Things are a little different on this week’s episode of Backlisted. Recorded at our first live event of 2023, John and Andy are at Dartington Hall, Devon for Byline Festival. Joining us are novelist, playwright and memoirist Alice Jolly for her third appearance on Backlisted - joining us on episode 7 and episode 86 previously - and novelist Patrick McCabe, who joined us on episode 140, to discuss the A Passage to India by E.M. Forster.

First published in 1924, by the end of that year, A Passage to India had sold 17,000 copies in Britain and 54,000 in the USA and today is viewed as a seminal text in post-colonial literature. A Passage to India grapples with, among many themes, colonialism and faith, and is set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. In this episode we reflect on its legacy today.

Books mentioned
E.M. Forster - A Passage to India; Howard’s End; The Machine Stops; Maurice; Where Angels Fear to Tread; The Longest Journey
Sophie Divry - The Library of Unrequited Love
Jay Griffiths - Nemesis, My Friend: Journeys Through the Turning Times
Alice Jolly - From Far Around They Saw Us Burn; Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile
Patrick McCabe - Goldengrove; Poguemahone; Breakfast on Pluto; The Butcher Boy

Other links
The 1985 film of A Passage to India