5 Minute Interview: Sathnam Sanghera

Sathnam Sanghera is a journalist, judge of the Wellcome Book Prize 2016, and author of Marriage Material and The Boy with the Topknot.  On Thursday (14th April), Sathnam is appearing at a special event at 19 Princelet St – London Voices: Life in the Global City. 

This event is part of London Book & Screen Week, a seven-day, citywide celebration of books and the films, TV programmes and virtual worlds they inspire, running 11 – 17 April, 2016.

What was the last book you read?  

The Rise And Fall Of The British Empire by Lawrence James

And what did you read it on?

Paperback

What’s next on your reading list?  

Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World by Niall Ferguson. I'm interested in Empire at the moment.

What is your favourite book to screen adaptation?

The End of the Affair

Where is the best place to read in London?

Top deck of the 24

What is the best book you’ve read that is set in London?

Spring by David Szalay

Which writer would you have loved to have met – and why?

Arnold Bennett: a working class hero who made it big, but was then largely forgotten.  I'd like to know if he became a snob, as has been alleged.

Go on, let us know your musical guilty pleasure…

Richard Marx.

 …and one from the world of fiction?

Tony Parsons

What would be the title of your autobiography?

I have written it already, and it has had two titles: If You Don't Know Me By Now, and The Boy With the Topknot. Perhaps my only claim to fame.

What TV series are you obsessing over right now?

Homes Under The Hammer. Nearly missed a flight because of it once.