Austin Bullfighting Book on BBC Radio

There's a lot to recommend Britain – this, this, and this, to barely scratch the surface. Also: Its continuing commitment to the languishing tradition of radio plays. And now BBC Radio 4 has tapped Austin author Wena Poon's new bullfighting novel Alex y Robert to make the transition to radio.

Poon's novel, which was put out July 15 by Salt Publishing, is about a Texas teenager – a UT student, in fact – who travels to Spain to become the first American female matador.

I asked Poon via email how the BBC found her book, and this is what she wrote back:

"The BBC approached my publisher, Salt, who handled the rights sales.  Salt publishes both European and American authors, and has a 4,500 member strong Facebook Fan Club.  A producer for BBC shows noticed saw a brief post about Alex y Robert on Facebook. The words Spain woman matador novel must have caught his attention, plus the cool cover. …

It's amazing that this book got their notice: they examine catalogs of hundreds of books to select books for their show.  The power of social networking – no literary agents involved!"

Alex y Robert will be serialized over two weeks during BBC Radio 4's “Book at Bedtime” evening program starting Sept. 6. The program will be available to stream for a limited time here. Alex y Robert – in novel form – is available for purchase here.