John Burnside, The Office Novel, Unusual Book Advertising, and Chip Kidd

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John Burnside Mariella talks to a writer who has achieved equal success with his poetry and his dark novels. He talks about his new novel Glister, set in a hellish post-industrial landscape with echoes of Burnside's own childhood, and reveals how a teenage obsession with Russian literature provided escape from an unhappy home life. The Office Novel Two well-received recent debut novels have looked at the minutiae of office life. Open Book considers the history of the office novel, from Dickens to the present day, with the help of the critics John Sutherland and D J Taylor, and the novelist Ed Park. Unusual Book Advertising Increasingly, publishers are turning to unusual marketing strategies to get their books noticed. With a gangster novel currently being advertised on beer mats, Mariella is joined by Jo Howard, the Chair of the Book Marketing Society, to discuss some of the more resourceful advertising campaigns. Chip Kidd You may not have heard of him, but in the world of book design Chip Kidd is a superstar. He's one of the most successful designers of book jackets. He joins Mariella to talk about his second novel, and explains his approach to book covers and what makes a good one.