Charleston Festival

Picture taken by Axel HesslenbergStart the Week is at the Charleston literary Festival with the novelists Tim Winton, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Nicola Barker and the poet and publisher Michael Schmidt. The death of the novel has been predicted since the early twentieth century but in a special programme recorded in front of an audience Tom Sutcliffe talks to three leading novelists from around the world about their latest works. They discuss their influences and their divergent styles, from Knausgaard's minute examination of his life to Tim Winton's tale of disillusionment and redemption, and Nicola Barker's humorous eccentrics. Michael Schmidt has written a biography of the novel, charting its ups and downs, its personalities and relationships and argues the form is in rude health.Producer: Katy Hickman.