John Preston, The Great American Novel, and Helen Oyeyemi

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The Dig Recently John Preston discovered his aunt was one of the archaeologists who dug up the Anglo Saxon ship at Sutton Hoo in 1939. He's now written a novel based on events at that dig, narrated in part by his aunt, whose voice he created using her old diaries. He's joined by Mike Pitts, editor of British Archaeology, to talk about his book and the advantages of using archaeology in fiction. The Great American Novel As Don DeLillo publishes a new work, hot on the heels of new books from those American literary behemoths Norman Mailer and Thomas Pynchon, Professor Diane Roberts joins Mariella to discuss the notion of the Great American Novel. Helen Oyeyemi The novelist Helen Oyeyemi wrote her first book, The Icarus Girl, when she was doing her A-Levels. She is now publishing her second, The Opposite House, written while she was studying at University. She talks to Mariella about being so successful so young. Bogota Bogota is 2007's World Books Capital. Mariella talks to Martha Senn, director of the project, about the city's plans for the coming year and Catherine Lockerbie from Edinburgh's City of Literature explains what they've learnt about being a centre of literary life.