Open Book - 17/01/2010

Mariella Frostrup talks to the creator of the phenomenally successful Lemony Snickert children's books, Daniel Handler. A Series of Unfortunate Events, his 13 volumes chronicling the sufferings of the Baudelaire orphans, have sold over 50 million copies in the last decade. He explains how painful family history led to the dark tone of his work. Kati Nicholl joins Mariella to choose some of her favourite recent audiobooks, from Conan Doyle to Cormac McCarthy. Seventy years after the death of Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of novels including The Master and Margarita, two fans discuss his work. The writer and broadcaster Misha Glenny - the son of Bulgakov's first translator - and the novelist's biographer Julie Curtis explore the life of a writer now regarded as one of Russia's greatest.