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Episode details

Radio 4,20 Sep 2015,28 mins

Bill Clegg on Did You Ever Have a Family

Open Book

Available for over a year

Literary agent Bill Clegg is famous in the publishing world for his tough negotiations. Now he's turned novelist himself and he talks to Mariella Frostrup about his Man Booker longlisted Did You Ever Have A Family which imagines the impact of a devastating house fire on those left behind. It's written from a variety of perspectives and he talks about picking up on fictional gossip and the way his own struggle with addiction influenced this novel. Also on the programme, writer Matt Haig on judging the new BBC Young Writers Award, Agnes Poirier offers a guide to French Nobel Laureate Patrick Modiano whose works are newly available in English and Israeli novelist Etgar Keret selects the Book He'd Never Lend.

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