Carol Ann Duffy, one of the most widely read British poets, talking about her inventive and funny collection, The World's Wife.

Booker prize winner Pat Barker joins James Naughtie to discuss Regeneration, her novel about the impact of the First World War on a variety of characters including poet Siegfried Sassoon.

Will Self talks to James Naughtie and readers about his novel How The Dead Live.

James Naughtie speaks to author Paul Auster about the novellas in his New York Trilogy and their themes of identity, mystery and ambiguity.

James Naughtie and a group of readers are joined by Muriel Spark to discuss her novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

James Naughtie presents a special interview with Terry Pratchett to talk about Mort, his fourth installment of the Discworld series.

James Naughtie presents a book discussion as Minette Walters talks with readers about her new novel The Scold's Bridle.

David Lodge is both a leading comic novelist and a renowned literary critic. He dicusses his novel Nice Work with James Naughtie.

Elizabeth Jane Howard joins James Naughtie and a group of readers to discuss her book Falling, based on a real life failed relationship.

Sarah Waters, creator of Victorian romps, joins James Naughtie to talk about Fingersmith, a gothic tale of crime, swapped identities and mysterious parentage.

Peter Carey joins James Naughtie and a group of readers, to discuss his novel the True History of the Kelly Gang.

Sir John Mortimer joins James Naughtie and a group of readers to discuss Rumpole and the Younger Generation as well as his first volume of memoirs.

Peter Ackroyd joins James Naughtie and a group of readers to discuss, and read from, his spooky novel Hawksmoor.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Esther Freud about her semi-autobiographical first novel Hideous Kinky.

Melvin Burgess joins James Naughtie and a group of younger readers to discuss Junk, his hard hiting novel about teenage runaways and heroin. Recorded at Longsight Library, Manchester.

Edna O'Brien joins James Naughtie and a group of readers at the British Library to talk about her book Down by the River.

Amanda Foreman joins James Naughtie and a group of readers to talk about her hugely sucessful biography of the 18th century socialite, Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire. Recorded at the British Library.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to T. C. Boyle about his novel The Tortilla Curtain.

Sally Beauman, author of the story of the first Mrs De Winter in Rebecca's Tale, joins James Naughtie and a group of readers at the Daphne Du Maurier literary festival in Cornwall to discuss Rebecca.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers meets crime writer P. D. James to discuss her novel Original Sin. Recorded at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in London.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers meet the distinguished novelist Beryl Bainbridge to discuss her novel An Awfully Big Adventure, which draws on her days as an actress in the Liverpool Playhouse.

William Trevor, long recognised as a master of the short story, talks to James Naughtie and an audience about his collection After Rain. Reading by the author recorded at Dr Johnson's House, in the City of London.

James Naughtie presents a discussion with Salman Rushdie about his Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight's Children.

James Naughtie and an audience of readers meet the much-loved author Alan Bennett to discuss his memoir Writing Home.

James Naughtie and a group of readers at Beaufort Polo Club, talk to bestselling author Jilly Cooper about her racy novel Polo.

James Naughtie and a younger than usual audience meet bestselling children's author Jacqueline Wilson to discuss her award-winning book the Illustrated Mum.

Barbara Vine, otherwise known as Ruth Rendell, meets James Naughtie and a small audience at a Readers' Day in Scunthorpe to talk about her haunting novel A Dark Adapted Eye.

James Naughtie and a studio audience talk to travel writer William Dalrymple about his book From the Holy Mountain.

James Naughtie and a studio audience talk to Maya Angelou about volume one of her groundbreaking autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

A group of readers join James Naughtie to talk to David Grossman about his book See Under Love.

James Naughtie and a studio audience meet Michael Frayn to talk about Headlong, his prize-winning romp through the corrupt corridors of the art world past and present.

James Naughtie talks to one of South America's leading writers Mario Vargas Llosa, about his remarkable novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter.

A group of readers join James Naughtie to talk to Kazuo Ishiguro about The Remains of The Day, his acclaimed novel about life above and below stairs in the years leading up to World War II.

James Naughtie and a studio audience meet Rose Tremain to discuss her winner of the 1999 Whitbread Novel award about 17th century Denmark, Music and Silence.

James Naughtie and a studio audience talk to acclaimed writer J G Ballard about his classic Second World War novel Empire of the Sun.

James Naughtie and a group of readers meet bestselling Edinburgh crime writer Ian Rankin in Inspector Rebus' favourite watering hole The Oxford Bar to talk about two of his novels: Knots and Crosses and The Falls.

James Naughtie and a studio audience meet novelist Nick Hornby to discuss About A Boy; his insight into laddishness, masculine wish-fulfilment, fear and love.

James Naughtie and a studio audience meet prize-winning novelist Helen Dunmore to discuss her compelling novel of maternal passions and sisterly intrigue, Talking to the Dead.

James Naughtie and a group of listeners celebrate National Poetry week by looking at the work of Wendy Cope, one of Britain's most popular poets. With readings of some of her best known poems.

A group of readers join James Naughtie to talk to the Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing about her first novel The Grass is Singing.

Martin Amis is this month's guest on Bookclub to discuss his acclaimed novel London Fields with a small group of readers and presenter James Naughtie.

James Naughtie and a studio audience talks to Chinese-American writer Amy Tan about her acclaimed novel The Kitchen God's Wife.

James Naughtie meets with Annie Proulx and a group of readers to discuss her acclaimed novel of life, love and death in far-flung Newfoundland, The Shipping News.

James Naughtie and acclaimed American crime author James Ellroy are guests of the Royal Navy on HMS Illustrious where they and the crew discuss Ellroy's classic thriller noir, The Black Dahlia.

James Naughtie meets Margaret Drabble and a group of readers to talk about her searing portrait of English middle class life, The Witch of Exmoor.

James Naughtie meets mountaineer Joe Simpson to talk about his nail-biting, prize-winning book Touching the Void.

James Naughtie meets Penelope Lively and talks to her about her Booker Prize winning novel Moon Tiger in the company of the reading circle at Nightingale residential Home for Older People.

In a special edition of the programme, James Naughtie visits HMP Coldingley with writer Tony Parsons to discuss his hugely successful book Man and Boy with the prisoners' reading circle.

James Naughtie and an audience meet Booker-prize winning novelist Graham Swift to talk about Waterland, his much acclaimed novel of love, loss and madness in the Fens.

James Naughtie discusses The Miller's Tale from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer with Dr Ruth Evans and an audience of readers.

Ian McEwan talks about his tale of stalking, science and psychology, the bestselling ‘Enduring Love’. In 2000, he joined readers and Jim Naughtie, on Radio 4’s Bookclub to discuss his 1997 novel. Producer: Karen HoldenFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2000.

This month's choice is Joanna Trollope's Other People's Children; a multi-layered contemporary tale of broken homes and family imperfections, and where the step-mother defies convention and has the hardest time of all. James Naughtie and readers discuss the book with the author.

This month's choice is Antony Beevor's Stalingrad; a gripping account of the horrors of the battle that was Hitler's big mistake and the turning point of World War II. James Naughtie and readers discuss the book with the author.

James Naughtie and a group of readers discuss the novel Fasting, Feasting with its author, Anita Desai, who also reads an extract from the book.

James Naughtie and a group of readers discuss the novel In The Springtime Of The Year with its author Susan Hill, who also reads an excerpt from her book.

The author Philip Pullman discusses his fantasy novel Northern Lights with James Naughtie.

Author Charles Frazier discusses his bestseller Cold Mountain with James Naughtie and a group of readers. Recorded at the Politics and Prose book in Washington DC.

Pulitzer prize-winning author Carol Shields discusses her book Larry's Party with presenter James Naughtie and a group of readers. She also reads an excerpt from the novel.

Author Isabel Allende discusses her novel The House of the Spirits with presenter James Naughtie and a group of readers, and reads an excerpt from the book.

In a special edition of the programme, James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author Douglas Adams about his classic world-wide bestseller The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to writer Julian Barnes about his fascination with the 19th century French novelist Gustave Flaubert.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author Dava Sobel about her international bestseller Longitude.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Canadian writer Anne Michaels about her prize-winning novel, Fugitive Pieces.

James Naughtie visits Cumbria where he and author Margaret Forster talk to a group of readers in Cockermouth Library about her novel Private Papers.

James Naughtie a group of young readers talk to author J. K. Rowling about her phenomenally successful book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, from which she also reads an extract.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to writer Kate Atkinson about her prize-winning novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum.

James Naughtie is joined by author David Guterson to discuss his novel Snow Falling on Cedars.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Margaret Atwood about Cat's Eye, her highly successful novel depicting the agonies of childhood cruelty.

James Naughtie is joined by the author of Catch 22, Joseph Heller, and a group of readers to discuss the book which captivated a generation.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author William Boyd about his prize-winning book, Brazzaville Beach.

James Naughtie and a group of readers from the Morrab Library, Penzance, Cornwall talk to John Le Carré about his Cold War spy trilogy Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to American author Jane Smiley about A Thousand Acres, her novel based on the King Lear story.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author A S Byatt about her novel Possession.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Andrew Davies about William Makepeace Thackeray's classic novel, Vanity Fair, which he has adapted for BBC television.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to the Irish-American author, Frank McCourt about his bestselling memoir Angela's Ashes.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to writer Jung Chang about her award-winning family history Wild Swans.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author Louis de Bernières about his international best-seller Captain Corelli's Mandolin, set in Greece during the Second World War.

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author Robert Harris about his international bestseller Fatherland.

James Naughtie talks to author Toni Morrison about her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Beloved.

In the first edition of this new programme, James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author, Sebastian Faulks, about his best-selling novel, Birdsong.