Xiaolu Guo
Tuesday 15 January 2008 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Isabel Hilton talks to Chinese author Xiaolu Guo about her new novel; historian Eric Foner puts the US elections into perspective; and guests discuss growing Turkish nationalism.
Xiaolu Guo
Xiaolu Guo 
Playlist
Xiaolu Guo
Isabel Hilton talks to the young Chinese novelist Xiaolu Guo about her new book, '20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth'. Guo draws on her own experiences as a film-maker to tell the story of Fenfang who has travelled 1800 miles from her village to make a life in the city.
20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth is published by Chatto and Windus
US Presidential Race
This year's American elections have caught the imagination more than usual - on both sides of the Atlantic. There is a very real possibility of America electing its first ever black or female president. But in other ways how new are the issues being presented to voters? Night Waves asks one of America's leading historians, Eric Foner, for a historical perspective in the US Presidential race.
Hrant Dink
A year ago this week the prominent Turkish-Armenian editior Hrant Dink was shot dead outside his newspaper's offices in Istanbul. He had been convicted in 2005 of the crime of 'Insulting Turkish identity' after writing about the Armenian 'genocide' of 1915. Isabel and guests, including Orhan Pamuk's translator Maureen Freely, discuss the rise of Nationalism within Turkey and examine the reactions to a murder that increased political tensions in the country.
What to celebrate in 2008
The second of three writers on this week's programme outlines what they feel we should be celebrating this year. David Lodge makes a plea that 2008 should become the Year of Silence.
