World Book Club Podcast
The world's great authors discuss their best-known novel.
Episodes to download
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Curtis Sittenfeld: Prep
Sat 6 May 2023
Teen dream of boarding school turns out to be hotbed of adolescent angst and ambition
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Paul Theroux: Deep South
Sat 1 Apr 2023
Paul Theroux turns his unflinching gaze on an American South too often overlooked
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World Book Cafe: Paris
Sat 18 Mar 2023
Meet authors Mahir Guven, Blandine Rinkel, Laurent Petitmangin and Capucine Delattre
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Marie Darrieussecq: Pig Tales
Sat 4 Mar 2023
Marie Darrieussecq in Paris discussing her feminist satire of sex, power and corruption.
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Ayelet Gundar-Goshen: Waking Lions
Sat 4 Feb 2023
A morally complex tale of guilt, survival, shame and desire in Israel.
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Anuk Arudpragasam: A Passage North
Sat 7 Jan 2023
A young Sri Lankan contemplates the horrifying aftermath of his country鈥檚 civil war
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Sunjeev Sahota - The Year of the Runaways
Sat 3 Dec 2022
A group of young Indians desperately seek a better life for themselves in Sheffield.
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Tahmima Anam: A Golden Age
Sat 5 Nov 2022
Passion, revolution and heroism against the backdrop of Bangladeshi War of Independence
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Brit Bennett: The Vanishing Half
Sat 1 Oct 2022
American writer Brit Bennett talks about her unputdownable novel, The Vanishing Half.
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Ben Lerner: Leaving the Atocha Station
Sat 3 Sep 2022
Searingly funny coming-of-age novel set in Madrid
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Yaa Gyasi: 蜜芽传媒going
Sat 6 Aug 2022
The devastating legacy of slavery confronted through one family through the generations
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Mohsin Hamid: Exit West
Sat 2 Jul 2022
Mohsin Hamid's profound meditation on love, hope and the psychology of exile
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World Book Cafe: Brooklyn
Sat 18 Jun 2022
World Book Caf茅, where writers reveal the secrets of their home cities, goes to Brooklyn.
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Jennifer Egan: A Visit from the Goon Squad
Sat 4 Jun 2022
Jennifer Egan answers audience questions about A Visit from the Goon Squad
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Bryan Washington: Memorial
Sat 7 May 2022
A portrait of an edgy gay relationship seen from both men鈥檚 point of view.
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NoViolet Bulawayo: We Need New Names
Sat 2 Apr 2022
Ten-year-old Darling from Zimbabwe has a choice: it's down or out
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Kiley Reid: Such a Fun Age
Sat 5 Mar 2022
A carefully observed study of class and race, and biting portrait of white urban affluence
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Isabel Allende: Eva Luna
Sat 5 Feb 2022
In Eva Luna, an orphaned girl tells stories to survive mid-century South America
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Naoise Dolan: Exciting Times
New Year's Day 2022
Irish writer Naoise Dolan talks about her dazzling novel Exciting Times
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Monique Roffey: The Mermaid of Black Conch
Sat 4 Dec 2021
Harriett Gilbert talks to the award-winning Trinidadian-British author Monique Roffey
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Burhan S枚nmez: Istanbul, Istanbul
Sat 6 Nov 2021
A powerfully political and intensely personal story of modern Turkish life
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Wole Soyinka
Sat 2 Oct 2021
Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka discusses English PEN centenary and his new novel.
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Maylis De Kerangal: Mend the Living
Sat 4 Sep 2021
Award-winning French writer Maylis de Kerangal talks about her novel Mend the Living
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Crime and Punishment: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Sat 7 Aug 2021
Damnation and redemption in 19th Century St Petersburg
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Jane Harper: The Dry
Sat 3 Jul 2021
Australian author Jane Harper talks about her internationally garlanded thriller The Dry.
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Manu Joseph: Serious Men
Sat 5 Jun 2021
Manu Joseph discusses Serious Men, a satirical portrait of contemporary Indian society
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Louise Penny: Still Life
Sat 1 May 2021
Award-winning murder mystery set in rural Quebec from Canada鈥檚 queen of crime-writing
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Robert Seethaler: A Whole Life
Sat 3 Apr 2021
A mesmerizing tale of the beauty and harshness of a lonely life in the mountains
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Tsitsi Dangarembga: Nervous Conditions
Sun 7 Mar 2021
Tsitsi Dangarembga talks about her coming-of-age novel Nervous Conditions
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Bill Bryson: Notes from a Small Island
Sun 7 Feb 2021
Amusing and affectionate portrait of the island nation Bill Bryson proudly calls home
Ten Amazing Interviews
Favourite episodes of World Book Club, featuring Maya Angelou and Henning Mankell.
Crime Fiction
Henning Mankel, Patrica Cornwell, Jo Nesbo: stars of the genre discuss their craft.
Tales from History
From the tulip fields of 17th Century Amsterdam to the trenches of World War One.
