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BBC Radio 4 LW

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 FM

Mariella Frostrup

Diana Athill

Lee Child

Andy Martin

Hisham Matar

Open Book: Diana Athill on Alive, Alive Oh!

29/11/2015

Diana Athill on Alive, Alive Oh!

BBC Radio 4 - Open Book, Diana Athill on Alive, Alive Oh!

Diana Athill talks to Mariella Frostrup, and Lee Child is observed at work.

Diana Athill talks to Mariella Frostrup, Lee Child is observed at work, and the programme hears from three writers attempting to complete a novel in a month.

Diana Athill, who was born in 1917, had a long and successful career in publishing before turning her hand to writing herself. As she publishes a new book of essays at the age of 97 she talks to Mariella about the moments in her life she remembers and treasures, the continuing importance of reading for her and the pleasures of being pushed in a wheelchair. 


Also on the programme, thriller writer Lee Child and Dr Andy Martin from Cambridge University talk about the time they spent together as Lee Child wrote his latest Reacher novel - an experience which Andy Martin has now turned into a book. Hisham Matar discusses a forgotten Italian prize winner, just translated into English, which chronicles early 20th century Libya and we hear from three aspiring novelists attempting to complete a book in a month.

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