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Desert Island Discs

Joanne Harris, writer

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.413.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2021

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Joanne Harris is a writer who is best known for her novel Chocolat, which was made into an Oscar-nominated feature film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. The daughter of an English father and French mother, Joanne was born in Barnsley and her first few years were spent living above her grandparents’ sweet shop. Her parents were both teachers, and her first language was French. She went on to read modern and medieval languages at Cambridge University and taught French for 15 years, writing fiction in her spare time. Her first two novels were not successful and initially Chocolat looked set to follow suit: some publishers thought it was too indulgent to appeal readers in any great number, but the story’s combination of food and magic won many fans and it became a word of mouth hit. Since then, Joanne has written 18 more novels, along with novellas, short stories, the libretti for two short operas, several screenplays and three cookbooks. Her books are now published in over 50 countries and have won a number of British and international awards. Joanne lives in Yorkshire and works from a shed in her back garden. DISC ONE: I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash DISC TWO: Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis by Georges Brassens DISC THREE: At Seventeen by Janis Ian DISC FOUR: Here Comes the Flood by Peter Gabriel DISC FIVE: Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits DISC SIX: Letting You Go by Philip Quast DISC SEVEN: When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease by Roy Harper DISC EIGHT: Little Plastic Castle by Ani DiFranco BOOK CHOICE: The Collected Works of Victor Hugo LUXURY ITEM: Joanne’s own shed CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts

0:04.6

Hello, I'm Lauren LeVern and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast.

0:08.3

Every week I ask my guests to choose the 8 tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take

0:13.0

with them if they were cast away to a desert island.

0:16.4

For right reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.

0:20.2

I hope you enjoy listening.

0:41.6

My cast away this week is the writer Joanne Harris.

0:44.8

For over 20 years she's been bringing everyday magic into the lives of her readers.

0:50.0

She published over two dozen books in a dizzyingly diverse range of genres.

0:54.6

Her creative explorations have encompassed fantasy, short stories, historical fiction,

0:59.6

nonfiction, musical theatre, thrillers and fairy tales.

1:03.8

It's arguably to this last category that her own story belongs.

1:07.5

She was a barnsly born French teacher with a writing career that was strictly extracurricular

1:12.3

and had been told in no uncertain terms that her style was neither commercial nor fashionable

1:17.1

enough to succeed.

1:18.6

It was also pointed out to her that there was no market for books set in rural France filled

1:23.0

with, quote, self-indulgent descriptions of food.

1:26.5

But she couldn't resist writing chocolate.

1:29.5

Her 1999 bestseller catapulted her into the big leagues so fast it was adapted to Oscar

1:35.3

nominated film before she had time to resign from her teaching post.

1:39.4

When she did, she was clear on her creative direction and who was calling the shots.

1:45.0

She says, in my heart, I knew that I wanted to be something more than just a finger on

...

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