Gary Shteyngart's tragicomedy set in lockdown; A new collection exploring South Asian identity

Available for over a year

Johny talks to the Russian-American writer Gary Shteyngart, author of the bestselling Super Sad True Love Story, about his latest novel Our Country Friends. The book is set in March 2020 when a group of friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. His unlikely cast of characters includes a Russian-born novelist; his Russian-born psychiatrist wife; their precocious child obsessed with K-pop; a struggling Indian American writer; a wildly successful Korean American app developer; a global dandy with three passports; a young flame-thrower of an essayist, originally from the Carolinas; and a movie star, The Actor, whose arrival upsets the equilibrium of this chosen family. With a nod to the plays of Anton Chekhov, and the satires of Nikolai Gogol, Gary Shteyngart talks about writing funny, satirical fiction in real-time during the pandemic. Richard Beard turns his academic eye to time in fiction. In the second part of his new series looking at the processes of writing, he discusses the challenges of writing fiction in the present. We hear about a new collection of essays and poetry exploring East and Southeast Asian identity in Britain today. East Side Voices is a rich documentation of experiences; from the frontlines of the NHS in the midst of Covid, to the history of Chinese Seamen, to the discomfort of a family portrait. It brings together powerfully human stories with literary poise. Johny is joined by the book's editor, Helena Lee, and by one of its contributors, novelist Tash Aw. Book List – Sunday 30 January and Thursday 3 February Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart The Russian Debutante’s Handbook by Gary Shteyngart Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev The Big Chill by Doug Johnstone Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner 1984 by George Orwell A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins Mean Girls by Tina Fey The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Divergent by Veronica Roth Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James East Side Voices by Helena Lee Strangers on a Pier by Tash Aw