This week the Books podcast heads to London's Tate Modern, where we catch up with the winner of the 2013 Guardian first book award, Donal Ryan.
We hear from some of the reading groups who helped him get on to the shortlist, as well as the moment he captured the award.
Away from the bustle of the ceremony, Ryan reads from The Spinning Heart and his editor at Doubleday Ireland, Brian Langan, remembers picking the manuscript from the slush pile.
The novelist Philip Hensher salutes Ryan's skill and compassion, while fellow judge, Waterstones' Stuart Broom, explains how readers up and down the country have enthused over the novel's intricate construction.
After struggling to comprehend his success, the winner tells us how the voices in The Spinning Heart were "shouting to get out on to the page". Ryan talks about the anger which fuels his debut, the constrictions of rural life and how fiction is the perfect form to address "the whole mad Irish country thing of keeping secrets".
Reading list
The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (Doubleday Ireland)
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