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Open Book

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Programme looking at new fiction and non-fiction books

Programme looking at new fiction and non-fiction books, talking to authors and publishers and unearthing lost classics

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Open Book: Mariella Frostrup talks to authors Meg Rosoff and Christopher Hope

11/09/2011

Mariella Frostrup talks to authors Meg Rosoff and Christopher Hope

BBC Radio 4 - Open Book, Mariella Frostrup talks to authors Meg Rosoff and Christopher Hope

Mariella Frostrup celebrates books, authors and the world of the written word.

Meg Rosoff's latest book imagines what the world would be like if God was a petulant teenage boy and Christopher Hope on why South Africa remains such a literary inspiration.

Meg Rosoff's discusses her latest book, There is no Dog, which imagines what the world would be like if God was a petulant teenage boy called Bob, who spends the majority of his time sleeping or having sexual fantasies about the human women he has created and causing floods, geological disasters and much suffering in his wake. 

The landscape of South Africa, both political and geographical, has been an inspiration for many of the country's writers over its long and troubled history. Authors have drawn on its wide open farmland, its fierce beauty and even its urban no go areas to create a framework from which to explore the issues generated by years under apartheid and the often surprising developments since free elections in 1994.
South African novelist Christopher Hope and Dr Andrew van der Vlies, senior lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London discuss why South Africa remains such a potent source of inspiration. 

Apps, short for applications, have been around to download to smart phones since 2008 and already there have been around 20 billion downloaded. Literary agent Carole Blake explains how the book world has responded to this latest technology boom and what types of literary apps are available

Producer: Andrea Kidd.

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Mariella Frostrup talks to authors Meg Rosoff and Christopher Hope

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