logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2014
53m 30s

Malorie Blackman: Noughts and Crosses

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Bestselling British writer Malorie Blackman talks about her page-turning novel for teenagers and young adults Noughts and Crosses.

A gripping modern-day tale of star-crossed lovers which aims to challenge our perceptions of race, power and truth, Noughts and Crosses is set in an alternative world where whites are the oppressed underclass and blacks are all-powerful and, often, all corrupt. An excited audience of all ages gathers to discuss the novel with Malorie Blackman.

Up next
Feb 2
Linwood Barclay - Take Your Breath Away
Harriett Gilbert welcomes master of suspense, the Canadian author Linwood Barclay in the World Book Club Studio, to answer your questions about his thriller 'Take Your Breath Away'.The story centres on Andrew Mason, whose wife Brie vanished six years ago, making him the prime sus ... Show More
1h 4m
Jan 1
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - The Palace of Illusions
Harriett Gilbert welcomes bestselling author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni into the World Book Club studio to discuss her internationally acclaimed novel, The Palace of Illusions.A luminous reimagining of the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharat, The Palace of Illusions traces the li ... Show More
1h 7m
Dec 1
Philippa Gregory: The Other Boleyn Girl
Harriett Gilbert welcomes bestselling author Philippa Gregory into the World Book Club studio to discuss her celebrated historical novel, The Other Boleyn Girl.This novel, about to celebrate its 25th anniversary, is a vivid portrayal of ambition, love, and betrayal in the Tudor C ... Show More
55m 8s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2022
S15, Ep8 How To Fail: Malorie Blackman, the iconic Noughts and Crosses author on rejection, racism and the importance of representation
TW: miscarriage Today's guest is one of our most beloved writers: the one and only Malorie Blackman. She joins me to talk about how her setbacks have helped her define who she is - from being evicted and made homeless as a child, to the early years of writing rejection when over ... Show More
59m 32s
Aug 2023
Coming of Age as a Black Teen in America
<p>The stakes are high when you’re a Black teenager in America – they can be life or death. Both books featured on this episode of Velshi Banned Book Club couple pulled-from-the-headlines urgency with the emotional depth of good fiction. “All American Boys”, co-authored by Jason ... Show More
25m 3s
Nov 2022
Malorie Blackman with Nihal Arthanayake
<p>This week on the Penguin Podcast, Nihal is joined by Malorie Blackman, author of the critically acclaimed and internationally renowned Noughts and Crosses series.</p><br><p>She joins us to talk about her new memoir, Just Sayin': My Life In Words.</p><br><p>Malorie also discuss ... Show More
35m 55s
Sep 2021
Melissa Daniels-Rauterkus, "Afro-Realisms and the Romances of Race: Rethinking Blackness in the African American Novel" (LSU Press, 2020)
From the 1880s to the early 1900s, a particularly turbulent period of U.S. race relations, the African American novel provided a powerful counternarrative to dominant and pejorative ideas about blackness. In Afro-Realisms and the Romances of Race: Rethinking Blackness in the Afri ... Show More
2h 28m
Mar 2021
Frantz Fanon
Irrational feelings of dread, fear, and hate in a subject whose threat is often exaggerated or "phobogenesis" - one of the psychological terms explored in Frantz Fanon's 1952 book Black Skin, White Masks, which sets out the way black people have been affected by colonial subjugat ... Show More
44m 37s
Sep 2019
Malcolm Gladwell: Talking to Strangers
<p>Journalist, podcaster and New York Times best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell discusses his new book, <em>Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know</em>. Malcolm examines his theory that prejudging people we don’t know can lead to dangerous conse ... Show More
38m 34s
Mar 2021
John Halifax, Gentleman
Dinah Mulock Craik achieved fame and fortune as the author of the 1856 bestselling novel John Halifax, Gentleman. New Generation Thinker Clare Walker Gore reads this rags-to-riches tale of an orphan boy who rises in the world through sheer hard work and sterling character and her ... Show More
13m 41s
Sep 2021
Toni Morrison: The legacy of a literary legend
The American writer Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” It was an urge which in her case yielded a rich array of novels, children’s books, plays and essays. Toni Morrison stands tall, as the f ... Show More
39m 38s