Katie Kitamura

The American writer Katie Kitamura speaks about her Booker-shortlisted novel, Audition, and together with presenter James Crawford they explore its connections to three other literary works.

Audition begins with two people meeting for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. The woman is an accomplished actress and she's meeting a man who is young enough to be her son. But who is he to her, and who is she to him? Two competing narratives unspool and the novel begins to rewrite our understanding of the roles we play every day.

For her three influences Katie, who was a recent finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, chose: Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin from 1967, which was later made into a film directed by Roman Polanski; Tomorrow In The Battle Think Of Me, by Javier Marias, from 1994; and Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant, from 1885.

Producer: Dominic Howell Editor: Gillian Wheelan This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.