Thalia Book Club: Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book

Brooks discusses her latest historical novel with award-winning journalist John Hockenberry, the host of WNYC's new morning show, The Takeaway. The book, inspired by a real rare illuminated manuscript, imagines its life from its creation in medieval Seville to the present, through the lives of the people who come into contact with the book. Actress Rita Wolf performs an excerpt.

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Geraldine Brooks is an Australian-born author and journalist. In 2006, she received the Pulitzer Prize for her novel March. Her first novel, Year of Wonders, is an international bestseller, and her latest novel, People of the Book, has been translated into over 20 languages. She has also written two works of non fiction: Nine Parts of Desire, about Muslim women in the Middle East, and the travel memoir Foreign Correspondence. Brooks is married to fellow journalist and Pulitzer Prize recipient Tony Horowitz. Together with their two sons, they divide their time between Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts and Sydney, Australia.

John Hockenberry is the co-host of The Takeaway, WNYC's morning news program. He is the recipient of four Emmy Awards and three Peabody Awards. He has worked in all news mediums, appearing on both Dateline NBC and ABC News, serving as a correspondent in the Middle East during the Persian Gulf War, and hosting the program Talk of the Nation on NPR. Hockenberry has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Details, The Washington Post, and Wired, where he is a Contributing Editor. He has authored the books River Out of Eden and Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence.

Rita Wolf was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her role in David Greig's The American Pilot at Manhattan Theatre Club. Her career began at the Royal Court Theatre in London with Hanif Kureishi's Borderline. Her New York theatre credits include David Hare's Stuff Happens at the Public Theater, A.R. Gurney's O, Jerusalem at The Flea, and Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul at New York Theatre Workshop and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Her film credits include Stephen Frears' My Beautiful Laundrette. She is a founding member of the London-based Kali Theatre Company. Recently, she narrated the audiobook recording of Benazir Bhuttos' Reconciliation, available at audible.com.