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Book of the Week

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Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

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Book of the Week: Beauty and the Inferno

Book of the Week: Beauty and the Inferno: Episode 1: From Scampia to Cannes

Beauty and the Inferno

Episode 1

Episode 1: From Scampia to Cannes

From Scampia to Cannes

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Beauty and the Inferno, From Scampia to Cannes

Italian journalist Roberto Saviano describes the effects of writing his Mafia exposé.

4 Extra Debut. Italian journalist Roberto Saviano describes the effects of writing his Mafia exposé. Read by Nicholas Murchie. From June 2012.

Essays by Roberto Saviano. Translated by Oonagh Stransky.

Italian journalist Roberto Saviano describes the affects of writing his successful Mafia expose' Gomorrah on his life and work. In this episode, he is given a rare release from enforced hiding, to take a trip to the Cannes Film Festival for the opening of the film version of his explosive book, which dramatises his insights going undercover in Naples to reveal the scale and brutality of the modern Mafia operation in Italy and beyond. He is accompanied to Cannes by the youthful stars of the film, ordinary kids from the streets of Naples who play wannabe gangsters, all of whom who have grown up, as Saviano did, in the shadow of violent organised crime.

A series of essays from Italian journalist Roberto Saviano, the celebrated author of Gomorrah - a sensational book exposing the inner workings of the Italian Mafia. Saviano explores a range of his passions, both light and dark, sharing common themes of David vs Goliath and the power of art and talent to overcome difficulties, while offering a compelling insight into his life in hiding and under permanent police protection since Gomorrah's publication in 2006.

Saviano describes the effects on his life and work of writing the book, including a surreal 'fish out of water' trip to the Cannes Film Festival for the opening of the film version. 

Abridged by Eileen Horne

Reader: Nicholas Murchie



Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.

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Italian journalist Roberto Saviano explores a range of his passions, both light and dark

Italian journalist Roberto Saviano explores a range of his passions, both light and dark. Translated by Oonagh Stransky, abridged by Eileen Horne

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