Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 4,26 Mar 2017,28 mins

Balli Kaur Jaswal

Open Book

Available for over a year

Mariella Frostrup is joined by writer Alison MacLeod and publisher Ra Page to talk about short stories written in response to topical events. Alison includes stories inspired by the war in Iraq in 2003 and the death of Princess Diana amongst other news headlines in her latest collection, and Ra has brought together writers and historians for a new book of stories about protest. Also on the programme novelist Balli Kaur Jaswal discusses her latest, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, set amongst the Sikh community in Southall, and Elan Mastai reflects on the flights of apparent fantasy in twentieth century science fiction novels, which are now our day-to-day reality.

Programme Website
More episodes