Sunday 16:00-16:30, repeated Thursday 16:00-16:30, except first Sunday in the month when it is replaced by Book Club.
Open Book spotlights new fiction and non-fiction, picks out the best of the paperbacks, talks to authors and publishers, and unearths lost masterpieces.
This week
Sunday 27th May 2007
Award winning novelist Thomas Keneally talks to Mariella Frostrup about his latest novel and what it means to be a hero.
Thomas Keneally Thomas Keneally won the Man Booker prize in 1982 for Schindler's Ark.
He talks to Mariella about his latest novel, The Widow and Her Hero, which is also set during World War Two.
It tells the story of Grace and her short marriage to her soldier husband Leo, and the long widowhood she has to endure thanks to his heroic endeavours. The book raises questions of what it is to be brave, the nature of heroism and who owns the memories of those who've died.
The Widow and Her Hero - Thomas Keneally Publisher: Sceptre
Schindler's Ark - Thomas Keneally Publisher: Sceptre
The Great Shame - Thomas Keneally Publisher: Chatto and Windus
Gordon Brown The Chancellor and Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown discusses his book Courage, his profiles of 8 people whose bravery he admires.
Courage - Gordon Brown Publisher: Bloomsbury
Peter Ho Davies and Dayo Forster First time novelists Peter Ho Davies and Dayo Forster reveal what its like to be launching their books at Hay.
The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies Publisher: Sceptre
Reading the Ceiling - Dayo Forster Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Hay Booksellers Hay is famous for its bookshops.
Mariella talks to the owners of two of them, Richard Booth and Anne Brichto, about their life is like during the festival and their advice on how best to survive a literary week in Hay.
Silent Spring May 2007 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of ecological writer Rachel Carson whose 1962 book Silent Spring investigated the damage caused to wildlife by pesticides.
Rosie Boycott, whose new book Our Farm tells of her adventures running a small holding joins Mariella to discuss Carson's controversial book, and her legacy.
Silent Spring - Rachel Carson Publisher: Penguin
The Weather Makers: Our Changing Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth -Tim Flannery Publisher: Penguin
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World - Mark Kurlansky Publisher: Vintage
The Revenge of Gaia - James Lovelock Publisher: Penguin
The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for the Perfect Meal in a Fast-food World - Michael Pollan Publisher: Bloomsbury
Our Farm: A Year in the Life of a Smallholding - Rosie Boycott Publisher: Bloomsbury
