TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE

PROMO FOR    1/10/2010      "Great Reads"
*Attention all readers of fiction! This is something you really want to
hear. Next time, TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE, devotes itself to some of
the great reads of the last year. Colum McCann talks about his National
Book Award-winning novel, and we'll hear from fellow finalist Jayne Anne
Phillips. We'll also explore Barcelona, the African immigrant experience
and hear about Henry the 8th's "fixer". 

PROGRAM RUNDOWN:   "Great Reads"

0:00 - 17:06        SEGMENT 1: (17:07)
            In an excerpt from a 1991 interview, Philippe Petit talks
            about his experience walking on a tightrope between the
            Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. Then,
            Colum McCann, whose novel "Let the Great World Spin"
            takes place on the day of Petit's adventure, talks with
            Steve Paulson.  McCann was born in Dublin but lives now
            in New York. His father-in-law escaped from the first
            tower hit on 9/11.  "Let the Great World Spin" just won
            the National Book Award for Fiction.
                         
            Segment One Outcue:  "...PRI - Public Radio
            International."

17:07 - 17:36  LOCAL OPTION with music bed (:29)

17:37 - 32:54       SEGMENT 2: (15:19)
            Jayne Anne Phillips is the author of several novels and
            two collections of widely anthologized short stories. 
            Her novel "Lark & Termite" was also a finalist for the
            National Book Award.  She reads an excerpt and talks with
            Jim Fleming about her love of children and her interest
            in communicating our perceptions of the many levels of
            reality we all live on.  Also, Hillary Mantel won
            Britain's prestigious Man Booker Prize for her book "Wolf
            Hall." She tells Anne Strainchamps that Henry the Eighth
            needed a "fixer" to make his break from the Church of
            Rome and his many marriages legal in England. That man
            was Thomas Cromwell and Hilary Mantel tells his story in
            her book. 
                         
            Segment Two Outcue:  "...PRI - Public Radio
            International."

32:55 - 33:24       LOCAL OPTION with music bed (:29)

33:25 - 53:00       SEGMENT 3: (19:35)
            Carlos Ruiz Zafon is the author of "The Shadow of the
            Wind" and now, "The Angel's Game."  He tells Jim Fleming
            that both books are part of a sort of Chinese box set of
            four inter-related novels involving the same characters
            and his native city of Barcelona. Also, Chimamanda Ngozi
            Adichie splits her time between the U.S. and her native
            Nigeria.  She talks with Steve Paulson about her early
            days as a writer and her experience as an immigrant from
            Africa.  Her latest book is called "The Thing Around Your
            Neck."
                    
            Segment Three Outcue: PRI Audio Logo


For a copy of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
1-10-A.

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