
The world's greatest authors discuss their best known novel. This monthly programme, presented by Harriett Gilbert, includes questions by BBC World Service listeners.
Sat, 1 Jun 13
Duration:
54 mins
To coincide with the film release another chance to hear Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid talking about his bestselling novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist to a studio audience and listeners around the world.
Sat, 4 May 13
Duration:
54 mins
Bestselling US writer Jay McInerney and Fitzgerald scholar Anne Margaret Daniel discuss The Great Gatsby with Harriett Gilbert and a World Book Club studio audience and listeneres all around the world.
Sat, 6 Apr 13
Duration:
54 mins
John Grisham talks to Harriett Gilbert about his gripping debut novel A Time To Kill.
Sat, 2 Mar 13
Duration:
54 mins
Sri Lankan writer Romesh Gunesekera discusses his novel Reef with presenter Harriett Gilbeert, a studio audience and listeners around the world.
Sat, 2 Feb 13
Duration:
54 mins
David Mitchell talks to Harriett Gilbert, a studio audience and readers around the world about his bestselling novel Cloud Atlas which is also released as a feature film around the world.
Sat, 5 Jan 13
Duration:
53 mins
Harriett Gilbert is joined by P D James, Moni Mohsin and Susannah Fullerton to celebrate 200 years of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice at the BBC Radio Theatre.
Sat, 1 Dec 12
Duration:
53 mins
New Zealand wrtier CK Stead talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about his novel My Name Was Judas
Sat, 3 Nov 12
Duration:
53 mins
Bestselling cult US writer Paul Auster meets Harriett Gilbert and an audience at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in England to discuss his classic novel The New York Trilogy
Sat, 6 Oct 12
Duration:
53 mins
Bestselling Spanish writer Javier Marias talks to Harriett Gilbert and an audience at The Spanish Cultural Institue in London about his haunting novel A Heart So White.
Sat, 1 Sep 12
Duration:
53 mins
Bestselling US writer Jodi Picoult talks to Harriett Gilbert about her blockbuster novel My Sister's Keeper in the BBC Radio Theatre
Sat, 2 Jun 12
Duration:
54 mins
Bestselling British author Jeanetter Winterson talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about coming of age novel Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.
Sat, 26 May 12
Duration:
54 mins
Amitav Ghosh talks to Harriett Gilbert and a theatre audience at the Nehru Centre in London about his haunting novel The Shadowlines, in this the last of our London Calling series of progammes focussing on the UK capital.
Sat, 19 May 12
Duration:
54 mins
Howard Jacobson discusses his Booker Prize winning novel The Finkler Question with Harriett Gilbert and a theatre audience at the first London Soho Festival.
Sat, 12 May 12
Duration:
54 mins
British novelist Andrea Levy revisits the London setting of her bestselling novel Small Island and then chats to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about it.
Sat, 5 May 12
Duration:
54 mins
In a series of World Book Clubs focussing on London Harriett Gilbert talks to bestselling author Peter Ackroyd and an audience about his award-winning novel Hawksmoor in St George's Church Bloomsbury.
Sat, 7 Apr 12
Duration:
53 mins
A Repeat of the World Book Club in which Harriett Gilbert talks to bestselling US author Toni Morrison about her acclaimed novel Beloved
Sat, 3 Mar 12
Duration:
54 mins
Jonathan Safran Foer talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about his novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
Sat, 4 Feb 12
Duration:
54 mins
On the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens Harriett Gilbert talks to Simon Callow and Claire Tomalin in London and guests around the world about Dickens and perhaps his greatest work Great Expectations
Sat, 7 Jan 12
Duration:
53 mins
Maori novelist Witi Ihimaera discusses his haunting novel The Whale Rider with presenter Harriett Gilbert and an audience at the Cheltenham Literary Festival.
Sat, 3 Dec 11
Duration:
53 mins
Acclaimed British writer Penelope Lively discusses her Booker Prize-winning novel Moon Tiger with Harriett Gilbert, a studio audience and listeners around the world.
Sat, 5 Nov 11
Duration:
53 mins
Acclaimed Israeli writer David Grossman talks to presenter Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about prize-winning novel To the End of the Land.
Sat, 1 Oct 11
Duration:
53 mins
Lionel Shriver talks to Harriett Gilbert and a group of readers in and out of the studio about her controversial novel We Need to Talk about Kevin.
Sat, 3 Sep 11
Duration:
53 mins
Libyan writer Hisham Matar talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about his chilling novel 'In the Country of Men'.
Sat, 6 Aug 11
Duration:
53 mins
Award-winning writer Colm Toibin talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about his haunting novel Brooklyn.
Sat, 2 Jul 11
Duration:
53 mins
Internationally acclaimed Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell discusses his bestselling thriller Faceless Killers with Harriett Gilbert and an audience in St Mary Magdeleine Church in Woodstock, England
Sat, 4 Jun 11
Duration:
53 mins
Acclaimed crime writer Val McDermid talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about her bestselling thriller A Place of Execution.
Sat, 7 May 11
Duration:
53 mins
Boris Akunin talks to Harriett Gilbert, a studio audience and listeners around the world about his bestselling crime novel The Winter Queen
Sat, 2 Apr 11
Duration:
53 mins
Bestselling Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo talks to Harriett Gilbert, a studio audience and readers around the world about his gripping novel The Redbreast.
Sat, 5 Mar 11
Duration:
53 mins
Bestselling author Javier Cercas talks to Harriett Gilbert, a studio audience and World Book Club listeners from around the world about his prize-winning novel The Soldiers of Salamis.
Sat, 5 Feb 11
Duration:
53 mins
American satirist PJ O'Rourke discusses his book Eat the Rich with presenter Harriett Gilbert, a studio audience and listeners from around the world.
Sat, 1 Jan 11
Duration:
53 mins
Acclaimed German writer Bernhard Schlink talks to Harriett Gilbert and an audience at the Cheltenham Literary Festival about his celebrated novel The Reader
Sat, 4 Dec 10
Duration:
53 mins
Bestselling South African writer Damon Galgut talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about his Booker Prize shortlisted novel The Good Doctor.
Sat, 6 Nov 10
Duration:
53 mins
Celebrated Anglo-Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie talks to Harriett Gilbert and an audience of readers at The Drill Hall Theatre in London about her award-winning novel Burnt Shadows.
Sat, 2 Oct 10
Duration:
53 mins
Celebrated American writer Barbara Kingsolver talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about her bestselling novel The Poisonwood Bible.
Sat, 3 Jul 10
Duration:
53 mins
Carlos Ruiz Zafon talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about his bestseller The Shadow of the Wind.
Sat, 5 Jun 10
Duration:
53 mins
David Mitchell talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about his multiple prize-winning bestseller Cloud Atlas.
Sat, 1 May 10
Duration:
53 mins
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Ford talks to Harriett Gilbert and a studio audience about his bestselling novel The Sportswriter
Sat, 3 Apr 10
Duration:
53 mins
French Nobel Laureate JMG LeClezio talks to Harriett Gilbert and a small studio audience about his novel Desert.
Sat, 6 Mar 10
Duration:
53 mins
Set during World War II, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which has sold an astonishing 5 million copies worldwide, tells the story of Bruno, the nine-year-old son of the commandant of a concentration camp. Devastated at leaving his old life behind in Berlin, the novel charts Bruno’s forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence, a friendship which has startling and far-reaching consequences.
Sat, 6 Feb 10
Duration:
53 mins
Winner of the UK's Whitbread Prize for Best Novel, the Orange Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Small Island is a heart-warming and thought-provoking tale of love, friendship and immigration set in London during and after World War II. It focuses on the diaspora of Jamaican immigrants, who, escaping economic hardship on their own "small island," move to England, the Mother Country, for which the men have fought during World War II. Told through the intertwining stories of three very different characters the reception offered by an exhausted postwar Britain is not quite the warm embrace that they’d hoped for.
Sat, 2 Jan 10
Duration:
53 mins
Indian writer Kiran Desai discusses her internationally best-selling work, The Inheritance of Loss.
Sat, 5 Dec 09
Duration:
53 mins
The great crime novelist James Ellroy discusses the first of three part trilogy about the American underworld, American Tabloid.
Sat, 7 Nov 09
Duration:
53 mins
Egyptian writer Alaa Al-Aswaany discusses his best-selling novel, The Yacoubian Building, a moving study of politics and power in downtown Cairo.
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Duration:
53 mins
World famous German writer Gunter Grass talks about his controversial masterpiece, The Tin Drum, on World Book Club.
Thu, 9 Jul 09
Duration:
53 mins
American writer Lionel Shriver discusses her novel, We Need to Talk about Kevin.
Thu, 4 Jun 09
Duration:
53 mins
Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses her novel Half of a Yellow Sun.
Thu, 30 Apr 09
Duration:
53 mins
Renowned Egyptian writer Nawal El Saadawi discusses her classic novel Woman at Point Zero with Harriett Gilbert on World Book Club.
Fri, 3 Apr 09
Duration:
53 mins
Harriett Gilbert talks to the Australian author Kate Grenville about her book, The Secret River.
Sat, 7 Mar 09
Duration:
53 mins
Harriett Gilbert talks to Mohsin Hamid about his novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Mon, 9 Feb 09
Duration:
53 mins
Harriett Gilbert talks to David Guterson, in front of an invited audience, about his bestselling courtroom thriller Snow Falling on Cedars.
Mon, 9 Feb 09
Duration:
53 mins
In front of an audience at the South Bank Arts Centre, London, Harriett Gilbert talks to Toni Morrison about her prize-winning book Beloved.
Tue, 16 Dec 08
Duration:
53 mins
Harriett Gilbert talks to Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott about his epic poem Omeros, which explores ancient themes of displacement and exile in a modern Caribbean setting.
Tue, 18 Nov 08
Duration:
53 mins
Harriett Gilbert talks to iconic African American writer Alice Walker, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'The Color Purple'.
Tue, 30 Sep 08
Duration:
27 mins
American writer Annie Proulx talks about her prize-winning novel 'The Shipping News' and her short story 'Brokeback Mountain'.
Wed, 27 Aug 08
Duration:
27 mins
Harriett Gilbert talks to one of Britain's most popular comic writers David Lodge, about his prize-winning novel Nice Work.
Wed, 30 Jul 08
Duration:
27 mins
To mark the 50th anniversary of the first publication of the acclaimed African novel ‘Things Fall Apart’, we are repeating the memorable World Book Club with bestselling Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe.
Wed, 25 Jun 08
Duration:
27 mins
American author John Irving discusses his bestselling novel 'The World According to Garp', the tragicomic lifestory of the author TS Garp.
Tue, 27 May 08
Duration:
27 mins
Bestselling writer Khaled Hosseini discusses The Kite Runner, his first novel set in Afghanistan, which has sold 15 million copies.
Fri, 2 May 08
Duration:
27 mins
Best-selling English writer Sebastian Faulks talks about his heart-rending novel of love and war, Birdsong.
Tue, 1 Apr 08
Duration:
27 mins
Best-selling American author Jane Smiley discusses A Thousand Acres, her ambitious reimagining of Shakespeare's King Lear transposed onto an Iowan farmstead, which won the Pulitzer Prize.
Thu, 28 Feb 08
Duration:
27 mins
American crime writer Patricia Cornwell talks about Post Mortem, the first novel in her celebrated Kay Scarpetta series.
Thu, 31 Jan 08
Duration:
27 mins
Irish writer Edna O'Brien discusses The Country Girls, her novel about adolescence set in 1950's Ireland.
Tue, 25 Dec 07
Duration:
27 mins
Italian author Umberto Eco discusses his novel 'The Name of the Rose', set in a 14th century Franciscan monastery.
Wed, 28 Nov 07
Duration:
27 mins
American crime writer Sara Paretsky talks to Harriett Gilbert about her detective novel 'Indemnity Only'.
Fri, 2 Nov 07
Duration:
27 mins
A special fifth-anniversary edition of the World Book Club with the Sri Lankan-born, Canadian author Michael Ondaatje who discusses his best-loved novel'The English Patient'.
Tue, 25 Sep 07
Duration:
24 mins
Harriett Gilbert talks to American author Armistead Maupin about his novel Tales of the City.
Tue, 26 Jun 07
Duration:
27 mins
The World Book Club discuss Thomas Keneally's novel Schindler's Ark. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 7 Jun 07
Duration:
27 mins
Richard Dawkins answers questions from an audience and sent in by BBC listeners about his international best-seller, The Selfish Gene. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Tue, 29 May 07
Duration:
27 mins
Wole Soyinka talks about his memoirs Ake: The Years of Childhood. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert
Sun, 29 Apr 07
Duration:
27 mins
World Book club with author Mario Vargas Llosa.
Sun, 29 Apr 07
Duration:
27 mins
Author Irvine Welsh talks about his internationally best-selling novel Trainspotting and If You Liked School, You'll Love Work. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 1 Mar 07
Duration:
27 mins
Scottish author, Iain Banks answers questions from an audience and sent in by BBC listeners about his controversial first novel, The Wasp Factory. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Mon, 29 Jan 07
Duration:
27 mins
Yann Martel, author of The Life of Pi.
Thu, 18 Jan 07
Duration:
28 mins
Rose Tremain answers questions from an audience and sent in by World Service listeners about her international best-seller, Restoration. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Wed, 27 Dec 06
Duration:
27 mins
William Boyd joins Harriett Gilbert and an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel Brazzaville Beach.
Mon, 25 Dec 06
Duration:
27 mins
Interview with special guest John le Carre about his recent novel “The Perfect Spy” Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Tue, 31 Oct 06
Duration:
27 mins
Presenter: Harriett Gilbert. Frank McCourt joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his book Angela's Ashes.
Fri, 6 Oct 06
Duration:
27 mins
Arnold Wesker joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his classic play Chicken Soup with Barley. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Mon, 28 Aug 06
Duration:
27 mins
Presenter: Harriett Gilbert. Ian Rankin joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel Black and Blue.
Tue, 25 Jul 06
Duration:
27 mins
The World Book Club talks to author Joanna Trollope about her book The Rector's Wife. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Tue, 30 May 06
Duration:
27 mins
Kurt Vonnegut joins an audience of World Service listeners to answer questions about his novel Slaughterhouse-Five
Tue, 25 Apr 06
Duration:
27 mins
Orhan Pamuk joins an audience of World Service listeners to answer questions about his novel My Name is Red (Benim Adım Kırmızı).
Sat, 25 Mar 06
Duration:
27 mins
From the British Library in London, Alexander McCall Smith talks to the programme as well as an audience for a question and answer session. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert
Thu, 9 Feb 06
Duration:
27 mins
Scott Turow joins an audience of World Service listeners to answer questions about his 1987 crime novel Presumed Innocent.
Thu, 5 Jan 06
Duration:
27 mins
The British author, Louis De Bernieres answers questions from an audience and sent in by BBC listeners about his novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 17 Nov 05
Duration:
27 mins
Philip Pullman talks about his book and takes questions on his book The Northen Lights part of the His Dark Materials trilogy.
Fri, 7 Oct 05
Duration:
27 mins
Maya Angelou answers listeners questions about her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Sat, 1 Oct 05
Duration:
27 mins
Salman Rushdie talks to an audience and takes questions on his award winning book Midnight's Children. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Sat, 27 Aug 05
Duration:
27 mins
Andre Brink joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel A Dry White Season.
Sat, 23 Jul 05
Duration:
27 mins
Author of "Blonde" Joyce Carol Oates anwsers questions about her novel. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Wed, 15 Jun 05
Duration:
27 mins
Carlos Fuentes joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel The Death of Artemio Cruz.
Sat, 28 May 05
Duration:
27 mins
Nick Hornby talks to an audience about his book about being an Arsenal football fan Fever Pitch. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Sat, 28 May 05
Duration:
27 mins
Wilbur Smith talks about his book When The Lion Feeds. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Mon, 9 May 05
Duration:
27 mins
Vikram Seth joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel A Suitable Boy. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Sat, 26 Mar 05
Duration:
27 mins
British author Ian McEwan talks about his novel Atonement. Introduced by Harriett Gilbert.
Sat, 19 Feb 05
Duration:
27 mins
Zadie Smith talks to an audience about her novel 'White Teeth'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Tue, 25 Jan 05
Duration:
27 mins
P.D. James joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss her novel 'Original Sin'. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Sun, 12 Dec 04
Duration:
24 mins
Writer Paulo Coelho talks about his book The Alchemist which has been translated into dozens of languages and has sold over 27 million copies worldwide. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 4 Nov 04
Duration:
27 mins
Kazuo Ishiguro joins Harriett Gilbert and an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his classic novel The Remains Of The Day.
Thu, 30 Sep 04
Duration:
27 mins
Anita Desai joins an audience of World Service listerns to discuss her 1999 novel 'Fasting, Feasting'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Mon, 13 Sep 04
Duration:
27 mins
Roddy Doyle talks about his novel The Commitments. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 2 Sep 04
Duration:
27 mins
Amos Oz joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel 'My Michael'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Thu, 29 Jul 04
Duration:
27 mins
South African novelist, Gillian Slovo talks about her novel 'Red Dust'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 20 May 04
Duration:
27 mins
Tracy Chevalier joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss her novel 'Girl With A Pearl Earring'.
Tue, 23 Mar 04
Duration:
27 mins
English author A. S Byatt talks to an audience about her novel 'Possession'.
Tue, 24 Feb 04
Duration:
27 mins
Author Martin Cruz Smith talks about his novel Gorky Park. Presented by Harriett Gilbert from California in a special co-production with San Francisco radio station KALW
Thu, 29 Jan 04
Duration:
27 mins
Amy Tan joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss her novel The Joy Luck Club.
Wed, 26 Nov 03
Duration:
27 mins
Isabel Allende joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss her novel 'The House of the Spirits'.
Thu, 23 Oct 03
Duration:
27 mins
Frederick Forsyth joins an audience of World Service listners to discuss his novel The Day of the Jackal. Introduced by Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 25 Sep 03
Duration:
27 mins
Peter Carey joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel 'Oscar and Lucinda'. Introduced by Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 28 Aug 03
Duration:
27 mins
Popular British crime writer Ruth Rendell talks to the programme about her work, including that written under her pseudonym Barbara Vine. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 31 Jul 03
Duration:
27 mins
Julian Barnes joins a World Service audience to discuss his novel 'Flaubert's Parrot'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Sat, 14 Jun 03
Duration:
27 mins
Prize winning Chinese writer Jung Chang joins a World Service audience to discuss her novel Wild Swan'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Thu, 29 May 03
Duration:
36 mins
Author Terry Pratchet talks about his Discworld book The Colour Of Magic. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Tue, 8 Apr 03
Duration:
27 mins
The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The novel explores themes of women in subjugation, and the various means by which they gain agency. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Tue, 11 Feb 03
Duration:
24 mins
Author Doris Lessing talks about her novel The Grass Is Singing. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Mon, 3 Feb 03
Duration:
24 mins
Hanif Kureishi joins a World Service audience to discuss his book 'The Buddha of Suburbia'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Sat, 4 Jan 03
Duration:
27 mins
Nobel Prize winner V. S Naipaul discussess his book 'A House for Mr Biswas' with an audience of World Service listeners. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.
Tue, 31 Dec 02
Duration:
24 mins
Nigerian born writer Ben Okri discusses his novel The Famished Rose. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Mon, 2 Dec 02
Duration:
24 mins
Indian writer and activist Arundhati Roy talks to the programme about winning the Booker Prize in 1997 for The God of Small Things. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Tue, 8 Oct 02
Duration:
24 mins
Martin Amis joins an audience of World Service listeners to answer questions about his novel Money.
Tue, 27 Aug 02
Duration:
24 mins
What makes Stephen King, not only the Master of Horror, but more than that?
Wed, 14 Aug 02
Duration:
24 mins
In the First ever Meridian Writing World Book Club, Harriett Gilbert talks to American writer Garrison Keillor on his book Lake Wobegon Days.
Sat, 27 Jul 02
Duration:
24 mins
Interview with the playwright and director, David Hare.
Thu, 4 Jul 02
Duration:
24 mins
Interview with American poet, memoirist, actress, Maya Angelou. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
Tue, 5 Feb 02
Duration:
25 mins
Harriett Gilbert talks to the Zimbabwean poet and novelist Chenjerai Hove about his latest novel 'Ancestors'.
Tue, 15 Jan 02
Duration:
25 mins
Harriett Gilbert talks to the Egyptian writer, Bahaa Taher an Egyptian novelist who writes in Arabic and is the winner of the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction, awarded in 2008.
Thu, 10 Jan 02
Duration:
24 mins
Interview with Iain Sinclair on his book, 'London Orbital'. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.
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