RADIO: PICK OF THE DAY

Nightwaves

(9.30pm R3)

Ian McEwan's new novel, Saturday, follows the fortunes of a noted London neurosurgeon, Henry Perowne, on his day off. It's Saturday 15th February 2003, the day of the anti-Iraq war demonstrations and, as he drives across London to visit his ailing mother in Oxford, the shouting and marching begin to impinge on his life.

McEwan (above), the author of The Cement Garden, Enduring Love and Atonement was recently hailed as "this country's unrivalled literary giant". Here he looks back over his career with the presenter Paul Allen, reflecting on how his writing has evolved through the years and on the role of the novelist in the current political climate.