Book Talk

In this edition of the Book Talk podcast Ryan Van Winkle interviews bestselling Chocolat author Joanne Harris, biologist and science writer Aarathi Prasad and Dr Karin Kukkonen, an academic specialising in the history of graphic novels. Peaches for Monsieur le Curé is the third in Joanne Harris's series of books about Vianne Rocher, the chocolatier first introduced in her bestseller Chocolat. Joanne talks to Ryan about the challenges of revisiting a familiar character and explains why "if you want to create characters that people believe in then they can't be immune to life". She also gives a brillaint reading that exemplifies the sensory quality of her writing.

Shortlisted for Salon's Transmission prize, Aarathi Prasad's first book Like A Virgin: How Science is Redefining the Rules of Sex provoked headlines when it was first published, due to its suggestion that technology could be making males unnecesarry in the reproductive process. She explains the quite startling details behind the headlines in this fascinating interview, describing just what it means to be "exploring the frontiers of conception".

And finally we have a different kind of evolution, as the academic and author of Reading Comics, Dr. Karin Kukkonen, goes toe-to-toe with Ryan in a wide-ranging discussion about graphic novels through history, and picks the five essential graphic novels you need to read.

Podcast Contents

00:00-01:00 Intro 01:05-10:30 Joanne Harris interview 10:30-20:55 Aarathi Prasad on Like A Virgin: How Science is Redefining the Rules of Sex 20:55-31:40 Karin Kukkonen on graphic novels

Discover More

Listen to our earlier interview with acclaimed graphic novelist Joe Sacco here: http://scottishbooktrust.com/audio/joe-sacco-and-rj-palacio-facing-reality

More about Joanne Harris at www.joanne-harris.co.uk/ 

More about Aarathi Prasad at www.aarathiprasad.com/

One of Britain's favourite narrative non-fiction writers is back with a fast-paced, often hilarious look at the events and people that shaped one eventful summer during the Roaring 20's.

With his usual wry humour, Bryson details an enormously eventful five month period in the late 1920s when America reached the zenith of Jazz Age exuberance and fully took its place on the world stage. Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St Louis to France and became an instant celebrity (much to his chagrin), Prohibition created legendary mobsters and lawmakers, television and talking pictures started to hold audiences enthralled, Babe Ruth made an extraordinary and unexpected comeback and a tiny group of powerful men inadvertently set in motion the events that would lead to the stock market crash in just two short years.

Host Paul Gallagher is joined by comedienne Ashley Storrie and Scottish Book Trust's web editor Brianne Moore to discuss the sprawling narrative populated by characters so bizarre it's almost difficult to believe they actually existed. Is Bryson successful at drawing you in and bringing history to life in a way your school textbooks never could? Or does his oftentimes lighthearted approach leave something to be desired? Have a listen and find out what our panel thought, and share your own feelings about America: One Summer, 1927 in the comments below or by tweeting us @scottishbktrust or leaving a message on our Facebook page.

An exciting new year has begun, and, appropriately, we're looking to the future in this, our first edition of Book Talk for 2014! Host Ryan Van Winkle sits down with three very different people to chat about what the future may hold for books and for Scotland.

To get things started, literary critic and Man Booker Prize judge Stuart Kelly discusses the most recent Booker winner, Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries and why it should be on everyone's to-read list this year. Find out how considering the future informs his judging decisions, what books he's most looking forward to this year and what recent changes allowing American books to be considered could mean for the Man Booker Prize.

Are mind-reading books the future of literature? Sci-fi author Hannu Rajaniemi seems to think so. The author of The Quantum Thief is not content to merely dream about fantastical inventions--he wants to create them as well. He and his collaborator are working on something they call neurofiction: a system that joins neuroscience with stories by measuring the brain activity of a reader and changing the direction of the story they're engaged in accordingly. A Choose Your Own Adventure for the 21st century!

Finally, Lesley Riddoch, author of Blossom, discusses the future of Scotland at the dawn of a momentous year for the country. Why, she wonders, is a country with so much promise so troubled? And what can be done about it? Quite a bit, as it turns out. Learn more about Lesley's hopes for the country and what can be done to make Scotland a fairer, even more vibrant place to live.

Book Talk is seeing out 2013 with a bang, tackling Eleanor Catton's 800+ page Man Booker Prize Winner, The Luminaries. Sasha de Buyl is joined by Lois Wolfe, head of development at the National Library of Scotland, and literary critic and Man Booker judge Stuart Kelly to discuss Catton's challenging tome.

Set in the New Zealand goldfields in the mid-1860s, the story follows Walter Moody, a prospector who hopes to make his fortune but instead stumbles into a complex series of unsolved crimes, including a disappearance, an attempted suicide and the unexpected appearance of an unlikely fortune. The story unfolds not just as a mystery, but as a rich historical portrait of the mid-19th century goldrush boom and bust and the towns and people that rose and fell with it.

Does Catton's novel live up to its wild praise? Find out how our panellists felt about it, its unusual structure and heavy use of the zodiac and why they refer to this as an 'HBO novel.'

What did you get up to during Book Week Scotland? Did you meet some of your favourite authors, try our Literary Personalities app, or grab your copy of Treasures? In this instalment of Book Talk, Ryan Van Winkle takes us on a quick tour of the week, sitting down with two authors and staying up all night at the Fruitmarket Gallery.

First up, Ryan meets Glasgow-based author Louise Welsh for a talk about her latest book, A Lovely Way to Burn, the first instalment of the Plague Times Trilogy. Set in a contemporary world engulfed in a pandemic, the book follows a woman named Stevie Smith who sets out to get some answers regarding her boyfriend's mysterious death. Find out where Louise found her inspiration, why you'll love her heroine, and what's to come in the next two books.

Ryan then moves on to Edinburgh's Fruitmarket Gallery, which hosted an all-night event called In the Wee Small Hours, featuring a drawing workshop, poetry readings and plenty of treats. Hear from some of the attendees, discover the inspiration behind the night, and listen to some of the attending poets read their work.

Finally, Ryan takes some time to sit down with Alastair Reynolds, author of On the Steel Breeze, the second volume of the Poseidon's Children Sequence of science fiction novels. Among other things, they discuss the ins and outs of planning a multi-volume series and how he keeps science fiction grounded in reality.

Podcast contents

00:00-02:42 Intro

02:42-15:36 Louise Welsh interview

15:36-24:49 In the Wee Small Hours

21:25-22:44 Samantha Walton reads her poem, Circuitous

23:55-24:29 David Hopkins reads his poem, Sleep is Serious

24:29-36:03 Alasdair Reynolds interview

Book Week Scotland 2013 kicks off next week, and in this special edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle gives us a preview of just a few of the exciting events to come! Scottish Book Trust's Head of Reader Development, Philippa Cochrane, and Reader Development Administrator, Sasha de Buyl get things started by sharing where you can find out about the events happening near you and which events they're most looking forward to attending.

Next, award-winning author Ewan Morrison (whose latest novel, Close Your Eyes, was featured in our last book discussion podcast) discusses the workshops he ran throughout Scotland, encouraging people to get involved in Treasures. Find out what frequently appearing artifact surprised him most and how he dug down to find out what people really valued (it wasn't necessarily what they brought to the workshop!). Then, stick around and listen to him read his own Treasures story, featuring Batgirl and late American rocker, Kurt Cobain.

Ready to discover all the National Library of Scotland has to offer? The library's reader in residence, Kate Hendry, has a full roster of events planned for Book Week Scotland. You'll have a chance to take your kids (or just yourself!) to the reading rooms during off hours to explore some of the millions of volumes the library has to offer, and try your luck at the book giveaway--who knows what fascinating volume you might grab out of the box? There will also be a pop-up books event for children aged 4-7, a Wikipedia relay for prizes, lectures and much more. Click here for a full listing of the National Library's events.

Finally, Sara Sheridan, bestselling author of the Mirabelle Bevan mysteries, rounds things out by talking about the joys of writing a series, what drew her to the 1950s and how she's trying to give the 'cosy crime' genre the edge it had back in Agatha Christie's day. You can see Sara during Book Week Scotland at these events.

There's all this and much more in this exciting edition!

Close Your Eyes, Ewan Morrison's award-winning fourth novel, is the subject of our panel's scrutiny in this month's Book Talk. Moderated by Danny Scott, guests Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and cultural critic and New Writers Awardee Lucy Rochester peel away the layers of this onion-like work, searching for the soft centre of this complex book, which tackles a wide range of topics including depression, parenthood, New Age ideals and deep-seated narcissism.

The book follows a woman named Rowan, who was abandoned by her mother by the roadside some thirty years earlier. Now a mother herself and grappling with post-natal depression, Rowan leaves her own young family in London and travels to the remote commune in Scotland where she grew up. Paranoid that she'll repeat her mother's mistakes, Rowan delves into her past and tries to get to the bottom of her mother's disappearance.

Find out what our panellists had to say about the story and its themes (not to mention its rather frightening depiction of early motherhood), the contrast between life and parenting in the 1970s versus the modern day, and how the book compares to some of Morrison's other work. And why are our guests debating what sort of fruit or vegetable the book reminds them of? You'll have to listen to find out!

What are your feelings on Close Your Eyes? Share your thoughts by tweeting us @scottishbktrust or leaving a message on our Facebook page.

BookTalk is produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions.

Journeys - both literal and literary - weave through the latest edition of Book Talk, which sees host Ryan Van Winkle sit down with authors Olivia Lang, Sarah Hall, Pedro Lenz and translator Donal McLaughlin to talk about their latest projects.

Granta Best Young British Novelist Sarah Hall reads a creepy excerpt from her new short story collection, The Beautiful Indifference, and discusses the very human need to fight, and how modern-day living has stripped us of the opportunity to do so. Find out where she got the inspiration for her excerpted story, She Murdered Mortal He, and why she finds it easiest to write short stories on the road.

How does a Swiss German novel wind up being translated to Glaswegian Scots? With a little inspiration from James Kelman and some unique urban landscapes. Ryan discusses Donal McLaughlin's translation of Pedro Lenz's novel, Naw Much of a Talker, and discovers what's really important in a good translation (and it's not necessarily being slavishly faithful to the source!).

Finally, Olivia Lang speaks up about alcoholism as a destructive force in literature, as detailed in her nonfiction book, Trip to Echo Spring. Detailing the lives of six authors with well-documented relationships with alcohol (Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever, John Berryman, F Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams and Raymond Carver), Lang seeks to pull away the pervasive myth that it was cool for writers to drink a lot. In reality, it was a destructive force for them, as it is for anyone else, that may have cost the world some great literature. Hear one of the crazier anecdotes detailed in the book, and why Lang found the sobering subject matter so interesting.

Podcast contents

0:00-0:47 Introduction

0:47-11:20 Sarah Hall Interview

11:20-24:10 Pedro Lenz and Donal McLaughlin interview

24:10-32:37 Olivia Lang Interview

Book Talk is produced by Colin Fraser of Culture Laser Productions. Music by Ragland.

MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood's highly anticipated conclusion to the 'disturbingly credible' dystopian trilogy begun with Orynx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, has finally arrived and gets the Book Talk treatment this month, at the hands of Paul Gallagher, freelance writer Lee Randall and Book Riot contributor Edd McCracken.

Bringing together the parallel stories covered in the first two books, MaddAddam follows a small tribe of survivors of a man-made plague, focusing mainly on former God's Gardener Toby and Zeb, the object of her affections. Surrounding them are a madcap cast that includes Snowman-the-Jimmy, a reluctant, hallucinating prophet; Amanda, the survivor of a vicious attack at the novel's start; and Ivory Bill, who loves Swift Fox, who's attracted to Zeb.

Atwood's story is darkly humorous, chilling and deals with an enormous number of themes: misogyny, storytelling, rape and trauma, and bioengineering, to name just a few. Was Atwood successful in balancing all her ideas, or does the book fall short? Does the book manage to convey her usual mastery of delving deeply into her characters? Is it possible to enjoy this book as a standalone, or is it necessary to read the entire trilogy? Find out what our panel has to say.

Joe Sacco's comic-based journalism broke ground in establishing graphic novels as a serious art form, so we were very excited to get the chance to speak to him at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival. The resulting conversation didn't disappoint, as he gave us his thoughts on reportage ("truth is always just as interesting as any fabrication could be") and the challenges of objectivity ("as a journalist you need to keep some distance; as a human being that is almost impossible"), amongst many other fascinating insights. Listen to the interview for much more.

Also on this podcast, the American author RJ Palacio tells us about her breakout young adult novel Wonder, which we featured on our book discussion podcast earlier this year. The book draws the reader into a compassionate portrayal of a boy with a serious facial disfigurement; Palacio tells us how she went about writing it, and how being a serial eavesdropper helps her to be a great writer.

And there's more, including a preview of October's Dundee Literary Festival and an interview and reading from Scottish author Zoe Vendetozzi, whose new novel Anywhere's Better Than Here is in the running for The Guardian's Not the Booker Prize 2013.

Podcast contents

00:00-00:54 Intro

00:55-13:55 RJ Palacio interview

14:00-25:10 Joe Sacco interview

25:12-29:20 Dundee Literary Festival preview with Peggy Hughes

29:50-37:45 Zoe Vendetozzi reading and Top 5 Books interview