Giles Foden

Giles Foden's books include The Last King of Scotland (1998), his second and most famous novel, which is set in Uganda during Idi Amin’s rule and was turned into a film in 2006.

From his Q & A with Anna Metcalfe in the Financial Times:

What book changed your life?

Paul Muldoon’s book of poems Meeting the British (1987). I was lucky to be taught by him at university. He showed me how to mix aesthetic, political and personal concerns in the same artwork.

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Which literary character most resembles you?

Lucky Jim [in Kingsley Amis’ book of the same name], for all his hapless incompetence.

* * *
What book do you wish you’d written?

Graham Greene’s A Burnt-Out Case. It’s a brilliant evocation of Africa and of the artistic personality.

Read the complete Q & A.

--Marshal Zeringue