Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Desert Island Discs

Discussion & Talk

Podcasts

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Factual: Life Stories

Castaway guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

BBC Radio 4 FM

Kirsty Young

Malorie Blackman

Cathy Drysdale

Desert Island Discs: Malorie Blackman

17/11/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Malorie Blackman

Kirsty Young talks to author and children's laureate Malorie Blackman.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Malorie Blackman.

A prolific and multi-award winning author she has powered her way to success not just through talent but determination and perseverance. From the careers mistress who told her, "black people don't become teachers," to the 82 rejection letters she received before she was published, significant parts of her life seem to have been spent proving people wrong. A technology wiz, her first career was in computing. As a writer her books have tackled challenging themes: bullying, teenage pregnancy, racism and terrorism.

Currently Children's Laureate, her own formative years were spent in South London where as a little girl she went from thinking everyone was her friend to feeling, as a teenager, that the world was her enemy.

She says, "Good stories made me reassess the world and people as I thought I knew them. Great stories made me reassess myself."

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Desert Island Discs

Malorie Blackman

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4