The Book Café - 24/01/2011

Scotland's new National Poet, Liz Lochhead, will join us to discuss her hopes for the role. Alaskan author David Vann, whose book Legend of a Suicide won him many awards, not to mention fans, will be talking about his new novel of troubled relationships, Caribou Island, and the challenge of returning again in fiction to the dark themes that shaped his childhood. We visit the Scottish Poetry Library to hear the story of a curious and charming recent discovery. Ahead of Monday night's awards ceremony soldier-poet Brian Turner chats about keeping illustrious company with the likes of Seamus Heaney on the shortlist of the prestigious T S Eliot Prize for Poetry. And public library closures: we get to grips with the maelstrom of comments, online campaigns and criticism as the debate intensifies. Produced by Serena Field.