Open Book - 19/04/2009

Mariella Frostrup talks to American crime novelist Elmore Leonard, whose work has found heavyweight fans such as Saul Bellow and Martin Amis as well as enjoying success in film adaptations such as Get Shorty. He talks about his new book, Comfort To The Enemy, and explains why he thinks he has made the most of his limitations. With a book called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies becoming an unexpected bestseller, Mariella and her guests discuss Jane Austen's continuing cultural significance. Claire Harman, the author of Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World, and Deborah Moggach, who adapted Pride and Prejudice for the 2005 film starring Kiera Knightley, look at Austen's rediscovery in the 19th century and reinvention in the 20th. Plus the novelist Andrey Kurkov, author of the cult classic Death and the Penguin, celebrates another satirical masterpiece, Mikhail Bulgakov's 1925 novel The Heart of a Dog.