Book Talk

Jamie's Bedtime Song

Val McDermid, Kate Tough and Arne Dahl Interviews

Our final Book Talk podcast features a pair of heavyweights from the world of crime fiction and a debut author we should all be sure to keep an eye on. First up: Ryan Van Winkle has a chat with bestselling author Val McDermid and her partner in crime (research), forensic anthropologist Sue Black. Val has recently returned to her roots as a journalist with her latest book, Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime, a work of non-fiction. But although, in her own words, she usually ‘makes stuff up,’ she sti...

The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan

This month, our Book Talk panel turns its attention to the latest book by fantastic Scottish author, Andrew O'Hagan. The Illuminations tells two stories; the first of Anne Quirk, a once-great photographer trying to reconnect with her past, and the second, of her grandson Luke, serving in the British Army in Afghanistan. Andrew O'Hagan has been twice nominated for the Man Booker Prize as has won the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts & L...

Garth Nix, Leigh Bardugo and David Levithan Interviews

This month, Ryan Van Winkle and our own Sasha de Buyl interview best-selling YA authors Garth Nix (@garthnix), Leigh Bardugo (@LBardugo) and David Levithan (@loversdiction) about returning to different worlds, crafting a series and creating characters that break the mould. Garth Nix is the Australian-born author of the Old Kingdom series, the Keys to the Kingdom series and the Seventh Tower series. Written almost 20 years ago, Sabriel was the first book in the Old Kingdom series and told the sto...

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

This month, our Book Talk panel turns its attention to the popular autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis, by French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi. With a title that references the ancient capital of the Persian empire, Persepolis is a coming-of-age tale that spans some of the most unsettled years in Iran's recent history. The first volume tells the story of Satrapi's life in Tehran from the ages of six to fourteen, during which time she experiences the Islamic Revolution and the devastating...

Lucy Ribchester, Elisabeth Gifford and Lucy Hughes-Hallett interviews

In our first set of interviews for 2015, Ryan Van Winkle talks to Lucy Ribchester, Lucy Hughes-Hallett and Elizabeth Gifford about suffragettes, mythology and the fascist poet who wanted to create his own utopia. Lucy Ribchester is the Edinburgh-based author of the recently-published The Hourglass Factory, her first novel. As well as being shortlisted for this year's Costa Short Story Awards, Lucy is a previous recipient of a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. The Hourglass Factory tells the...

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

This month, our Book Talk panel turns its attention to the wildly successful Wild by Cheryl Strayed. This highly personal, admirably honest memoir details the authors journey from a lost 26-year-old who thought she had lost everything following her mother's shockingly quick death from cancer. With nothing to lose, she made the impulsive decision to walk eleven-hundred miles of the west coast of America and to do it alone with no experience of long-distance hiking. It proved to be a journey that ...

Jodi Picoult, Helen Macdonald and Tom Barbash interviews

Jodi Picoult is the author of 23 books that have sold over 23 million copies. Her latest novel Leaving Time debuted at number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The book tells the story of Alice Metcalf, and elephant researcher, and her daughter Jenna. Following Alice's disappearance, Jenna uses Alice's diaries to find out more about her mother and what might have happened to her. Jodi speaks to Ryan about the research she undertook for the book - including learning how to run an elephant ...

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

This month, the Book Talk panel has been discussing the 2014 Man Booker Prize winner, Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Taking its title from one of the most famous books in Japanese literature, written by the great haiku poet Basho, Flanagan’s novel has as its heart one of the most infamous episodes of Japanese history, the construction of the Thailand-Burma Death Railway in World War II. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Burma Death Railway, surgeon Dorrigo Evans...

Martina Cole, Jack Wolf and Irving Finkel interviews

In this edition of Book Talk, Ryan Van Winkle talks modern day crime with Martina Cole, 18th century science with Jack Wolf, and ancient Memopotamian stories with Irving Finkel.Martina Cole is a legendary British crime writer. She's the author of 21 books, including her most recent novel The Good Life.Cole discusses her background, how she stays up-to-date with the changing criminal world and her attraction to writing about criminals and prison life rather than from the police perspective: "I pr...

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

This month finds the Book Talk panel reading and discussing The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. Faber's first book in fourteen years is a tale of adventure, faith and the ties that might hold two people together when they are worlds apart. Peter Leigh is a husband, a Christian, and now a missionary. As The Book of Strange New Things opens, he is set to embark on a journey that will be the biggest test of his faith yet. From the moment he says goodbye to his wife, Bea, and boards his ...

Ron Butlin, Donal McLaughlin and Eimear McBride interviews

In this edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle and Sasha de Buyl talk to Ron Butlin, Donal McLaughlin and Eimear McBride about family and place. A Girl is a Half-formed ThingWith an international reputation as a prize-winning novelist, Ron Butlin is a former Edinburgh Makar/Poet Laureate (2008-2014) whose fourth novel, Ghost Moon, is out now. The book tells the story in flashback of Maggie, a young woman in post-World War II Edinburgh who falls pregnant in a society that frowns on unwed moth...

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid

This month, Book Talk has been reading and discussing Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid, a modern re-imagining of the Jane Austen classic. This is the second release from the Austen Project, which pairs six bestselling contemporary authors with Jane Austen’s six complete works. Seventeen-year-old Catherine 'Cat' Morland has led a sheltered existence in rural Dorset, a life entirely bereft of the romance and excitement for which she yearns. So when Cat's wealthy neighbours, the Allens, invite her ...

Ajay Close and David Mitchell Interviews

In this edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle talks to Ajay Close and David Mitchell about time, ethics and mortality. Novelist and dramatist Ajay Close discusses her latest book, Trust. Trust follows the lives of a disparate group of characters working in mining and banking and the effects or two major events, the miner's strike and the banking crisis, on their lives. Ajay discusses where the idea for the story came from and how it developed over time. If the last edition of Book Talk left...

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

This month, Book Talk has been reading and discussing The Bone Clocks, the highly anticipated new novel by David Mitchell. The book follows Holly Sykes, a young girl suffering from aural hallucinations, from her teenage years in Gravesend across the world - both geographically and temporally - to a future in the West of Ireland after civilisation has collapsed.Sasha de Buyl is joined by freelance literature and events programmer Hannah Trevarthen and Peggy Hughes, Programme Director of the Dunde...

Patrick Ness, Mikey Cuddihy and John Gordon Sinclair interviews

Podcast Contents 00:00 - 00:45 Introduction00:45 - 11:05 Patrick Ness11:05 - 20:28 Mike Cuddihy20:28 - 32:50 John Gordon Sinclair In this edition of Book Talk. Host Ryan Van Winkle talks to Patrick Ness, Mikey Cuddihy and John Gordon Sinclair about spite, happiness and motivations for writing. Two-time winner of the Carnegie Award, Patrick Ness is the author of a number of books for adults and young adults including A Monster Calls, The Crane Wife and More Than This, the novel under discussion i...

More Than This by Patrick Ness

A boy drowns. He wakes up in a house he hasn't lived in for years. The world is deserted. More Than This has a gripping and brutal opening chapter, but does the book live up to the potential of its opening? Host Sasha deBuyl is joined by children’s bookseller Eve Harvey and young adult author Keith Gray to discuss the book, the most recent Young Adult novel from Carnegie Medal-winning author Patrick Ness.Seth, the protagonist, is caught between two worlds. The sparse, deserted post-apocalyptic w...

Natalie Haynes, Nick Barley and Gail Porter interviews

Podcast contents00:00-01:27 Introduction01:27-12:57 Nick Barley12:57-23:35 Natalie Haynes23:35-27:22 Karrie Fransman and Amruta Patil 27:22-30:48 Gail Porter Creativity and storytelling weave their way through this edition of Book Talk as host Ryan Van Winkle talks to Nick Barley, Natalie Haynes, Karrie Fransman, Amruta Patil and Gail Porter.Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival takes up on a walk through his picks of the programme. While the big names may be getting...

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

It's Tartt, but is it art? In this edition of Book Talk, host Paul Gallagher is joined by journalist and broadcaster Jane Graham and Scottish Book Trust's Head of Reader Development to delve into the themes, characters and preoccupations of Donna Tartt's bestselling third novel, The Goldfinch. Centred around the life of Theo Dekker, a New Yorker whose mother is tragically killed in a bomb blast at a prominent Manhattan art gallery, the book is a dense, detailed work, 11 years in the making. The ...

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Paul Gallagher is joined by The Scotsman features writer Lee Randall and freelance journalist and books blogger Nicola Balkind to discuss Jennifer Egan’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winner A Visit from the Goon Squad, as well as choosing some related reading recommendations. Driven less by a progressing narrative or a central character than by several overriding themes - passing time, changing relationships and the nature of the music industry to name a few – A Visit from the Goon Squad investigates the...

Charlotte Higgins, Robert Twigger and William Letford interviews

In this edition of Book Talk host Ryan Van Winkle takes us on a literary trip around the world, stopping off in Roman Britain, on the River Nile and in the Middle East. Charlotte Higgins is the author of Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain. Having travelled around Britain in a campervan, Charlotte talks to Ryan about how the idea of Roman Britain has resonated throughout British culture since the end of Roman rule and what it means to us now. If you'd like to head out on your own journe...

The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins by Irvine Welsh

In this edition of Book Talk Scottish author Barry Hutchison and journalist and critic Chitra Ramaswamy join host Sasha de Buyl to talk about The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins, the new novel by Irvine Welsh. Trainspotting may have been named as the nation’s favourite Scottish novel, but The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins is proving much more divisive, with our Twitter followers calling the novel everything from “brilliant” and “amazing” to “boring” and “utter rubbish”. The book follows the intertwined ...

Chris Ware, Dilys Rose and Michael Fry interviews

In this edition of Book Talk, Ryan Van Winkle speaks to Chris Ware, Dilys Rose and Michael Fry about stories, memories and histories. Chris Ware is an American graphic novelist whose latest book is Building Stories. The book, which has no beginning or end, is designed to reflect the non-linear way we remember our lives. Chris talks about why he decided to focus the intangible world of memory and how he develops work that can be read in multiple ways. “It’s like composing music. You have a sense ...

The Humans by Matt Haig

In this edition of Book Talk we’re discussing The Humans by adult and young adult novelist Matt Haig. When Professor Andrew Martin solves the Riemann hypothesis, one of the world’s greatest mathematical problems, the inhabitants of planet Vonnadoria panic. Fearing what warmongering, greedy humans will do with this mathematical knowledge, the Vonnadorians kidnap Martin and replace him with their very own man who fell to earth - an assassin masked in the Professor’s body. Tasked with destroying al...

Scott Westerfeld, Gerry Hassan and Lin Anderson interviews

In this edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle talks to author Scott Westerfeld about steampunk and zeppelins, discusses the myths of modern Scotland with commentator and academic Gerry Hassan, and looks at how crime and science work together in fiction with Lin Anderson and Doctor Kathy Charles. Scott Westerfeld, author of the Uglies trilogy, gives an insight into how he researched and created the steampunk World War One setting of Leviathan. Loved by teenagers and military history buffs al...

Tenth of December by George Saunders

This month, host Paul Gallagher is joined by two Scottish writers, Kirsty Logan and Gavin Inglis to discuss Tenth of December, the new collection of short stories from George Saunders. Saunders has received many awards and accolades for his short story writing, most recently the inaugural Folio Prize, yet he is far from a household name. Tenth of December is a dark collection of stories with a sci-fi feel that explores a near-dystopian American society and the lives of those living in it. But di...

George Saunders, Doug Johnstone and Alex Gray interviews

In this edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle interviews bestselling American author George Saunders and Scottish crime writers Alex Gray and Doug Johnstone. Tenth of December, the sci-fi infused short-story collection by George Saunders was recently awarded the inaugural Folio Prize. George reads ‘Sticks’, a story from the collection and talks to Ryan about having the freedom to focus on writing fiction, how he applies lessons from his career as a scientist to develop his characters and ho...

S by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst

Conceived by filmmaker J.J. Abrams and written by novelist Doug Dorst, S has been hailed as a brand new reading experience, but does it live up to the hype? Joining host Sasha deBuyl are Nicola Balkind, freelance writer and books blogger and Iain Morrison, Enterprise Manager at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery. S is an ambitious and complex work with multiple strands fighting for the reader’s attention. The core text, Ship of Theseus, is the final work of fictional author V. M. Straka, presented ...

Kirsty Logan, Tim Sinclair and Ken MacLeod interviews

In this edition of the Book Talk podcast Ryan Van Winkle interviews Kirsty Logan about her debut collection of short stories, discusses parkour with novelist and poet Tim Sinclair and imagines the Scotland of the future with sci-fi author Ken MacLeod. The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales is the debut short story collection from former New Writers Award recipient Kirsty Logan. Written over the course of five years, the stories are set in locations as diverse as 1920s New Orleans, the Australian ...

Under the Skin by Michel Faber

This month, Book Talk cranks up the heat and settles in for a chat about Michel Faber's creepy sci-fi-meets-horror debut, Under the Skin, soon to be released as a film starring Scarlett Johansson. Joining host Danny Scott are Sarah Stewart, a senior editor at Floris Books, founder of the Lighthouse Children's Literary Consultancy and soon-to-be-published children's author; and Doug Johnstone, novelist, journalist, musician and co-founder of Scotland Writers FC. Under the Skin tells the unsettlin...