Sir Ben Okri

Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Brandreth / Plain Jaine Media

Society & Culture, Unknown

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2023

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Gyles talks to the poet, novellist and activist Sir Ben Okri. Born and raised in Nigeria - with a 4 year interlude in Peckham - Ben moved to London for good in his 20s. There, he build upon his success as a writer, and won The Booker Prize with his novel The Famished Road in 1991, when he was just 32 years old. Sir Ben and Gyles talk about Ben's early years in Peckham, his return to Nigeria aged 6, and his formative experiences during the civil war. They talk about Ben's early career working in a paint factory in Lagos, and how he realised that his true calling was writing. Sir Ben's latest book, Tiger Work, poems, stories and essays about climate change, was published in 2023. Ben was knighted in the 2023 Birthday Honours. Please get in touch with us: we're at [email protected] and on Twitter and Instagram @therosebudpod. We're keen to hear your Christmas and new year memories - let us know if you have any you'd like to share. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Sitting quietly once you've made the house all shiny.
0:04.0	Down time can be just fine playing bangers from the 90s.
0:08.0	Tea break.
0:09.0	Lunt break.
0:10.0	Maybe listen to the outbreak.
0:12.0	Sometimes it's not time for some tombola, right?
0:15.0	It's enjoying lasagna time, chilling with a book time, or time to visit your nan time. Go on some other time put your phone down tombollah open for fun terms apply 18 plus gambleaware.org
0:29.4	Hello it's giles here what's your very first memory we hope these conversations make you think back to your early days.
0:39.6	Yeah, that's what it's all about.
0:41.1	Welcome to another episode of Rosebud.
0:43.1	Thank you. And now to this week's episode.
1:07.0	Ben Okre, first published at the age of only 19 with a novel Flowers and Shadows.
1:13.6	His big triumph, of course, was winning the Booker Prize for the Famished Road in 1991.
1:20.6	He was the youngest ever winner. Now, he's more than novelist. He's a climate activist. He's a poet. He's a father. His latest work is called
1:32.3	Tiger Work. I recorded this conversation with Ben at the Groven House Hotel in London's Park Lane.
1:38.3	I know the hotel quite well. In fact, every year here, I host a party to mark my admiration for Oscar Wilde, the great Irish
1:48.3	playwright, poet, wit, and I'm president of the Oscar Wild Society.
1:53.3	And we have this party, and hundreds of people come, all sorts, and interesting people propose
1:59.4	a toast.
2:00.7	And a couple of years ago, I asked Ben Okre to propose the toast.
2:04.3	In fact, he suggested to me that he should propose the toast.
2:07.8	I remember that now.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Gyles Brandreth / Plain Jaine Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Gyles Brandreth / Plain Jaine Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.