Episode description
James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to award winning poet, novelist and essayist Kei Miller about his Forward Prize Winning poetry collection The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion.
The collection is set on Jamaica and structured through conversations between the map maker, trying to organise and lay down history with a deep conviction of his own rational knowledge, and the rastaman, trying to explain a more spiritual way of knowing. Kei talks to James and the audience about his own multiple identities which are played out in the collection, and reveals which of these characters most represents himself... (and which of them wins the argument!).
Presenter: James Naughtie Producer: Allegra McIlroy
April’s Bookclub choice: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles