麻豆约拍

Read by David Carlyle.

Where were you when Kennedy was shot? That was the starting point for this series in which five writers are asked to build a story around a significant historical event and explore it in fiction. As well as the assassination of JFK, the writers explore the meltdown of Chernobyl, the Tottenham riots, Columbine and the splitting of the lithium atom.

People often ask the "Kennedy Question" to highlight the magnitude of the event itself. And occasionally we find ourselves in the thick of the moment. But just as interesting are the polarities, disjunctions and weird connections between the moment that shakes the world and the life of the everyday.

Episode Two: Chernobyl by Simon Stephenson.

Fort William is a long way from the Ukraine. But for a long time now a thirteen-year-old boy and his sister have been obsessed with the Cold War - both to escape from, and also to understand, the escalating cold war between their parents.

Simon Stephenson is a writer and doctor who lives in London. Previous writing honours include being a runner-up in the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday Short Story Competition judged by John Burnside and selection for 麻豆约拍 Scotland's Tartan Shorts scheme. For several years he earned his living as a television screenwriter and received numerous commissions from all the major broadcasters. Let Not The Waves Of The Sea, a memoir about his journey following the loss of his brother Dominic in the Indian Ocean tsunami, was Book of the Week on Radio 4 in July 2011.