BBC Radio Shetland

The Book Café

Magazines & Reviews

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Join Clare English for a feast of books and all things literary

The Book Café: 16/01/2012

16/01/2012

BBC Radio Scotland - The Book Café, 16/01/2012

We discover the work of Per Wahlöö, the Scandinavian crime writer all others look up to.

Jo Nesbø says that Per Wahlöö was the 'godfather of Scandinavian crime writing', creating the archetypical disillusioned, troubled but somehow dedicated detective now familiar to us from the work of Steig Larsson, Henning Mankell and Nesbø himself. Sarah Death, the translator of two new editions of Wahlöö's classic crime novels, explains why now's the time to discover him for ourselves.


Winner of the 2011 Costa Novel Award, Andrew Miller joins Clare to discuss Pure, the story of an 18th century Parisian cemetery so packed with bodies that it pops and bursts under the pressure, spilling human remains into surrounding cellars and basements. It beat the Man Booker winner, Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, because the judges felt Miller's work deserves a wider readership. We'll find out why.


He used to write his poems on the joists of the roofs above Stirling but this year a book of his work will be published- in easy reach for those of us based on the ground. Poet William Letford joins Clare to discuss how he's establishing his career at the same time as holding down the day job as a roofer.


The Falkirk-based company that brought us the words of some of the biggest authors around, including JK Rowling, Stephen King and Jodi Picoult. We take the time to appreciate the art of the typesetter.


And- Michael Morpurgo and the Happy Meal. We discuss the pros and cons of linking fiction to fast food.

Producer: Serena Field.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Book Café

16/01/2012

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio Shetland

About BBC Radio Scotland