As human migration becomes ever more widespread, it has moved beyond the newspaper headlines. The contenders for this year's Man Booker prize have reflected the migrant story in a variety of ways, and we talk to two of the shortlisted authors to find out what it means to them and their work.
Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Lowland follows a voyage from Kolkata in India to Rhode Island in the US – a journey made by Lahiri's own family. She explains how, though she has spent most of her life in the US, she has never felt she belongs there, and why all American literature is immigrant literature.
NoViolet Bulawayo's debut novel, We Need No Names, also follows the trajectory of her own migration. It tells the story of a family who travel to the US to escape the poverty of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. She explains why, she named herself after the town in which she grew up, even though she no longer lives in the country.
Plus we talk to the economist Paul Collier about the social costs of diversity, why many economists believe immigration is "the closest the world gets to a free lunch", and the importance of an honest debate.
Reading list
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury)
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus)
Exodus by Paul Collier (Allen Lane)
