Open Book

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

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

Mark Seliger

Open Book: A life in books with Marlon James

13/03/2022

A life in books with Marlon James

BBC Radio 4 - Open Book, A life in books with Marlon James

Elizabeth Day talks to Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James.

Elizabeth Day talks to Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James about the second installment of his Dark Star trilogy.

Elizabeth Day talks to the Jamaican author Marlon James. After his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings won the 2015 Man Booker Prize, Marlon James changed direction in his writing with his self titled " African Game of Thrones" fantasy Dark Star trilogy. The second instalment, Moon Witch, Spider King, has just been published in paperback and tells the story of a century-long feud seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old witch Sogolon, a battle between different versions of empire. 
Marlon James talks to Elizabeth about writing the multifaceted Sogolon, mythology and his love of reading from Tolkien to Jane Austen. 

Book List - 23rd April to 27th April 2023

John Crow’s Devil by Marlon James
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Beloved by Toni Morrison 
Black Leopard Red Woolf by Marlon James
Moon Witch Spider King by Marlon James
White Wing, Dark Star by Marlon James
The African Trilogy by Chinua Achebe
Lord of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante: Translated by Ann Goldstein 
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante: Translated by Ann Goldstein
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante: Translated by Ann Goldstein
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante: Translated by Ann Goldstein
Forest of a Thousand Daemons (Translated by Wole Soyinka) by Daniel O. Fagunwa
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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

Open Book

A life in books with Marlon James

Contributors

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4