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Bookworm

Uzodinma Iweala

Bookworm

KCRW

Arts

4.5606 Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2006

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Beasts of No Nation (Harper Collins)

Forcing himself to inhabit the terrifying heart of amorality and violence, Uzodinma Iweala has created the first-person voice of a child-soldier.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Funds for Bookworm are provided in part by Lannin Foundation.

0:07.2

You are a human animal.

0:11.4

You are a very special breed.

0:15.2

Or you are the only animal.

0:18.5

Who can think, who can reason, who can read.

0:22.7

From KCRW, Santa Monica,

0:24.7

I'm Michael Silverblatt,

0:25.9

and this is Bookworm.

0:27.3

Today I'm very happy

0:28.5

to have as my guest

0:29.5

a first novelist.

0:31.0

His book is called Beasts of No Nation.

0:33.6

It's published recently

0:35.1

in paperbacked by Harper Perennial,

0:37.3

and his name is Uzadimma Iwala.

0:40.6

In April 2006, he received the Los Angeles Times Arts Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.

0:47.7

Now, Beasts of No Nation is an extraordinary book, and one of the things that I thought immediately about, since there is an

0:57.5

acknowledgement to a writer I admire a great deal Jamaica Kincaid, I thought about something Jamaica

1:04.0

had said to me. She had said, ha, ha, ha ha ha.

1:13.9

Americans love it when there's something to laugh about.

1:16.2

All they want to do is laugh.

1:18.3

Ha, ha, ha.

...

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