Gillian Slovo: Live to Air with Bill Richardson
South-African writer Gillian Slovo's novel Ice Road is a story about what happens when the forces of history impact ordinary lives. Set in 1930s and 1940s Soviet Russia, the novel follows the lives of two women, Irina and Natasha, who experience the brutality of Stalinism, including the doomed Chelyuskin Arctic expedition of 1933 and the Seige of Leningrad. In this sprawling conversation with Bill Richardson, Slovo reflects on the studied curiosity that led her to write not a historical novel, but a novel set in history.
Gillian Slovo's Ice Road is available from your local independent bookseller or online from these retailers:
Gillian Slovo was born in 1952 in South Africa, the daughter of Joe Slovo, leader of the South African Communist party, and Ruth First, a journalist who was murdered in 1982. Slovo has lived in England since 1964, working as a writer, journalist and film producer. She has written 12 novels, most recently Black Orchids, as well as a biography, Every Secret Thing: My Family, My Country, a moving account of her childhood in South Africa and her relationship with her parents, both heavily involved in the anti-apartheid movement. (APRIL 2010)
