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
22 February and 26 February 2009
Dame Beryl Bainbridge talks about the German writer Hans Fallada.
Sanjida O'Connell
Mariella talks to the naturalist, television presenter and novelist Sanjida O'Connell. Her latest novel is set in Outer Mongolia and follows the adventures of a Jesuit priest as he travels in search of rare flowers. Sanjida O'Connell talks about her own experiences of Mongolia and her interest in the collision of faith and science.
Sanjida O'Connell: The Naked Name of Love is out now, published by John Murray.
The Reading Clinic
The comedian and classics graduate Alex Horne offers help to a listener who'd like an introduction to classical literature.
The German novelist Hans Fallada died prematurely in 1947 after a lifetime of drink and drug addiction. Long acclaimed in Germany, he's struggled for recognition in the English-speaking world. As the first translation of his novel Alone in Berlin is published, Dame Beryl Bainbridge joins Mariella to explain why she's such a fan of his work.
Hans Fallada, translated by Michael Hofmann: Alone in Berlin is out now, published by Penguin Classics.
Iain M Banks and The Culture
Mariella talks to a wrier with two literary personas. Iain Banks - who caused a sensation with his debut The Wasp Factory in 1983 - is also one of our best-known science fiction authors, writing under the name Iain M Banks. As one of his novellas is adapted for radio, he talks about his creation The Culture, a highly sophisticated utopian civilisation.
The State of the Art is the Afternoon Play on BBC Radio 4 on Friday 6th March.
