World Book Club

Maya Angelou answers listeners questions about her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.

Salman Rushdie talks to an audience and takes questions on his award winning book Midnight's Children. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.

Andre Brink joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel A Dry White Season.

Author of "Blonde" Joyce Carol Oates answers questions about her novel. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.

Carlos Fuentes joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel The Death of Artemio Cruz.

Nick Hornby talks to an audience about his book about being an Arsenal football fan Fever Pitch. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.

Vikram Seth joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel A Suitable Boy. Presented by Harriett Gilbert. Recorded May 2005.(Photo: BBC)

Ian McEwan discusses his 20th century familiy saga about the need for atonement

Zadie Smith talks to an audience about her novel 'White Teeth'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.

P.D. James joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss her novel 'Original Sin'. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.

Writer Paulo Coelho talks about his book The Alchemist which has been translated into dozens of languages and has sold over 27 million copies worldwide. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.(Photo: Paulo Coelho, 2010) (Credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Kazuo Ishiguro joins Harriett Gilbert and an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his classic novel The Remains Of The Day.(Photo: Kazuo Ishiguro. Credit: Jeff Overs/BBC)

Anita Desai joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss her 1999 novel 'Fasting, Feasting'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert. Broadcast in September 2004.(Photo: Anita Desai) (Credit: Jerry Bauer)

Roddy Doyle talks about his novel The Commitments. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.

Amos Oz joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel 'My Michael'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

South African novelist, Gillian Slovo talks about her novel 'Red Dust'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.

Tracy Chevalier joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss her novel 'Girl With A Pearl Earring'.Image: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, Credit: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images

Author Martin Cruz Smith talks about his novel Gorky Park. Presented by Harriett Gilbert from California in a special co-production with San Francisco radio station KALW

Amy Tan joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss her novel The Joy Luck Club.

Chilean novelist Isabel Allende joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss her novel 'The House of the Spirits'. First broadcast in November 2003. (Photo credit: Lori Barra.)

Frederick Forsyth joins an audience of World Service listners to discuss his novel 'The Day of the Jackal'. Introduced by Harriett Gilbert. First broadcast in October 2003.(Photo: Frederick Forsyth outside his home in Ireland, 1978) (Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Peter Carey joins an audience of World Service listeners to discuss his novel 'Oscar and Lucinda'. Introduced by Harriett Gilbert.

Popular British crime writer Ruth Rendell talked to the programme about her work, including that written under her pseudonym Barbara Vine. Ruth Rendell died in May 2015.(Photo: Ruth Rendell) (Credit:Seth Wenig/Reuters)

Julian Barnes joins a World Service audience to discuss his novel 'Flaubert's Parrot'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.

Prize winning Chinese writer Jung Chang joins a World Service audience to discuss her novel 'Wild Swans'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.

Author Terry Pratchett talking about The Colour Of Magic in 2003, one of his Discworld series. Terry died in March 2015. The World Book Club was presented by Harriett Gilbert.Photo: Terry Pratchett Credit: PA

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The novel explores themes of women in subjugation, and the various means by which they gain agency. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.

The British author Doris Lessing died on 17 November at the age of 94. As a tribute the BBC World Service revisits Doris Lessing’s discussion with Harriett Gilbert from a 2003 edition of World Book Club, when she talked about her debut novel The Grass is Singing, which was published in 1950. In an introduction to the original interview, Harriett remembers her encounters with Doris Lessing with affection and reminds us of the fact that she became the oldest winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007 when she won the award for her life’s work.

Hanif Kureishi joins a World Service audience to discuss his book 'The Buddha of Suburbia'. Presented by Harriett Gilbert.

Nobel Prize winner V. S Naipaul discussess his book 'A House for Mr Biswas' with an audience of World Service listeners. Presented by Harriett Gilbert. (Photo: VS Naipaul, Credit: Press Association)

Nigerian born writer Ben Okri discusses his novel The Famished Road. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.

Indian writer and activist Arundhati Roy talks to the programme about winning the Booker Prize in 1997 for The God of Small Things. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.(First broadcast December 2002)(Photo: Arundhati Roy) (Credit: HOCINE ZAOURAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Martin Amis joins an audience of World Service listeners to answer questions about his novel Money. Broadcast in October 2002.(Photo: Martin Amis, 2006. Credit: BBC)

What makes Stephen King, not only the Master of Horror, but more than that?(Image: Stephen King speaking in 2009. Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters)

In the First ever Meridian Writing World Book Club, Harriett Gilbert talks to American writer Garrison Keillor on his book Lake Wobegon Days.

Interview with the playwright and director, David Hare.

Interview with American poet, memoirist, actress, Maya Angelou. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.

Zimbabwean novelist,poet and playright Chenjerai Hove talks to Harriett Gilbert about his novel 'Ancestors'. This programme with Chenjerai Hove, who died in 2015, was first broadcast in February 2002.

Harriett Gilbert talks to the Egyptian writer, Bahaa Taher an Egyptian novelist who writes in Arabic and is the winner of the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction, awarded in 2008.

Interview with Iain Sinclair on his book, 'London Orbital'. Presenter: Harriett Gilbert.