James Naughtie and readers talk to acclaimed authors about their best known novels. Authors include: Douglas Adams, Alan Bennett, Alice Sebold and Maya Angelou.
Episodes available:
Indefinitely 
Sun, 5 May 13
Duration:
28 mins
Gillian Clarke discusses her poetry collection Ice with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Apr 13
Duration:
28 mins
Turkey's leading female novelist Elif Shafak discusses her novel The Forty Rules of Love with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Mar 13
Duration:
28 mins
Andrew Miller discusses his Costa prize winning novel Pure with James Naughtie. Set in pre-revolutionary Paris, the book is a gripping, earthy story about the clearing of a huge cemetery in the area now known as Les Halles.
Sun, 3 Feb 13
Duration:
28 mins
Writer Hilary Spurling and BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson discuss George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. Part of the Real George Orwell Season.
Sun, 6 Jan 13
Duration:
28 mins
Ben Macintyre discusses Agent Zigzag with James Naughtie - his bestselling book on the true story of a professional criminal named Eddie Chapman, a successful British double agent who infiltrated the Nazi intelligence services during World War II.
Sun, 2 Dec 12
Duration:
28 mins
Sathnam Sanghera discusses his memoir The Boy With The Topknot with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Nov 12
Duration:
28 mins
David Almond discusses his children's novel Skellig with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Oct 12
Duration:
28 mins
American writer Marilynne Robinson discusses her novel Gilead with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Sep 12
Duration:
28 mins
Victoria Hislop discusses her bestselling novel The Island with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Aug 12
Duration:
28 mins
Michael Ondaatje discusses his 1992 Booker prize-winning novel The English Patient with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Jul 12
Duration:
28 mins
David Baddiel discusses Elizabeth Taylor's Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Jun 12
Duration:
28 mins
Philippa Gregory discusses her novel The Other Boleyn Girl with James Naughtie
Tue, 8 May 12
Duration:
28 mins
Ross Raisin discusses his debut novel God's Own Country with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Apr 12
Duration:
28 mins
Anne Enright talks to James Naughtie and readers about her 2007 Man Booker prize-winning novel The Gathering.
Mon, 5 Mar 12
Duration:
28 mins
Alan Hollinghurst discusses The Line of Beauty with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Feb 12
Duration:
28 mins
Art Spiegelman discusses Maus, his graphic novel, with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Jan 12
Duration:
28 mins
Hunter Davies discusses his authorised biography of The Beatles with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Dec 11
Duration:
28 mins
Sebastian Barry discusses The Secret Scripture with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Nov 11
Duration:
28 mins
Iain Banks discusses The Wasp Factory with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Oct 11
Duration:
28 mins
Arundhati Roy discusses The God of Small Things with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Sep 11
Duration:
28 mins
Mohsin Hamid discusses The Reluctant Fundamentalist with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Aug 11
Duration:
28 mins
Donna Leon discusses Death At La Fenice with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Jul 11
Duration:
28 mins
William Fiennes discusses The Music Room with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Jun 11
Duration:
28 mins
Nicole Krauss discusses The History of Love with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 May 11
Duration:
28 mins
Andrew O'Hagan discusses Be Near Me with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Apr 11
Duration:
28 mins
Jennifer Johnston discusses The Gingerbread Woman with James Naughtie.
Fri, 4 Mar 11
Duration:
28 mins
Benjamin Zephaniah discusses Refugee Boy with James Naughtie.
Thu, 3 Feb 11
Duration:
28 mins
Tim Butcher discusses Blood River with James Naughtie.
Wed, 5 Jan 11
Duration:
28 mins
Howard Jacobson discusses The Mighty Walzer with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Dec 10
Duration:
28 mins
Sarah Hall discusses The Carhullan Army with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Nov 10
Duration:
28 mins
Claire Tomalin discusses Thomas Hardy The Time-Torn Man with James Naughtie.
Fri, 1 Oct 10
Duration:
28 mins
Roddy Doyle discusses Paddy Clarke HA HA HA with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Sep 10
Duration:
28 mins
Yann Martell discusses The Life of Pi with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Aug 10
Duration:
28 mins
James Naughtie talks to Siri Hustvedt about her novel What I Loved.
Sun, 4 Jul 10
Duration:
28 mins
Henning Mankell discusses Sidetracked, a Kurt Wallander novel with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Jun 10
Duration:
28 mins
Lynne Reid Banks discusses The L-Shaped Room with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 May 10
Duration:
28 mins
Orhan Pamuk discusses My Name is Red with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Apr 10
Duration:
28 mins
Jeanette Winterson discusses Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Mar 10
Duration:
28 mins
Douglas Coupland discusses Generation X with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Feb 10
Duration:
28 mins
Clive James discusses Unreliable Memoirs,the first volume of his autobiography, with Jame Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Jan 10
Duration:
28 mins
Alexander McCall Smith discusses 44 Scotland Street with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Dec 09
Duration:
28 mins
John Irving discusses A Prayer for Owen Meany with James Naughtie and readers.
Sun, 1 Nov 09
Duration:
28 mins
Linda Grant discusses her novel When I Lived in Modern Times, with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Oct 09
Duration:
28 mins
Gillian Slovo discussers her novel Red Dust with James Naughtie and readers.
Sun, 6 Sep 09
Duration:
28 mins
Robert Macfarlane discusses The Wild Places with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Aug 09
Duration:
28 mins
CJ Sansom discusses Dissolution with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Jul 09
Duration:
28 mins
Bernard MacLaverty discusses Grace Notes with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Duration:
28 mins
Kate Grenville discusses The Secret River with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 May 09
Duration:
28 mins
Xiaolu Guo discusses A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Apr 09
Duration:
28 mins
Andrew Motion disusses Public Property with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Mar 09
Duration:
28 mins
A L Kennedy discusses Day with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Feb 09
Duration:
28 mins
Bernard Cornwell discusses The Last Kingdom with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Jan 09
Duration:
28 mins
Oliver James discusses Affluenza with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Dec 08
Duration:
28 mins
Amitav Ghosh discusses The Glass Palace with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Nov 08
Duration:
28 mins
Fay Weldon discusses The Cloning of Joanna May with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Oct 08
Duration:
28 mins
Michael Morpurgo discusses Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Sep 08
Duration:
28 mins
Gore Vidal discusses Point to Point Navigation with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Aug 08
Duration:
28 mins
Colm Toibin discusses The Master with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Jul 08
Duration:
28 mins
Asne Seierstad discusses The bookseller of Kabul With James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Jun 08
Duration:
28 mins
Jan Morris discusses Venice with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 May 08
Duration:
28 mins
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses Half of a Yellow Sun with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Apr 08
Duration:
28 mins
Simon Armitage discusses Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Mar 08
Duration:
28 mins
William Hague discusses William Pitt the Younger: A Biography with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Feb 08
Duration:
28 mins
Sarah Dunant discusses The Birth of Venus with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Jan 08
Duration:
28 mins
Alice Sebold discusses her novel The Lovely Bones with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Dec 07
Duration:
28 mins
Thomas Keneally discusses Schindler's Ark with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Nov 07
Duration:
28 mins
Barbara Kingsolver discusses The Poisonwood Bible with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Oct 07
Duration:
28 mins
James Robertson discusses Joseph Knight with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Sep 07
Duration:
28 mins
Armistead Maupin discusses Tales of the City with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Aug 07
Duration:
28 mins
Colin Dexter discusses The Remorseful Day with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Jul 07
Duration:
28 mins
Germaine Greer discusses The Female Eunuch with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Jun 07
Duration:
28 mins
David Mitchell discusses Cloud Atlas with James Naughtie. From the Hay Festival.
Sun, 6 May 07
Duration:
28 mins
Jodi Picoult discusses My Sister's Keeper with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Apr 07
Duration:
28 mins
Jonathan Coe discusses What A Carve Up! with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Mar 07
Duration:
28 mins
Alison Weir discusses Eleanor of Aquitaine with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Feb 07
Duration:
28 mins
Val McDermid discusses The Mermaids Singing with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Jan 07
Duration:
28 mins
Jonathan Franzen discusses his novel The Corrections with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Dec 06
Duration:
28 mins
Salley Vickers discusses Miss Garnet's Angel with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Nov 06
Duration:
28 mins
Lewis Wolpert discusses Malignant Sadness with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Oct 06
Duration:
28 mins
Jane Gardam discusses Old Filth with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Sep 06
Duration:
28 mins
Matthew Kneale discusses English Passengers with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Aug 06
Duration:
28 mins
Elmore Leonard discusses Rum Punch with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Jul 06
Duration:
28 mins
John Berendt discusses Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Jun 06
Duration:
28 mins
Lindsey Davis discusses Time to Depart with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 May 06
Duration:
28 mins
Ali Smith discusses Hotel World with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Apr 06
Duration:
28 mins
Malorie Blackman discusses Noughts and Crosses with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Mar 06
Duration:
28 mins
Lionel Shriver discusses We Need to Talk About Kevin with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Feb 06
Duration:
28 mins
P J O'Rourke discusses Holidays in Hell with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Jan 06
Duration:
28 mins
George Macdonald Fraser discusses his Flashman books with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Dec 05
Duration:
28 mins
Joyce Carol Oates discusses We Were the Mulvaneys with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Nov 05
Duration:
28 mins
Antonia Fraser discusses The Gunpowder Plot with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Oct 05
Duration:
28 mins
Hanif Kureishi discusses his book The Buddha of Suburbia with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Sep 05
Duration:
28 mins
Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes is discussed by James Naughtie and poet Michele Roberts.
Sun, 7 Aug 05
Duration:
28 mins
Michael Dibdin discusses Blood Rain with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Jul 05
Duration:
28 mins
Dr Oliver Sacks discusses The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Jun 05
Duration:
28 mins
Sue Townsend discusses Adrian Mole with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 May 05
Duration:
28 mins
Andrea Levy discusses Small Island with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Apr 05
Duration:
28 mins
Richard Ford discusses Independance Day with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Mar 05
Duration:
28 mins
Stephen Fry discusses The Hippopotamus with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Feb 05
Duration:
28 mins
Bill Bryson discusses A Short History of Nearly Everything with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Jan 05
Duration:
28 mins
Zadie Smith discusses White Teeth with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Dec 04
Duration:
28 mins
Carol Ann Duffy discusses The World's Wife with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Nov 04
Duration:
28 mins
Pat Barker discusses Regeneration with James Naughtie.
Thu, 7 Oct 04
Duration:
28 mins
Will Self discusses How The Dead Live with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Sep 04
Duration:
28 mins
Paul Auster discusses New York Trilogy with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Aug 04
Duration:
28 mins
Muriel Spark discusses The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Jul 04
Duration:
28 mins
Terry Pratchett discusses Mort with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Jun 04
Duration:
28 mins
Minette Walters discusses The Scold's Bridle with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 May 04
Duration:
28 mins
David Lodge discusses Nice Work with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Apr 04
Duration:
28 mins
Elizabeth Jane Howard discusses Falling with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Mar 04
Duration:
28 mins
Sarah Waters discusses Fingersmith with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Feb 04
Duration:
28 mins
Peter Carey discusses The True History of the Kelly Gang with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Jan 04
Duration:
28 mins
Sir John Mortimer discusses Rumpole and the Younger Generation with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Dec 03
Duration:
28 mins
Peter Ackroyd discusses Hawksmoor with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Nov 03
Duration:
28 mins
Esther Freud discusses Hideous Kinky with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Oct 03
Duration:
28 mins
Melvin Burgess discusses Junk with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Sep 03
Duration:
28 mins
Edna O'Brien discusses Down by the River with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Aug 03
Duration:
28 mins
Amanda Foreman discusses Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Jul 03
Duration:
28 mins
T. C. Boyle discusses The Tortilla Curtain with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Jun 03
Duration:
28 mins
Sally Beauman discusses Rebecca's Tale with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 May 03
Duration:
29 mins
P. D. James discusses Original Sin with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Apr 03
Duration:
28 mins
Beryl Bainbridge discusses An Awfully Big Adventure with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Mar 03
Duration:
25 mins
William Trevor discusses After Rain with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Feb 03
Duration:
28 mins
Salman Rushdie discusses Midnight's Children with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Jan 03
Duration:
29 mins
Alan Bennett discusses Writing Home with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Dec 02
Duration:
28 mins
Jilly Cooper discusses Polo with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Nov 02
Duration:
28 mins
Jacqueline Wilson discusses The Illustrated Mum with James Naughtie and an audience of young readers.
Sun, 6 Oct 02
Duration:
29 mins
Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) discusses A Dark Adapted Eye with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Sep 02
Duration:
28 mins
William Dalrymple discusses From the Holy Mountain with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Aug 02
Duration:
28 mins
Maya Angelou discusses I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Jul 02
Duration:
28 mins
David Grossman discusses See Under Love with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Jun 02
Duration:
28 mins
Michael Frayn discusses Headlong with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 May 02
Duration:
27 mins
Mario Vargas Llosa discusses Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Apr 02
Duration:
28 mins
Kazuo Ishiguro discusses The Remains of The Day with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Mar 02
Duration:
28 mins
Rose Tremain discusses Music and Silence with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Feb 02
Duration:
28 mins
J G Ballard discusses Empire of the Sun with James Naughtie.
Thu, 10 Jan 02
Duration:
27 mins
Ian Rankin discusses Knots and Crosses and The Falls with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Dec 01
Duration:
28 mins
Nick Hornby discusses About A Boy with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Nov 01
Duration:
27 mins
Helen Dunmore discusses Talking to the Dead with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Oct 01
Duration:
28 mins
Wendy Cope discusses her work with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Sep 01
Duration:
28 mins
Doris Lessing discusses The Grass is Singing with James Naughtie.
Thu, 9 Aug 01
Duration:
28 mins
Martin Amis discusses London Fields with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Jul 01
Duration:
28 mins
Amy Tan discusses The Kitchen God's Wife with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Jun 01
Duration:
28 mins
Annie Proulx discusses The Shipping News with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 May 01
Duration:
28 mins
James Ellroy discusses The Black Dahlia with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Apr 01
Duration:
28 mins
Margaret Drabble discusses The Witch of Exmoor with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Mar 01
Duration:
28 mins
Joe Simpson discusses Touching the Void with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Feb 01
Duration:
28 mins
Penelope Lively discusses Moon Tiger with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Jan 01
Duration:
29 mins
Tony Parsons discusses Man and Boy, with James Naughtie and the reading circle of HMP Coldingley.
Sun, 3 Dec 00
Duration:
29 mins
Graham Swift discusses Waterland with James Naughtie.
Sun, 22 Oct 00
Duration:
28 mins
Chaucer's The Miller's Tale is discussed by Dr Ruth Evans and James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Oct 00
Duration:
28 mins
Ian McEwan discusses Enduring Love with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Sep 00
Duration:
28 mins
Joanna Trollope discusses Other People's Children with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Aug 00
Duration:
28 mins
Antony Beevor discusses Stalingrad with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Jul 00
Duration:
28 mins
Anita Desai discusses Fasting, Feasting with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Jun 00
Duration:
28 mins
Susan Hill discusses In The Springtime Of The Year with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 May 00
Duration:
28 mins
Philip Pullman discusses Northern Lights with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Apr 00
Duration:
28 mins
Charles Frazier discusses Cold Mountain with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Mar 00
Duration:
28 mins
Carol Shields discusses Larry's Party with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Feb 00
Duration:
28 mins
Isabel Allende discusses The House of the Spirits with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Jan 00
Duration:
59 mins
Douglas Adams discusses The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Dec 99
Duration:
28 mins
Julian Barnes discusses Flaubert's Parrot with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Nov 99
Duration:
28 mins
Dava Sobel discusses Longitude with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Oct 99
Duration:
28 mins
Anne Michaels discusses Fugitive Pieces with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Sep 99
Duration:
28 mins
Margaret Forster discusses Private Papers with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Aug 99
Duration:
29 mins
J. K. Rowling discusses Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone with James Naughtie and a group of young readers.
Sun, 4 Jul 99
Duration:
29 mins
Kate Atkinson discusses Behind the Scenes at the Museum with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Jun 99
Duration:
28 mins
David Guterson discusses Snow Falling on Cedars with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 May 99
Duration:
28 mins
Margaret Atwood discusses Cat's Eye with James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Apr 99
Duration:
28 mins
Joseph Heller discusses Catch 22 with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Mar 99
Duration:
28 mins
William Boyd discusses Brazzaville Beach with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Feb 99
Duration:
43 mins
John Le Carré discusses Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Smiley's People and The Honourable Schoolboy with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 Jan 99
Duration:
29 mins
Jane Smiley discusses A Thousand Acres with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Dec 98
Duration:
30 mins
A S Byatt discusses her novel Possession with James Naughtie.
Sun, 1 Nov 98
Duration:
29 mins
W M Thackeray's Vanity Fair is discussed by Andrew Davies and James Naughtie.
Sun, 4 Oct 98
Duration:
28 mins
Frank McCourt discusses Angela's Ashes with James Naughtie.
Sun, 6 Sep 98
Duration:
29 mins
Jung Chang discusses Wild Swans with James Naughtie.
Sun, 2 Aug 98
Duration:
29 mins
Louis de Bernières discusses Captain Corelli's Mandolin with James Naughtie.
Sun, 5 Jul 98
Duration:
28 mins
Robert Harris discusses Fatherland with James Naughtie.
Sun, 7 Jun 98
Duration:
29 mins
Toni Morrison discusses Beloved with James Naughtie.
Sun, 3 May 98
Duration:
29 mins
Sebastian Faulks discusses Birdsong with James Naughtie.
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