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Tom Campbell and Nikesh Shukla

Alex Clark talks to Tom Campbell and Nikesh Shukla about fictionalising today's alienated young men, profiles African writer Amos Tutuola and takes a look at literary Sarajevo.

Alex Clark talks to Tom Campbell and Nikesh Shukla about the challenge of writing about today's alienated young men - continuing in a tradition of such classic British novels as Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim and Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. How are this new generation of male youth, shaped by social media, lack of affordable housing and challenging employment prospects, being interpreted on the page by today's writers?

Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola was introduced to the West by T S Eliot, championed by Dylan Thomas and likened to Virginia Woolf. As his novels are reissued, Nigerian writer and blogger Chikodili Emelumadu considers the controversy his popularity abroad caused in his native Nigeria when he was first published in the 1950s and assesses the continuing literary merit of his work.

With commemorations of the First World War rippling around the globe, we turn our gaze to the place where it all began, the cultural melting pot that is Sarajevo. Continuing our series of writers' postcards from around the literary globe, Andrea Lesic from Sarajevo University, in a special recording from the Sarajevo Musuem of Literature and Theatre, gives the lowdown on Bosnian books.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Thu 24 Jul 2014 15:30

Clip

BOOKLIST

The Planner by Tom Campbell - Publisher: Bloomsbury
Meatspace by Nikesh Shukla - Publisher: Harper Collins

 

By Amos Tutuola:

The Palm-Wine Drunkard
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer
The Brave African Huntress
All published by Faber

 

Why is Venice Sinking? by Abdulah Sidran
Make Up by Sejla Sehabovic

 

Read the opening chapter of The Planner by Tom Campbell

The Planner: Chapter 1 by Tom Campbell

Read the opening chapter of Meatspace by Nikesh Shukla

Meatspace: Chapter 1 by Nikesh Shukla

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Alex Clark
Interviewed Guest Tom Campbell
Interviewed Guest Nikesh Shukla
Interviewed Guest Andrea Lesic

Broadcasts

  • Sun 20 Jul 2014 16:00
  • Thu 24 Jul 2014 15:30

This Week's Book List

This Week's Book List

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