Words At Large

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As Canada’s new parliament gets ready to govern and voters in the U.S. prepare to go to the polls, Writers & Company takes on the topic of politics in literature. Host Eleanor Wachtel met with four acclaimed writers who recently appeared at the 29th annual International Festival of Authors in Toronto.

Victoria Glendinning is a biographer and novelist from England. She has twice won the Whitbread Award, and her publications include books on Anthony Trollope, Elizabeth Bowen, Edith Sitwell, Vita Sackville-West, Rebecca West and Jonathan Swift.

Hari Kunzru is a British freelance journalist and editor who has written for numerous international publications and is also a prize-winning novelist. In 1999, the Observer named him Young Travel Writer of the Year. Words at Large also featured an interview with Kunzru earlier in the year.

Canada’s own Ronald Wright is the internationally acclaimed, bestselling author of several non-fiction books and novels. His futuristic novel, A Scientific Romance (Vintage), won Britain's David Higham Prize for fiction.

Irish author Colm Tóibín is the award-winning author of five novels. His non-fiction includes Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border, Homage to Barcelona, The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe (all published by MacMillan), and most recently, Love in a Dark Time (McClelland & Stewart).

First aired November 2, 2008 on Writers & Company. [runs 52:10]

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