Joe Sacco and RJ Palacio: facing reality

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