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

Open Book: Colm Tóibín essays, and revisiting Shirley Hazzard

30/10/2022

Colm Tóibín essays, and revisiting Shirley Hazzard

BBC Radio 4 - Open Book, Colm Tóibín essays, and revisiting Shirley Hazzard

Chris Power talks to Colm Tóibín about illness, the myth of Ireland and banned books.

Chris Power talks to Colm Tóibín about his essays on illness, religion and literature. Plus exploring Shirley Hazzard's work with biographer Brigitta Olubas and Stephanie Merritt.

Chris Power talks to Colm Tóibín about A Guest at the Feast, a collection of essays which span his illness, Wexford upbringing, religion and banned books. 

Plus with a new biography of Australian-born Shirley Hazzard, its author Brigitta Olubas talks about her extraordinary life and work. Stephanie Merritt, also known as SJ Parris, joins to discuss why The Transit of Venus may be one of the great, overlooked 20th century novels.

Presenter: Chris Power
Reader: Joanna Monro
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Book List – Sunday 30 October and Thursday 3 November
A Guest at the Feast by Colm Tóibín
The South by Colm Tóibín
The Heather Blazing by Colm Tóibín
The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien
Couples by John Updike
The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
The Dark by John McGahern
The Pornographer by John McGahern
Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas 
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard 
The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
Defeat of an Ideal by Shirley Hazzard 
Countenance of Truth by Shirley Hazzard
Greene on Capri: A Memoir by Shirley Hazzard
The Collected Stories of Shirley Hazzard

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

Colm Tóibín essays, and revisiting Shirley Hazzard

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4