Arts Interview: Jo Baker, Best-Selling Writer | It’s A Question Of Balance 21 May 2016

Broadcast on 21 May 2016 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.

It's A Question Of Balance ® radio show balances the intellectual with the creative, exploring whether we have more in common than divides us through thought-provoking conversations - out and about with people on the street on different topics, and in the studio with inspiring guests from the arts. Balance is not a compromise. Balance is truth distilled from many places creating cohesive understanding.  

Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com

Arts Interview: In-Depth Arts Conversation with Jo Baker

This week as her special guest from the arts Ruth Copland is pleased to be interviewing best-selling British writer Jo Baker. Born in Lancashire in Britain, Jo Baker studied English Literature at Oxford University, then went on to study writing at Queen’s University, Belfast, eventually achieving a PhD on the work of the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen. Jo’s first book Offcomer was published in 2002 and she has gone on to publish five other novels - The Undertow, The Telling, The Mermaid’s Child, Longbourn and her latest book A Country Road, A Tree. Jo has also written for BBC Radio 4, and her short stories have been included in a number of anthologies. 

Jo Baker’s book Longbourn, a reimagining of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from the servants’ perspective, was hailed by critics as brilliant, absorbing, moving and ingenious and is a national best-seller, A New York Times Book Review Notable Book, a Seattle Times Best Title, a Christian Science Monitor Best Fiction Book, a Miami Herald Favorite Book, and a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. Longbourn is also in development as a feature film. Jo Baker’s considerable flare for historical detail and nuance showcased so effectively in Longbourn are evident again in her new book, A Country Road, A Tree, where she reimagines the Nobel Prize-winning Irish writer Samuel Beckett’s involvement with the French Resistance during WWII, and his struggle to find meaning in the seeming futility of life, and value in the written word. In A Country Road, A Tree, (the title of which references a stage direction from Beckett’s play Waiting For Godot) Jo Baker explores the military experiences that ultimately contributed to giving Beckett one of the most powerful voices in the 20th century. 

For more info and to hear previous shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com