194: A 2020 Booker Prize Special

Ahead of next week’s announcement of who has won The 2020 Booker Prize, Read On this week features interviews with all six of the short listed authors as they discuss the background to their novels and the material they explore.   Ranging from a re-examination of the role played by African women during Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia to a dystopian near future in which a group of people live as hunter gatherers in the last wilderness on Earth, the six novels in contention for the World’s most prestigious literary prize reveal some surprising facts about their books and show a common concern with examining how people behave under pressure.   And we finish up hearing from one of last year’s joint winners, Bernardine Evaristo, who shares the Books of Her Life.