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
18 January and 22 January 2009
Niccolo Ammaniti on his award-winning novel The Crossroads; Roberto Bolano's posthumous masterpiece; and some revelations about Dracula.
Niccolo Ammaniti Mariella talks to the Italian novelist Niccolo Ammaniti, the author of I’m Not Scared, which also became a successful film. He tells her why he gets annoyed by the conventional view of Italy as a land of scenic hillsides and friendly peasants, and explains why the reality is rather less attractive.
Niccolo Ammaniti: The Crossroads is published by Canongate.
The New Annotated Dracula Bram Stoker's Dracula, published in 1897, sold poorly at first but, thanks to its unforgettable protagonist, has become an immortal classic. The editor of a new edition, Leslie Klinger, joins Mariella and another fan, Kim Newman, to discuss the book's origins and enduring appeal.
The New Annotated Dracula, by Bram Stoker and edited by Leslie Klinger, is published by Norton.
Roberto Bolano's 2666 The Chilean novelist Roberto Bolano died five years before the publication of his final work 2666, a massive and unconventional book of almost 900 pages. Maria Delgado tells Mariella why she thinks it deserves the extraordinary praise it has received.
