James Crawford
@jdcrawf.bsky.social
770 followers 640 following 75 posts
THE EDGE OF THE PLAIN @canongatebooks @wwnorton | WILD HISTORY @BirlinnBooks | Presenter @BBCRadio4 TAKE FOUR BOOKS | Editor @PolygonBooks | CHAIR of the Board @edbookfest jamescrawford.space
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jdcrawf.bsky.social
I’m hosting a new books program on BBC Radio 4, on Sundays at 4pm, and also on BBC Sounds!

It’s called TAKE FOUR BOOKS, and here it is! 👇📻🎧

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...
BBC Sounds - Take Four Books - Available Episodes
Listen to the latest episodes of Take Four Books on BBC Sounds.
www.bbc.co.uk
jdcrawf.bsky.social
It’s a great round up - with different presenter every week. Well worth bookmarking!
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Great programme John!
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Love to see it! Light Years in particular is excellent
jdcrawf.bsky.social
This week on #TakeFourBooks on BBC Radio 4 I was talking to William Boyd about his new spy novel 'The Predicament' and 3 influences Lawrence Durrell, Len Deighton and John Le Carre - also with guest @louisewelsh00.bsky.social - listen now!
👇🎧📚
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Thanks John! Recordings are often a lot longer (Andrew was done at Hay and lasted almost an hour) - schedule slot is c28mins, but we’re looking at longer cuts for Sounds/podcasts (see recent Ian McEwan for instance which has extra 5 mins or so…)
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Coming up later today on BBC Radio 4 I'm talking to Graham Norton on #TakeFourBooks about his latest novel Frankie, along with 3 influences - Elizabeth Bowen, Armistead Maupin & Gabrielle Zevin (and bonus influence Charlie Brown!) - at 4pm 👇🎧📚
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by James Crawford
skylinefilm.bsky.social
Take Four Books
@jdcrawf.bsky.social on R4 Sundays 4pm, always worth listening to. Sunday 14th Sept on Ian McEwan with @damedenisemina.bsky.social on Sounds particularly so.
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Loved talking to Ian McEwan (& @damedenisemina.bsky.social!) on BBCRadio4
#TakeFourBooks about climate, memory & the way the past haunts the present in his new @jonathancape.bsky.social novel WHAT WE CAN KNOW with 3 influences incl the epic
Footsteps by Richard Holmes
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by James Crawford
drmargaretprior.bsky.social
Thanks to Radio 4's Take Four Books I'm re-reading The Bone People (Keri Hulme) about forty years after the first (and second) time. And it's still absolutely brilliant, so thank you for reminding me, Melissa Lucashenko and @jdcrawf.bsky.social
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Great to hear Margaret - that’s exactly what the programme is all about!
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Listen now to my chat with Melissa Lucashenko on Radio4's #TakeFourBooks about her latest @oneworldbooks.bsky.social novel 'Edenglassie' and 3 influences incl Keri Hulme & Sebastian Barry (recorded with @rodgeglass.bsky.social & live audience at @edbookfest.bsky.social) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Listen to my chat with Sarah Hall on #TakeFourBooks on BBC Radio4 discussing new @faberbooks.bsky.social novel HELM (the first book to have a wind as its main character?) & 3 influences incl George Saunders & Angela Carter. With Alan McMunnigall of @thiwurd.bsky.social! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Listen now on BBC Radio4 to my chat with Rachel Kushner and live audience @edbookfest.bsky.social for #TakeFourBooks - talking about Creation Lake and 3 influences including Nabokov's Pale Fire and radical 1970s French crime noir! Also with @andrewmeehanesq.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Listen now to @irvinewelsh.bsky.social on #TakeFourBooks on BBC Radio 4 - talking Trainspotting sequel 'Men In Love' and his 3 influences, no less than James Joyce, Marcel Proust and Bill Shakespeare! Also with guest @kirstininnes.bsky.social
🎧📚👇
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Come and be part of a live Take Four Books audience this Saturday at Edinburgh International Book Festival - I’m talking to Rachel Kushner about her Booker-shortlisted Creation Lake and 3 influences! Book your FREE tickets here 👇 www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...
BBC at Edinburgh International Book Festival | Edinburgh International Book Festival
Information on how you can get involved in BBC radio recordings happening at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
www.edbookfest.co.uk
jdcrawf.bsky.social
A joy to commission this from Graeme Macrae Burnet - and fantastic to now see it making its way out into the world…
blakefriedmann.bsky.social
COVER REVEAL: ‘It is dark now and my window onto the world is a small one. I do not know how much longer I will be here…’

Introducing BENBECULA by Graeme Macrae Burnet – out in the UK on 2 October 2025 from @birlinn.bsky.social 📚 🌑🌕🌑✨

Pre-order now: www.waterstones.com/book/benbecu...
Reposted by James Crawford
damedenisemina.bsky.social
This was great fun and includes a short history of the great journalist Dorothy Thompson (‘Who Goes Nazi’) who was the 1st journalist expelled from Germany by Hitler
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Listen now to our Radio4 #TakeFourBooks chat with @damedenisemina.bsky.social about new novel ‘The Good Liar’, and 3 influences - 1984, Obedience to Authority and the Dorothy Thompson’s essay ‘Who Goes Nazi?’ - also with Kim Sherwood! 👇🎧📻📚
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Listen now to our Radio4 #TakeFourBooks chat with @damedenisemina.bsky.social about new novel ‘The Good Liar’, and 3 influences - 1984, Obedience to Authority and the Dorothy Thompson’s essay ‘Who Goes Nazi?’ - also with Kim Sherwood! 👇🎧📻📚
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by James Crawford
publishingscotland.bsky.social
We are excited to be partnering with the @edbookfest.bsky.social to bring a super panel of international publishers together, chaired by the fabulous @jdcrawf.bsky.social to discuss 'Books that Travel'.
www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival... part of the Global Ink Industry series, Tuesday 12 August.
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Listen now to my chat on Radio4 with Gurnaik Johal on his debut @serpents-tail.bsky.social novel Saraswati on #TakeFourBooks: where a lost river re-emerges in contemporary India. His 3 influences include @amitav.bsky.social, Joseph Conrad and poet Natalie Diaz! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by James Crawford
helenosullivan.bsky.social
A long train journey means starting another pick from Take Four Books with @jdcrawf.bsky.social Looking forward to this one.
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Listen now to my chat with Colm Toibin on #TakeFourBooks on Radio 4 - talking about Long Island (his first sequel!) and three influences, Hardy, Conrad & Wharton - also with @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
jdcrawf.bsky.social
Listen now to my chat on Radio 4's #TakeFourBooks with Madeleine Thien about her new, time-warping @grantabooks.bsky.social novel of war, exile and refugees, 'The Book of Records' - and her three influences, including the evergreen 'Invisible Cities' by Italo Calvino...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...