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While some slum dwellers are forging their way up into the overcity, others are fighting for their lives back in the slum. Read by Sudha Bhuchar.

"One of the most powerful indictments of economic inequality I've ever read. If Bollywood ever decides to do its own version of The Wire, this would be it." Barbara Ehrenreich

Sudha Bhuchar reads Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo's landmark work of life, death and hope in the slums of Mumbai. Based on years of uncompromising reporting, Behind the Beautiful Forevers tells the story of Annawadi, a makeshift slum sitting in the shadow of Mumbai's glittering luxury hotels and shiny new international airport. Through the stories of the characters she meets, Boo reveals what it takes to escape poverty in one of the 21st century's great, unequal cities.

Today: while some slum dwellers are forging their way up into the overcity, others are fighting for their lives back in the slum.

Author: Katherine Boo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is currently a staff writer at the New Yorker. This is her first book.

Reader: Sudha Bhuchar is joint founder and Artistic Director of the theatre company, Tamasha, and is both an actor and playwright.

Abridger: Richard Hamilton-Jones

Producer: Justine Willett.

15 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Thu 2 Aug 2012 09:45
  • Fri 3 Aug 2012 00:30
  • Thu 11 Dec 2014 14:45
  • Fri 12 Dec 2014 00:45

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