Reeta Chakrabarti

Simon welcomes journalist, newsreader and now novelist Reeta Chakrabarti to the shed for a conversation that arcs from her childhood in Birmingham to reporting from conflict zones around the world. Reeta discusses her debut novel, Finding Belle, a moving coming-of-age tale of family, identity, mental illness and cross-cultural roots that moves from the beaches of Mombasa to England in the 1970s - a place she describes as a more difficult and sometimes more brutal place than in it is today. Over a proper brew from our friends at Yorkshire Tea, Simon and Reeta share their love of Keats and their passion for dancing (if your arms don't rise above your shoulders have you even had a dance?) - and Reeta talks about some of the stories that have stayed with her over the years, including the murder of Stephen Lawrence.