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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

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Jonathan Hession

Open Book: The Power of Language: Audrey Magee, short stories from Afghanistan and India

27/02/2022

The Power of Language: Audrey Magee, short stories from Afghanistan and India

BBC Radio 4 - Open Book, The Power of Language: Audrey Magee, short stories from Afghanistan and India

Elizabeth Day talks to Audrey Magee about her latest novel The Colony.

Elizabeth Day talks to Audrey Magee about her novel The Colony and explores a new collection of fiction from Afghan writers.

Elizabeth Day talks to the author of the Women's Prize shortlisted, The Undertaking, Audrey Magee.  Her latest novel, The Colony, is a powerful exploration of the Anglo-Irish relationship and a meditation on the legacy of colonisation on ordinary people. It’s 1979, and two foreigners arrive for the summer on a remote island off the West Coast. There’s Lloyd, an English painter, and Masson, a French linguist, both of whom seek, with varying degrees of success, to capture the essence of the place and its Irish-speaking people.  

And two collections of short stories giving the unheard a voice. My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird is an anthology of fiction from Afghan women. Lucy Hannah of Untold Narratives is the project's Director and joins Elizabeth to talk about its conception. We also hear from two of the writers, Marie Bamyani and Masouma Kawsari about their creative inspiration. 

And we hear from Gurnaik Johal, author and editor, about his recommended read for next month. Father May Be an Elephant and Mother Only a Small Basket, But… by Gogu Shyamala is a collection of Dalit feminist stories of a south Indian village that dissolve the borders of realism, allegory and political fable.

Book List - Sunday 27 February and Thursday 3 March

The Colony by Audrey Magee
The Undertaking by Audrey Magee
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: Anthology of 18 women writers from Afghanistan
Father May be an Elephant and Mother Only a Small Basket, But … by Gogu Shyamala
We Move by Gurnaik Johal

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