Mohsin Hamid

Mohsin Hamid talks to Mark Lawson about a seminal work in the history of science fiction, Olaf Stapledon's epic Star Maker (1937), a book loved by Winston Churchill, Arthur C Clarke, and Virginia Woolf.

Stapledon's Last and First Men

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Astronomer and Sky at Night presenter Chris Lintott and music critic Neil McCormick discuss Stapledon's first novel with Harriett Gilbert.

Originally broacast on A Good Read 16 March 2012 BBC Radio 4

Photograph courtesy of Olaf Stapledon Archive, University of Liverpool Library

Reading from Star Maker

A reading from Star Maker. Plus Brian Stableford on the theme of evolution in British science fiction.

Originally broadcast on Yesterday's Tomorrows 23 Mar 1994 BBC Radio 3

Arthur C. Clarke on Olaf Stapledon

Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke on why Olaf Stapledon is his biggest literary influence.

Originally broadcast on Time Out of Mind: Arthur C. Clarke, 17 Sep 1979 on BBC Two

War of the Welles

H. G. Wells (pictured) and Orson Welles on the infamous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast, which many listeners mistook for a real alien invasion. Introduced by Brian Aldiss.

Originally broadcast on Archive Hour: Weird Science, 15 May 2004 BBC Radio 4 

Mohsin Hamid on The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Mohsin Hamid talks to James Naughtie about his bestselling novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which has recently been adapted into a film.

Originally broadcast on Bookclub 8 Sep 2011 BBC Radio 4