Summary: Hello and welcome back, after a short break, to the second series of You Wrote the Book, with Simon Savidge. Each fortnight Simon is joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader. Simon’s guest for this episode is Emily St John Mandel whose fourth novel Station Eleven has become one of the most bought and most discussed novel of the last two years. One snowy night in Toronto famous actor Arthur Leander dies on stage whilst performing the role of a lifetime. That same evening a deadly virus touches down in North America. The world will never be the same again. Twenty years later Kirsten, an actress in the Travelling Symphony, performs Shakespeare in the settlements that have grown up since the collapse. But then her newly hopeful world is threatened. If civilization was lost, what would you preserve? And how far would you go to protect it? Simon had the pleasure of talking to Emily about Station Eleven over a coffee in her hotel a few months ago. They discussed where the idea came from, how it was a new direction for her and just how she might cope if the end of the world came... Over the next few weeks Simon will be joined by Ryan Gattis, Susan Barker, Hanya Yanagihara and David Whitehouse. If you have any questions for the authors, would like to suggest authors you think Simon should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email <a href="mailto:youwrotethebook@gmail.com">youwrotethebook@gmail.com</a> or find us on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/youwrotethebook">@youwrotethebook</a>. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on <a href="http://bookbasedbanter.co.uk/thereaders/">The Readers Podcast</a>, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog <a href="http://savidgereads.wordpress.com/">Savidge Reads</a>. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/you-wrote-the-book!/id620056636">on iTunes</a> where you can find previous episodes with Rose Tremain, Christos Tsiolkas, Evie Wyld, Armistead Maupin, David Nicholls, Joanne Harris, Richard Flanagan, Kamila Shamsie, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.<a href="http://bookbasedbanter.co.uk/youwrotethebook/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Emily-St.jpg"> </a>
