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James Crawford

@jdcrawf.bsky.social

THE EDGE OF THE PLAIN @canongatebooks @wwnorton | WILD HISTORY @BirlinnBooks | Presenter @BBCRadio4 TAKE FOUR BOOKS | Editor @PolygonBooks | CHAIR of the Board @edbookfest jamescrawford.space

762 Followers  |  636 Following  |  62 Posts  |  Joined: 17.11.2024  |  2.0655

Latest posts by jdcrawf.bsky.social on Bluesky

BBC at Edinburgh International Book Festival | Edinburgh International Book Festival Information on how you can get involved in BBC radio recordings happening at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Come and be part of a live Take Four Books audience this Saturday at Edinburgh International Book Festival - I’m talking to Rachel Kushner about her Booker-shortlisted Creation Lake and 3 influences! Book your FREE tickets here πŸ‘‡ www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...

04.08.2025 15:06 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

A joy to commission this from Graeme Macrae Burnet - and fantastic to now see it making its way out into the world…

28.07.2025 12:56 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This was great fun and includes a short history of the great journalist Dorothy Thompson (β€˜Who Goes Nazi’) who was the 1st journalist expelled from Germany by Hitler

27.07.2025 15:51 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Listen now to our Radio4 #TakeFourBooks chat with @damedenisemina.bsky.social about new novel β€˜The Good Liar’, and 3 influences - 1984, Obedience to Authority and the Dorothy Thompson’s essay β€˜Who Goes Nazi?’ - also with Kim Sherwood! πŸ‘‡πŸŽ§πŸ“»πŸ“š
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

27.07.2025 15:26 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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We are excited to be partnering with the @edbookfest.bsky.social to bring a super panel of international publishers together, chaired by the fabulous @jdcrawf.bsky.social to discuss 'Books that Travel'.
www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival... part of the Global Ink Industry series, Tuesday 12 August.

22.07.2025 14:31 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Listen now to my chat on Radio4 with Gurnaik Johal on his debut @serpents-tail.bsky.social novel Saraswati on #TakeFourBooks: where a lost river re-emerges in contemporary India. His 3 influences include @amitav.bsky.social, Joseph Conrad and poet Natalie Diaz! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

20.07.2025 15:28 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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A long train journey means starting another pick from Take Four Books with @jdcrawf.bsky.social Looking forward to this one.

16.07.2025 05:58 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Listen now to my chat with Colm Toibin on #TakeFourBooks on Radio 4 - talking about Long Island (his first sequel!) and three influences, Hardy, Conrad & Wharton - also with @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

13.07.2025 15:11 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Listen now to my chat on Radio 4's #TakeFourBooks with Madeleine Thien about her new, time-warping @grantabooks.bsky.social novel of war, exile and refugees, 'The Book of Records' - and her three influences, including the evergreen 'Invisible Cities' by Italo Calvino...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

29.06.2025 15:06 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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A joy to talk to @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social about her new, polyphonic novel 'The Benefactors' on #TakeFourBooks, along with 3 influences Chernobyl Prayer, The Slap and @larapawson.bsky.social's This Is The Place to Be - listen now on Radio 4 & BBC Sounds!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

22.06.2025 14:56 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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This Sunday at 4.00pm on BBC Radio 4, Take Four Books focuses on The Benefactors. I’m joined by my brill pal Emma Warren and I talk about, among other books This is the Place to Be by @larapawson.bsky.social, published by @cbeditions.bsky.social. I love this programme so was made up to be on it.

20.06.2025 08:33 β€” πŸ‘ 53    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2

Thanks Caroline!

16.06.2025 10:51 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I loved this episode, an exploration of what sounds like a beautiful book about storytelling & interconnection The comment β€œthe same water we might have shed as tears yesterday may be the same drop that fell on the head of a mighty king in Ancient Assyria” may have led to a few tears itself.

15.06.2025 19:38 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks Helen!

15.06.2025 20:23 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Listen to us chat to Elif Shafak behind the scenes at @hayfestival.bsky.social on R4 #TakeFourBooks: talking 'There Are Rivers in the Sky' & 3 influences including the earliest recorded poem The Epic of Gilgamesh - along with first national poet of Wales, Gwyneth Lewis! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

15.06.2025 19:07 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Congratulations to Andrew Miller on winning the Walter Scott Prize for The Land in Winter. He spoke to Take Four Books about the novel and his influences at the Hay festival on #BBCRadio4 @walterscottprize.bsky.social @hayfestival.bsky.social
🎧: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

13.06.2025 16:09 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

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08.06.2025 21:10 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Listen now to latest #TakeFourBooks recorded at @hayfestival.bsky.social - Andrew Miller talking about his latest novel 'The Land in Winter' & influences including a book about a mad, 300-page party - with excellent @joannechocolat.bsky.social as guest! πŸ‘‡πŸŽ§
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

08.06.2025 15:10 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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#TakeFourBooks has been at the Hay Festival for the past few days - including a show in front of live audience for the first time with Andrew Miller & @joannechocolat.bsky.social and lovely interview today with @elifsafak.bsky.social and poet Gwyneth Lewis - look out for Radio 4 broadcasts v soon! 🎧

26.05.2025 16:35 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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On latest #TakeFourBooks I’m talking to poet and memoirist Sean Hewitt about his debut novel β€˜Open Heaven’ & 3 influences including E M Forster’s Maurice, LP Hartley’s The Go-Between and Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls! Listen now πŸŽ§πŸ“»πŸ“š www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

25.05.2025 15:55 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Take Four Books is at Hay! @hayfestival.bsky.social We’re talking to Andrew Miller about his novel, The Land in Winter, with Joanne Harris joining in the conversation. @jdcrawf.bsky.social

24.05.2025 14:01 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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I talked to Ocean Vuong on #TakeFourBooks on BBC Radio 4 about his new @vintagebooks.bsky.social novel β€œThe Emperor of Gladness” and his three influences, including The Brothers Karamazov and Jack Kerouac - listen now! πŸ“šπŸŽ§πŸ‘‡

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

18.05.2025 16:15 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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I'm talking to Sir Ben Okri about new book 'Madame Sosostris & The Festival for the Broken-Hearted' (@headofzeus.bsky.social) on BBC Radio4's #TakeFourBooks, with influences 'The Waste Land', 'The Outsider', Shakespeare & bonus book we both love: Les Grand Meaulnes!πŸŽ§πŸ‘‡
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

11.05.2025 15:36 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½

01.05.2025 17:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood and Wilful Disregard by Lena Anderson.

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood and Wilful Disregard by Lena Anderson.

I bought both of these on the recommendation of Vincenzo Latronico on Radio4’s Take Four Books, an amazing interview with @jdcrawf.bsky.social. β€˜Curated existentialism’ - perfect!
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

01.05.2025 16:44 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks Frank!

27.04.2025 14:59 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Listen to the episode and see what you think! I would recommend πŸ‘πŸ½

27.04.2025 14:58 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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4pm BBCRadio4 #TakeFourBooks @vincenzo.bsky.social
is talking to me about his International @thebookerprizes.bsky.social shortlisted @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social novel 'Perfection' on the emptiness of contemporary existence, and 3 influences, incl Patricia Lockwood www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

27.04.2025 14:50 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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It’s a whale-filled #TakeFourBooks today, 4pm Radio 4 with Xiaolu Guo’s epic @vintagebooks.bsky.social reworking of Moby Dick CALL ME ISHMAELLE & influences including Melville, Philip Hoare & Othello-also with Alan McMunnigall @thiwurd.bsky.social! #BookSky πŸ’™https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002b6lt

20.04.2025 12:45 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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4pm, BBC Radio 4, I'm talking to Andrew O'Hagan about CALEDONIAN ROAD and his three influences, including Henry James, poet Wallace Stevens, and a certain Peter Pan, by JM Barrie... #TakeFourBooks
Listen here! πŸ‘‡πŸ“šπŸ“»
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

13.04.2025 13:44 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

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