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Deirdre Madden, John Healy, and Art in books

Mariella Frostrup talks to the Irish novelist Deidre Madden and considers how the world of art is presented in fiction.

Deirdre Madden
Mariella is joined by Orange Prize nominee and Somerset Maugham Prize winner Deirdre Madden, to talk about her new novel Molly Fox鈥檚 Birthday. The book centres on a triangular friendship between actress Molly Fox, a nameless narrator and a TV academic, Andrew. What is the reason for the narrator鈥檚 anonymity? And what are the challenges of writing about drama?

John Healy
Despite being out of print for twenty years, The Grass Arena by John Healy has been reprinted as a Penguin Classic. The autobiography covers the period of John Healy鈥檚 life when he was living rough, as an alcoholic, in London. John talks to Mariella about his life as a vagrant and how learning chess saved his life. They are also joined by Professor John Sutherland, who wrote about his battle with alcoholism in Last Drink to LA.

Art in books
It is common for novelists to tackle the world of art, but how easy is it to portray pictures in words? Art critic Richard Cork, and authors Elizabeth Lowry and Patrick Gale explain.

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30 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Sun 27 Jul 2008 16:00
  • Thu 31 Jul 2008 16:00

This Week's Book List

Read along with us - a list of books discussed in each programme

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Books and Authors Podcast

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