Summary: Hello and welcome to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. Simon’s guest for this episode is Kamila Shamsie. Kamila, recently listed as one of Granta’s 20 Best Young British Writers after getting her citizenship, is the author of In The City By the Sea, Salt and Saffron, Kartography, Broken Verses, it was her fifth novel Burnt Shadows which was short listed for the former Orange Prize. A God In Every Stone is her new novel and, like its predecessor, takes us over several decades and deals with the bystanders of war as we follow Vivian Rose Spencer, young woman who dreams of being an archaeologist, and Qayyum Gul, a soldier fighting for the British Indian Army, from the start of World War I. It then takes us from Britain to Peshawar and The Street of Storytellers where fate lies in waiting and how a young boy called Najeeb links these two people together. Simon caught up with Kamila to discuss the novel, the history of Peshawar, researching the novel and the importance of stories and storytelling. Over the next few episodes Simon will be joined by Emma Healey, Kirsty Wark and Kate Forsyth. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Alan Bradley, Niccolo Ammaniti, Armistead Maupin, Emma Donoghue, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.
