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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

BBC Radio 4 LW

Mariella Frostrup

Deborah Levy

Miroslav Penkov

Kapka Kassabova

Jamie Byng

Andrea Kidd

Open Book: Deborah Levy; Bulgarian fiction; Jamie Byng's literary pick

30/01/2014

Deborah Levy; Bulgarian fiction; Jamie Byng's literary pick

BBC Radio 4 - Open Book, Deborah Levy; Bulgarian fiction; Jamie Byng's literary pick

Deborah Levy revisits her early work and explores her relationship with her writing.

Deborah Levy revisits her early work; Kapka Kassabova and Miroslav Penkov discuss Bulgarian literature; and the literary pick of publisher Jamie Byng.

Deborah Levy's last novel Swimming Home was shortlisted for the Man Booker, the National Book Award and the Wingate Prize in 2012. However that success came after a 15 year long hiatus. With the republication of Deborah's early works, she talks to Mariella Frostrup about those difficult years when her novels went out of print, her relationship to that early work and how it shaped her later books and the impact of motherhood and the Man Booker on her writing.

Bulgaria has been one of the countries in the news in the past few weeks, with politicians and the media endlessly speculating on the number of people who may, or may not, be arriving here, as EU visa restrictions were lifted at the beginning of the month. At Open Book we decided to explore this Black Sea country through that most illuminating of sources - its literature.
Writer Miroslav Penkov, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of North Texas and the 2012 winner of the BBC International Short Story Award and author Kapka Kassabova discuss the Bulgarian literary scene

Now don't you love it when you get a recommendation from someone who really knows their stuff - whether it's a must see film, a new restaurant, or an up and coming artist. In a new series, Insider Reading - some of the most influential, and generous folk in the publishing world give us a hot tip on their must read book, and it's not one they've published. First up is Jamie Byng, the publisher of Canongate books and the man behind World Book Night.

Producer: Andrea Kidd.

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

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