Main content

Ian McEwan

Presented by James Crawford, Take Four Books, speaks to the writer Ian McEwan about his new novel, What We Can Know, and explores its connections to three other literary works.

Booker prize winning author, Ian McEwan, speaks to Take Four Books, about his new novel, What We Can Know, and explores its connections to three other literary works. What We Can Know is set almost a hundred years in the future in a Britain much of which is now underwater, and it follows the character of Tom Metcalfe, a scholar of the University of South Downs, who is looking back at the literature of the early twenty-first century.

For his his three influences Ian chose: a poem called Marston Meadows: A corona for Prue by John Fuller, first published in the Times Literary Supplement in 2021; The Immortal Dinner by Penelope Hughes-Hallett from 2000; and Footsteps by Richard Holmes from 1985.

The supporting contributor for this episode is the writer Denise Mina, and it's recorded during the Edinburgh International Books Festival.

Presenter: James Crawford
Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan

This was a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Audio Scotland production.

Available now

33 minutes

On radio

Sunday 00:15

Featured

  • .

Broadcasts

  • Sunday 16:00
  • Sunday 00:15

Podcast