Podcast appearances and mentions of Linda Grant

Samira is joined by novelist Linda Grant and critic Jason Solomons to review the musical version of The Devil Wears Prada with music by Elton John. We also review the new TV dramatisation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's classic novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, which is released today – how did they manage the magic realism? And The Universal Theory, a German mystery thriller film about parallel universes.    And we take a look at the use of Rudyard Kipling's 1903 poem Boots, in a new trailer for a new Hollywood blockbuster zombie film. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Corinna Jones

Why is it so hard to talk about climate change in a way that actually makes us... feel something? This week, our producer Katz Laszlo talks to an Icelandic writer who manages against the odds to do just that: Andri Snær Magnason, author of — among many other things — the hit memoir 'On Time And Water'. We're also talking about the German politician alleged to have hired Belarusian political prisoners, and the extraordinary bounceback of Mediterranean turtles.    Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠leaving us a review⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or giving us five stars on Spotify.      You can find out more about Andri's work here and watch Emergence Magazine's documentary, 'The Last Ice Age', here.   This week's Inspiration Station offerings: 'When I Lived In Modern Times' by Linda Grant and 'Kneecap'.    Other resources for this episode 'Finance minister responds to book VAT backlash, cuts the rate on books' - The Slovak Spectator, 26/09/2024  '«Onion is tasty». Political prisoners work on an onion plantation owned by AfD MP Jörg Dornau' - Reform News, 24/09/2024 'Hanna' - The Europeans, 02/06/2022 'Germany's far right loves one migrant group: Russian Germans' - Politico Europe, 29/09/24 'Cruinniú na nÓg 2024 - The Spark' - Creative Ireland  'How Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels' - Canary Media, 27/09/2024   00:22 Good job, Slovakia! 02:42 Good Week: Mediterranean turtles 12:38 Bad Week: Jörg Dornau 24:03 Interview: Andri Snær Magnason on how to talk about climate change in a way that makes people Actually Feel Something  44:12 The Inspiration Station: 'When I Lived In Modern Times' and 'Kneecap' 48:30 Happy Ending: Germany's mini solar panel bonanza Producers: Morgan Childs and Katz Laszlo Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠hello@europeanspodcast.com⁠  

Es beginnt wie in einem Märchen: Ein junges Mädchen geht zum Pilzesammeln in den Wald und macht eine lebensverändernde Erfahrung. Erstausstrahlung im Januar 2024

Historians continue to unearth documents, interpret new records accounts and reinterpret old ones in their light. In doing so they expand our understanding of unfolding antisemitism and the holocaust. Anne McElvoy speaks to Barbara Warnock the senior curator of the Wiener Holocaust Library, the world's oldest holocaust research institution as it marks its 90th anniversary this year. Rachel Pistol explores the emerging stories of the Jewish men interned in Britain during the Second World War. We hear from Liza Weber about what we can learn from the Jewish art looted by the Nazis. And, Daniel Lee tells us about the lives of resisters Missak and Mélinée Manouchian whose courage will be honoured in Paris this month.Dr Rachel Pistol is a digital historian and National Coordinator of European Holocaust Research Infrastructure. She is also the Historical Advisor for World Jewish Relief Dr Barbara Warnock of the Wiener Holocaust Library has curated its 90th anniversary exhibition Dr Liza Weber, University of Sussex Weidenfeld Institute of Jewish Studies Dr Daniel Lee is a BBC AHRC New Generation Thinker and a Reader in Modern French History at Queen Mary, University of London.Producer: Ruth WattsYou can find previous episodes marking Holocaust Memorial Day with discussions about Nazis, Holocaust, Time and Memory with Richard J Evans, Jane Caplan, David Cesarani, Andre Singer and Eva Hoffman; Romani history, Portuguese Jewish experiences and a big academic literature research project in the 2023 episode hearing from Victoria Biggs, Richard Zimmler, Stuart Taberner and Daniel Lee; and episodes looking at Linda Grant and Jewish history; links between Judaism and Christianity, the writing of Betty Miller and Marghanita Laski; Jewish history, jokes and contemporary identity with Simon Schama and Devorah Baum.

Es beginnt wie in einem Märchen: Ein junges Mädchen geht zum Pilzesammeln in den Wald und macht eine lebensverändernde Erfahrung.

Linda Grant grew up in Liverpool when it was a thriving port.  Her parents were friends of Brian Epstein's parents. Brian went on to manage The Beatles, and teenage Linda was entranced by the band who went on to conquer the world. Talking about the mechanics of writing her book Linda reveals how she felt composing her very first sex scene.

A Baltic forest in 1913, Soho and the suburbs of Liverpool and the Jewish community that grows up there are the settings for Linda Grant's new novel The Story of the Forest. She joins presenter John Gallagher, Rachel Lichtenstein and Julia Pascal for a conversation about writing and Jewish identity in the North West as we also hear about Julia Pascal's play Manchester Girlhood and look at the re-opening of the Manchester Jewish Museum with curator Alex Cropper . Producer in Salford: Nick Holmes https://www.manchesterjewishmuseum.com/ has re-opened after a £6 million redevelopment Dr Rachel Lichtenstein is a writer, curator who teaches at Manchester Metropolitan University and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester's Centre for Jewish Studies http://www.juliapascal.org/ has links to Julia's new play You can find other Free Thinking discussions about Jewish history and identity including Jonathan Freedland, Hadley Freeman, Howard Jacobson and Bari Weiss on Jewish Identity in 2020 Simon Schama and Devorah Baum on Jewish history and jokes Howard Jacobson delivering a lecture on Why We Need The Novel and talking to Philip Dodd about his dystopian novel J Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger and New Generation Thinker Brendan McGeevor from the Pears Institute discussing stereotypes and also anti-Semitism Matthew Sweet in conversation with David Grossman Jonathan Freedland exploring Jewish identity in fiction from Amos Oz, Ayelet Gundar-Goshen & Jonathan Safran Foer Linda Grant alongside AD Miller, Boris Dralyuk, and Diana Vonnak discussing Odessa Stories and the writing of Isaac Babel

Linda Grant, Xiaolu Guo and Alice Vincent

Psychotherapist writer Philippa Perry and Professor of Neuroscience Anil Seth join Harriett Gilbert to talk about books they love. Anil Seth, who explores consciousness and the self in his book Being You, recommends Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, where our near-future world is seen through the eyes of an Artificial Friend. Philippa Perry's choice is A Stranger City by Linda Grant, a novel with a mystery at its heart and is about how lives interweave in the city. And Harriett Gilbert loves the non-fiction book Being Mortal by American surgeon Atul Gawande, which asks what medicine is for in the face of death. Comment on instagram: @agoodreadbbc Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio in Bristol

This is the birth of Modern Monsanto, and it takes quite a turn from the previous episodes. Instead of talking about the diseases and human suffering as a result of the products (like we've been doing at length), we're going to be looking at the sexy, muscular legal arm of Monsanto. Clarence Thomas comes back in this one! PokeMonsanto collection growing every day! :D Thanks again for tuning in and for all of your support. It means the world to me. Follow Amy Do and Blender Bluid on all the social medias @BlenderBluid and @HelloAmyDo LIVE SHOW TICKETS OCTOBER 1 PLZ SUPPORT MY PATREON SOURCES: Monsanto’s Bet, Linda Grant and Alicia Moore, CNN Money 1997 The World According to Monsanto, Marie-Monique Robin 2008 Monsanto’s Technology Agreement, 2008 Safe Or Scary? The Shifting Reputation Of Glyphosate, AKA Roundup; Dan Charles, NPR 2019 Monsanto Vs. US Farmers, Center for Food Safety report 2005 Monsanto vs. US Farmers, 2010 Update, Center for Food Safety Down and Out in Covington, Andy Meek, Memphis Daily News 2006 Monsanto wins $7.7b lawsuit in Brazil – but farmers’ fight to stop its ‘amoral’ royalty system will continue, Beth Daily, the Conversation 2019 WIKIPEDIA PAGES FOR THE FOLLOWING: Flavr Savr

More than 300 pickleballers are coming to the city for Atlantics this weekend. Jeanne Armstrong dropped in to the new pickleball courts in Fredericton and talked to Alden Briggs, president of the local pickleball club, and Linda Grant.

And from that moment on, Linda Grant sets her cast of unlikely characters free - as much as possible in a TB clinic in 1950s London. The Dark Circle is her seventh novel. The protagonists are twin teens bursting with life, though they live in the space between collective death of the recent past and the shadow of death in the future, as patients. Yet Grant makes the period and the people come alive - and tells us how. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Isaac Babel, born in Odessa in 1894, became a journalist and writer before being executed in 1940 in Stalin's purges. In stories of extreme economy and compression, he depicted the Polish-Soviet War of 1918-21, and the exploits of Jewish gangsters in Odessa in the years before the Soviet revolution. Matthew Sweet is joined by Linda Grant, AD Miller, Boris Dralyuk, and Diana Vonnak to discuss Babel's work and its resonances today. Producer: Luke Mulhall You might also be interested in Radio 3's series The Essay: Words for War in which Oksana Maksymchuk introduces the words of Ukrainian poets https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016b7h

Twenty years ago - in the mind-numbing aftermath of the terrorist attacks on America - the immediate, mind-numbing response of the media was to ban laughter. All laughter, including jokes, chuckles and guffaws. This is the story of what happened next. With contributions from Private Eye to The Onion, via David Letterman, the News Quiz and Have I Got News for You. As well as 9/11 and the death of Bin Laden, Joe Queenan explores the pandemic and the US retreat from Afghanistan. "What a year 2021 has been – from the storming of the capitol in Washington to the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, this has not been a good time in the US. Probably not so great in the UK either. Throw in some riots, add in the climate crisis and the plague – none of this is worth the slightest lame joke. But is it worth a good joke?" With contributions from three US presidents, plus Ian Hislop and Adam MacQueen from Private Eye, Armando Iannuci (creator of The Death of Stalin), Susan Morrison of the New Yorker, and Robert Siegal editor of The Onion in 2001 - the first US publication to break the laughter ban with the headline, US Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We Are At War With. A copy of that magazine is now in the Library of Congress. Also includes archive from David Letterman, Linda Grant, Michael Rosen, Rich Hall on Have I Got News for You, plus the News Quiz from September 2001. Joe Queenan is an Emmy Award-winning US broadcaster. His previous contributions to Archive on Four include Brief Histories on Blame, Shame and Failure. The producer for BBC Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde.

Simon and Rachel speak with Lennie Goodings, chair of Virago Press. Born in Canada, Lennie came to Britain in the 1970s and joined Virago as a publicist in 1978. In subsequent roles—first in marketing, then as publisher—Lennie has worked with authors including Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Sarah Waters and Linda Grant. She won the Bookseller's Industry Award for Editor and Imprint of the Year in 2010, a Lifetime's Achievement Award at the Women of the World festival in 2018 and was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020. Her book, "A Bite of the Apple", a memoir-cum-history of Virago, was published in 2020 by Oxford University Press. We talked to Lennie about the early years of her career, the intimacy of editing a writer's work and how the business of feminist publishing has evolved. You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

Our guests for this episode are Sathnam Sanghera, a British journalist and author of EmpireLand: How Modern Britain is Shaped by its Imperial Past and Linda Grant, the Orange Prize for Fiction winning novelist whose latest book A Stranger City, was published in 2019.If you would like the read the extracts discussed in this episode go to linebyline.substack.com.Comments and feedback to @tds153 on Twitter. Line by Line is produced by Ben Tulloh with readings by Deli Segal. Music by Dee Yan-Key.

Linda Grant was born in Liverpool. She read English at the University of York and did further postgraduate studies in Canada at McMaster and Simon Fraser Universities. For some years she worked as a journalist, writing for the Guardian and Independent on Sunday. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and holds honorary doctorates from the University of York and John Moores University.   Her first novel, The Cast Iron Shore (1996), won the David Higham First Novel Prize and was shortlied for the Guardian Book Prize. Her next book, Remind Me Who I Am, Again (1998), a family memoir about her mother’s dementia, won the Mind Book of the Year award and the Age Concern Book mod the Year award. Her next book, When I Lived in Modern Times (2000) won the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her next novel, Still Here (2000) was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Her non-fiction book, The People on the Street: A writer’s View of Israel, (2005) won the Letter Ulysses Prize for Literary Reportage. Her next novel, The Clothes on their Backs (2008) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Her seventh novel The Dark Circle (2016) was shortlisted for the Bailey’s Prize and the Wingate Prize. Her latest novel, A Stranger City, was published in 2019. In this episode, we talk about Linda's novel The Dark Circle. The story is set in post war London. East End twins Lenny and Miriam Lynskey  are relieved  that the war is behind them and despite the grim post war rations and environment they  are ready to embrace life to it’s fullest. However, their grand plans are  drawn to an abrupt halt when they discover that they have tuberculosis.   Lenny and Miriam are dispatched to the Gwendo, a newly constructed modernist sanatorium in the Kent countryside that offers free care to all, from aristocrats to car dealers. There they meet a motley crew of patients all desperate for the much awaited and low in supply "miracle cure" streptomycin. With eerie similarities to our current Covid pandemic, this book will have you  thinking about the perseverance of the human spirit against all odds .   You can find Linda here.  You can discuss this episode on SHMUZY here.      

This week we have a frank conversation about divorce. We chat with our special guest, Linda Grant, about her divorce, warning signs, thoughts, and a few things she wished she would have different and much more. This episode is filled with some great nuggets and gives us a glimpse into what divorce might look like. Thanks for joining us.If you want us to discuss something for a podcast.Let us know at amplifiedmarriage@gmail.comSUBSCRIBELIKE & SHAREWe want to hear from you. Stay connected to Amplified MarriageWebsiteInstagram

Simon speaks with the writer and novelist Linda Grant. She began her career as a journalist, writing for the Guardian and the Independent on Sunday, before publishing “The Cast Iron Shore”, her first novel, in 1996. Her subsequent books include “Remind Me Who I Am, Again” (1998), “When I Lived in Modern Times” (2000), “Still Here” (2000), “The People on the Street” (2005) and “The Clothes on their Backs” (2008). Her work has variously won or been nominated for a clutch of prizes, including the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Man Booker Prize and the Letter Ulysses Prize for Literary Reportage. Linda talked about literary touchstones, writing great dialogue and “A Stranger City”, her latest novel. You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Katy Lee, who also handles our social media. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

How can we reconsider failure?In this episode of OurShelves Lucy Scholes interviews Linda Grant, a multi-award-winning author whose latest novel, A Stranger City, is out now in paperback. In this episode Lucy and Linda discuss Barbara Pym, Mrs. America and the importance of recalling our failures as well as our successes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nikki Bedi and JP Devlin are joined by Lesley Manville, Linda Grant, DBC Pierre and Tahmima Anam for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Tawiah and Nilüfer Yanya.

Mathew Sweet with Linda Grant, Laurence Scott & Lucy Whitehead. Dickens died on June 9th 1870. In 1948, the critic FR Leavis published the Great Tradition and included only one Dickens novel but that same year saw the film of Oliver Twist by David Lean. Our panel have been re-reading novels including Bleak House, Martin Chuzzlewit and Great Expectations, looking at a form of Dickens fan fiction following his death, the changes in literary fashion and the way his work connects with the present day. Linda Grant is the author of books including A Stranger City, The Dark Circle and When I Lived in Modern Times. Laurence Scott is the author of The Four-Dimensional Human: Ways of Being in the Digital World and Picnic Comma Lightning. He is a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker. Lucy Whitehead is at the University of Cardiff studying biographies of Dickens and the art of Graingerising. You might be interested in this conversation about Our Mutual Friend in which Philip Dodd talks with Iain Sinclair, Sandy Welch, Rosemary Ashton & Jerry White https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0180f5k and a special edition of Radio 3's curated selection of Words and Music featuring readings from Dickens' diaries and letters by Sam West is being broadcast on Sunday June 14th and available for 28 days on BBC Sounds https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006x35f Producer: Robyn Read

In this episode Zing Tsjeng is joined by Rhiannon Cosslett - a columnist, feature writer and editor for the Guardian newspaper and Liv Purvis - author of the Insecure Girls Handbook.The theme of today's #ReadingWomen book club is changing worlds. To look at that subject in more detail, we’re jumping in to the winners from 2000 - When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant, the 2004 winner, Small Island by Andrea Levy and The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver which won in 2010. Every fortnight, join Zing Tsjeng, editor at VICE, and inspirational guests, including Dolly Alderton, Stanley Tucci, Liv Little and Scarlett Curtis as they celebrate the best fiction written by women. They'll discuss the diverse back-catalogue of Women’s Prize-winning books spanning a generation, explore the life-changing books that sit on other women’s bookshelves and talk about what the future holds for women writing today. The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and this series will also take you behind the scenes throughout 2020 as we explore the history of the Prize in its 25th year and gain unique access to the shortlisted authors and the 2020 Prize winner. Sit back and enjoy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The much-anticipated film of Cats with its stellar and fur-enhanced cast including Judi Dench and Taylor Swift finally reaches the big screen. Catnip or catastrophe? Spooky offerings in the Christmas TV schedule this year include Martin's Close by Mark Gatiss on BBC 4 and Susan Hill's Ghost Story on Channel 5. How shiver-inducing are they? Nora Ephron's collection of essays on ageing and much else - I Feel Bad About My Neck - is being reissued with a new introduction by Dolly Alderton. It's a book that Alderton recommends giving as a present so Saturday Review suggests some other enduring literary choices that work as gifts. And Gypsy starring Ria Jones is on at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in a new production directed by Jo Davies. Do its songs keep our critics smiling in an age of different sexual politics? Rowan Pelling, Linda Grant and Kerry Shale join Tom Sutcliffe. The books recommended as gifts are: The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden Karoo by Steve Tesich The Prince of West End Avenue by Alan Isler Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote Love Lessons by Joan Wyndham The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson This is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill Haunts of the Black Masseur by Charles Sprawson The Compleet Molesworth by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle This week's podcast choices are: Linda: podcast and Radio 4 programme Fake Heiress Kerry: album If You're Going to the City, a tribute to Mose Allison Rowan: TV series The Young Offenders, BBC3 Tom: TV series Watchmen, HBO

Female founders are making waves. Virgin StartUp Chair Linda Grant joins me as Virgin Startup announces their new PLEDGE to commit to a 50/50 funding target for men and women by the end of 2020. Linda and I discuss the relationship between action + confidence, women’s access to capital and what’s next for creating gender parity. Read the full show notes over on our website School for Mothers Website ●  School For Mothers Private Facebook Group ● School for Mothers Instagram

Enter A Stranger City with Linda Grant.In this episode of the Virago podcast Lennie Goodings is in conversation with author Linda Grant, discussing her new novel A Stranger City.Linda Grant is author of five non-fiction books and seven novels. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 and the Lettre Ulysses Prize for Literary Reportage in 2006. The Clothes on Their Backs was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008 and went on to win the South Bank Show Award. The Dark Circle was shortlisted for the 2017 Women's Prize for Fiction. About A Stranger City:When a dead body is found in the Thames, caught in the chains of HMS Belfast, it begins a search for a missing woman and confirms a sense that in London a person can become invisible once outside their community - and that assumes they even have a community. A policeman, a documentary film-maker and an Irish nurse named Chrissie all respond to the death of the unknown woman in their own ways. London is a place of random meetings, shifting relationships - and some, like Chrissie intersect with many. The film-maker and the policeman meanwhile have safe homes with wives - or do they? An immigrant family speaks their own language only privately; they have managed to integrate - or have they? The wonderful Linda Grant weaves a tale around ideas of home; how London can be a place of exile or expulsion, how home can be a physical place or an idea. How all our lives intersect and how coincidence or the randomness of birth place can decide how we live and with whom. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sweat, starring Martha Plimpton was a sel-out success when it premiered at London's Donmar Warehouse last year. Now it's got a West End transfer to the Gielgud Theatre Asif Kapadia won an Oscar for his biopic about Amy Winehouse. Now he's looking at Diego Maradona's extraordinary career as the finest footballer in the world and also his unravelling life off the pitch George Clooney appears in and is a producer and director for a new TV adaptation of Joseph Heller's Catch 22 on Channel 4 In Elif Shafak's new novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World we look backwards from the death of a prostitute. In flashback, she remembers her life and reflects on the changing nature of Turkish society The shoe designer Manolo Blahnik has staged an exhibition of his footwear at The Wallace Collection in London, drawing inspiration form the paintings and objects on display there Rajan Datar's guests are Linda Grant, Deborah Orr and David Hepworth. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast suggestions: Linda: the British Music Experience in Liverpool David: High Maintenance TV series Deborah: Killing Eve Rajan: Jumpa Lahiri -The Namesake, soul music and Tahnee Lonsdale at Dellasposa

Jamie and Greg interview Linda Grant Jones, an alumna from Villa Cabrini Academy. Villa Cabrini was the female Catholic school that occupied Woodbury's campus prior to the university moving to Burbank. The university maintains a relations with the Villa Cabrini Academy alumni who regularly hold events at Woodbury. Learn more about the connection here: https://woodbury.edu/news/villa-cabrini-academy-scholarship-fund-past-present-meet-glenoaks-boulevard/

Avengers: Endgame marks the culmination of 10 years of interlinking Marvel movies. After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War, and the loss of some of the world’s biggest heroes, the remaining Avengers re-assemble to try and undo Thanos's actions and restore order to the universe. Critic Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reviews. Linda Grant discusses her new novel, A Stranger City, a detailed portrait of contemporary, Brexit-scarred London, told through its myriad people living disparate yet interconnected lives, and exploring current-day ideas of home and belonging. Henrik Ibsen wrote plays about domestic difficulties and social hypocrisy in 19th century small-town Norway. But they clearly speak to 21st-century Britain. With new adaptations soon to be staged across the UK, and Rosmersholm on in the West End and a new production of Ghosts in Northampton, John Wilson talks to Lucy Bailey, director of Ghosts, and Duncan MacMillan, who has adapted Rosmersholm, about the contemporary relevance of Ibsen’s drama and how they mould his work for the stage today. Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald

The Verb explores the pleasure and possibility of 'the gap', including line-breaks, spaces between words, and gaps in our understanding - with Linda Grant, Ira Lightman, Fiona Moore and Emma Smith. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence

On Episode 16 of Construction Comics - Noah and Matt break down pages from G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero, Issue Number 21 "Silent Interlude" (published by Marvel Comics in March of 1983) by the creative team of Larry Hama (writer and pencils), Steve Leialoha (Inks), George Roussos (colors), Linda Grant, Denny O'Neil and Jim Shooter (editors) with cover art by Ed Hannigan and Klaus Janson. We breakdown - the cover and pages 1 to 23 (the entire issue). To see the pages check us out at: Twitter @ConstructComPod Instagram Constructingcomicspod Facebook facebook.com/ConstructingComic/ Thanks for Listening! Please give us a rating and review!

Nicole Kidman discusses her first lead role for some time as she plays a tortured detective in the grimy LA-set thriller, Destroyer.John Cleland's 18th century novel Fanny Hill has become known as 'the most famous banned book in the country'. Written in 1749, it tells the story of Frances ‘Fanny' Hill who, after her parents' death, travels from the countryside to London earning money as a sex worker. As one of the oldest-known copies is set to go under the hammer, literary critic Sarah Ditum discusses if it still has the power to excite and shock us.Netflix's Tidying Up with Marie Kondo has caused a stir for suggesting that we should hang on to only 30 books that ‘spark joy'. Stig visits the author Linda Grant in her living room to ask her about famously culling the book collection that she'd built up from childhood.As Sotheby's prepare their auction The Female Triumphant, a selection of works by female Old Masters from the 16th to 19th centuries, including Artemisia Gentileschi, Sotheby's specialist Chloe Stead and critic Charlotte Mullins consider the role of - and the struggles faced by - women artists from that period and today.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Jerome Weatherald

Mike Bartlett's play Snowflake is at The Old Fire Station in Oxford. It centres around a father who is awaiting the return of his daughter who walked out of his life 2 years before. Will she return? Why did she leave? Who is the young woman who arrives while he's waiting? It's a play for Christmas with warmth at its heart Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle is the latest version of The Jungle Book just released on Netflix. Directed by Andy Serkis and starring motion-capture animals with famous voice actors, what USP makes it different from the previous versions. Prize winning Mexican author Emiliano Monge's novel Among The Lost is a grim tale of 24 hours in the lives of 2 human traffickers in Latin America. How can an author breathe life into and make us care for two merciless criminals Rachel Maclean's show at London's National Gallery is The Lion and The Unicorn a video work based around the Scottish Independence referendum of 2014. If you are a fan of Bruce Springsteen, you will LOVE Springsteen on Broadway, a recording of his solo Broadway solo concert series which ran for 236 shows. If you're not, is it possible that you might be won over? Our reviewers were; find out why. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Natalie Haynes, Linda Grant and Nikesh Shukla. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast Extra Natalie recommends Company at The Gielgud Theatre in London, Hadestown at London's National Theatre, Good Grief Charlie Brown at Somerset House and the TV series Community Nikesh recommends The Good Place and Go Ahead In The Rain by Hanif Abdurraqib Linda recommends Mansfield Park by Jane Austen Tom recommends going to see Monarch OF The Glen at London's National Gallery

From no formal education before the age of seventeen to a PhD from Cambridge ten years later, Tara Westover's transformation is the stuff of Hollywood. And that's before you learn about the violence and brainwashing that tainted her upbringing within her Mormon survivalist family. Westover's 'remarkable memoir' made Barack Obama's summer reading list. But what did Laura's book club make of it? Listen in to find out. Plus we interview a book club who meet in the convivial surroundings of a seaside bakery. And we finish with some great recommendations for your next book club read. Get in touch with us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @thebookclubreviewpod, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod, or leave us a comment on iTunes. Get in touch – we'd love to hear from you. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Books mentioned in this episode: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance, When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant, A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, Lady Chatterly's Lover by D. H. Lawrence, Crudo by Olivia Laing and The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. For our next book club we will be reading and discussing The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit.

Italian film Sicilian Ghost Story is based on a real life kidnapping of the son of a Mafia supergrass The new production of Othello at London's Globe Theatre includes Mark Rylance as Iago HBO's Succession is a new series telling the story of a media empire led by an ageing patriarch which is thrown into confusion when he suffers a brain haemorrhage: which of his children is capable of taking over the responsibilities and pressures of running the company? Magic Realism: Art in Weimar Germany 1919-1933 at Tate Modern is an exhibition of many of the artists whose work was cast as degenerate by the Nazis. The term 'magic realism' was coined in 1925 to describe an artistic movement away from expressionism to a harsh, cold, unsettling veracity Andrew McMillan's collection of poems: playtime explores the different ways boys grow into their sexual selves and adult identities through rites of passage. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Linda Grant, Terence Blacker and Deborah Bull. The producer is Oliver Jones.

Actor Emily Mortimer on a new film adaption of Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop, about a widow who decides to open a bookshop selling subversive literature in a small seaside town in 1950s England. She also tells Samira about her role in the upcoming Mary Poppins sequel.The 50th year of the Man Booker Prize is celebrated this weekend with a festival at London's South Bank. Literary Director Gaby Wood joins novelist Linda Grant and publisher Arifa Akbar to discuss the history of and issues surrounding Britain's most prominent award for literature. Tomorrow evening the winner of the £100,000 Art Fund Museum of the Year 2018 will be announced. We report from each of the five shortlisted museums and galleries - today it's the Glasgow Women's Library, the only accredited museum in the UK dedicated to women's lives, histories and achievements.Presenter: Samira AhmedProducer: Timothy Prosser.Main picture: Emily Mortimer as Florence Green. Credit: Vertigo Releasing

Fanny and Alexander opens at London's Old Vic Theatre. Adapted from Ingmar Bergman's award-winning 1982 film, how well does such a sumptuous film transfer to the stage? Also coming from Sweden is our film this week (well, to be more accurate, it's a Swedish/German/Egyptian co-production). The Nile Hilton Incident tells the true story of an Egyptian policeman investigating the death of a nightclub singer in Cairo, as The Arab Spring is beginning. But the justice system seems intent on stymieing his work. Toby Litt's latest novel is Notes For a Young Gentleman. It's told in the form of advice left behind by a WW2 soldier after a mission that went wrong. In Tones Drones and Arpeggios; The Magic of Minimalism on BBC4, Charles Hazlewood interviews La Monte Young and Terry Riley about the movement which stripped music back to its sonic essentials and power The latest exhibition at London's Photgraphers' Gallery is 'Under Cover, a Secret History of Cross Dressers' Made up of a collection of amateur 'found photographs' from Europe and the US dating from 1880 onwards, it explores the many manifestations of gender non-conformity and cross-dressing. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Rosie Boycott, Linda Grant and Robert Hanks. The producer is Oliver Jones.

And from that moment on, Linda Grant sets her cast of unlikely characters free - as much as possible in a TB clinic in 1950s London. The Dark Circle is her seventh novel. The protagonists are twin teens bursting with life, though they live in the space between collective death of the recent past and the shadow of death in the future, as patients. Yet Grant makes the period and the people come alive - and tells us how. This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.

Not everyone appreciates the tonalities, lyrics or even the shrieky voice of Canadian artist and musician Joni Mitchell but in a dusty class room in 1971 Lynne Truss decided she loved the writer of Woodstock, Big Yellow Taxi and Both Sides Now. It was a bond forged in the face of the frosty indifference of fellow pupils in Miss Cheverton's music class at the Tiffin Girls School in Kingston Upon Thames. Even Lynne is slightly mystified when she was asked who was her muse that, as a person mostly famous for writing a book on punctuation, she replied; Joni Mitchell. Lynne explores why a series of albums from Ladies of the Canyon to Heijra taking in Blue, Court and Spark and The Hissing of Summer lawns' has wrought such influence over so many. For her aficionados Joni Mitchell is more than a song writer. Lynne observes that for some the attachment goes beyond the personal; its a complete identification with the struggles of dealing with high emotion and how to cope. In the programme she speaks to the poet and playwright Liz Lochhead, the author Linda Grant, Elbow's front man Guy Garvey, her latest biographer the Syracuse University academic David Yaffe and Gina Foster the singer with the UK act Joni's Soul, which she insists is not a tribute but a celebration act. Lynne contends that despite at the time being overshadowed in favour of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon and others Joni Mitchell will come to be regarded as the greatest exponent of the art of singer-song writer from that era and concludes that what makes her a muse can be found less in the brilliant lyrical summations of eternal questions like love, loss and freedom but more in her absolute commitment never to compromise her art - to remain true, above all else, to her own muse.

How do you write about scent and smells? We're looking at Kate Grenville's new book The Case Against Fragrance which looks at the potentially poisonous fumes with which we voluntarily surround ourselves. British film God's Own Country has been described as Breakback Yorkshire. It's set on a farm on the moors with love developing among the livestock. It's time for Folkestone's third Triennial, inviting artists to engage with the rich cultural history and built environment of the locality, and to exhibit newly commissioned work in public spaces around the town. Since it began in 2009, NT Live has been seen by more than 5.5 million people in over 2,000 venues around the world, including over 650 venues in the UK alone. Their latest production stars Billy Piper in Simon Stone's re-imagining of Lorca's Yerma. Robert Mitchell and David Webb are back with a new series called - appropriately - Back Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Linda Grant, Katie Puckrik and David Benedict . The producer is Oliver Jones.

In addition to the usual weekly episode of chat between a friend and I, this week I'm bringing you a shorter, special episode with four guests. In this episode, I talk to four amazing female authors ahead of the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. You can see the full list of 6 shortlisted authors at www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk. Those authors are: Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing Linda Grant, author of The Dark Circle Ayobami Adebayo, author of Stay With Me Naomi Alderman, author of The Power

Sex With Strangers is Laura Eason's 2009 play about a brash blogger (whose blog shares the title of the play) meeting a shy novelist the Hampstead Theatre Toni Erdmann is a German comedy film which has been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. is it wunderbar or nicht so gut? John Burnside has a new novel out: Ashland and Vine about friendship, history and memories Turner Prize-winning Keith Tyson's latest exhibition Turn Back Now at the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings shows more than 350 of his studio wall drawings where the work itself is the process. Sheridan Smith stars in The Moorside, a BBC TV drama about the kidnapping of Shannon Matthews Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Stig Abel, Dea Birkett, and Linda Grant. The producer is Oliver Jones.

Glenda Jackson returns to the stage after 25 years as an MP to play the title role in King Lear at London's Old Vic Theatre. Is she a frail 80 year old or a commanding presence? French/Polish film The Innocents is based on a true story about a convent in post-war Poland where the nuns were raped by Soviet soldiers. Linda Grant's latest novel The Dark Circle tells the story of Lenny and Miriam, two east-enders convalescing in a TB sanatorium in 1940s Kent The Radical Eye, Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection is the new exhibition at London's Tate Modern. Pinner's favourite son has been purchasing work by the world's leading photographers for more than 2 decades and created one of the leading private collections in the world. Stephen Poliakoff's Close to the Enemy on BBC TV is set in London immediately after WWII as a special British Army unit tries to turn former Nazi scientists to work for 'us' now Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Rosie Boycott, Melissa Harrison and Ryan Gilbey. The producer is Oliver Jones.

Film and theatre director Stephen Daldry discusses his latest project with Clemency Burton Hill. The Crown charts Queen Elizabeth II's reign starting with her marriage to Philip Mountbatten in the post-war period in 1947. The Netflix drama series is Daldry's first foray into TV, written by Peter Morgan, which is reportedly the UK's most expensive ever.Nocturnal Animals is the latest film from fashion designer turned director Tom Ford. The psychological thriller stars Amy Adams as a lonely art gallery owner & Jake Gyllenhaal as her ex-husband. Jason Solomons reviews. As part of the BBC's celebration of books, Love to Read, the creator of Horrid Henry, Francesca Simon talks about the classic book she's read for Front Row: Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 story about guilt and sin, The Scarlet Letter. Linda Grant talks about her new novel The Dark Circle, which set in a tuberculosis sanatorium in the early 1950s. Producer: Julian May.

A TB clinic in the countryside is the location of Linda Grant's new novel which follows a Jewish brother and sister from the East End who are sent to recover in an institution where the class divide persists even as the new National Health Service challenges this. Stephen Poliakoff's new BBC drama series follows an intelligence officer whose final Army role is to ensure that cutting edge technology is made available to the British armed forces. Philip Dodd discusses the period of immediate post-World War II with the two writers. He also talks to historian Yuval Noah Harari who has studied the history of humanity on the planet earth and who argues that the future holds a wider divide between the techno super rich who are looking to cheat death and the useless class who have been superseded by machines. Close To The Enemy - a 7 part series written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff airs on BBC Two this November. The Dark Circle by Linda Grant is out now. Yuval Noah Harari's books are Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Producer: Fiona McLean

What is an outsider? Gary Lachman and Suzi Feay discuss the writings of Colin Wilson with presenter Matthew Sweet 60 years on from the publication of Wilson's best-seller which analysed literary characters in works by Camus, Hemingway, Dostoyevsky and figures including Van Gogh, T.E. Lawrence and Nijinsky. The Vulgar is the title of an exhibition of fashion on display at the Barbican - Linda Grant and Sarah Kent discuss the messages our clothing choices send out. And New Generation Thinker Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough on Norse gods. Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson by Gary Lachman is out now. He has also written the introduction to a new edition of The Outsider published by Penguin. Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough has published Beyond The Northlands: Viking Voyages and the Old Norse Sagas. She was selected as one of the New Generation Thinkers in 2013 in a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council which works with academics who want to turn their research into radio. The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined runs at the Barbican Art Gallery from October 13th to 5th February 2017. Linda Grant's new novel The Dark Circle is out in November.Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Liza Johnson directs Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey in the title roles of Elvis and Nixon a film which dramatises the unlikely 1970 meeting between the two men . The title role in a production of Shakespeare's Henry V at the Regent's Park Open Air theatre is taken by the actress Michelle Terry. Debut novel The Girls by Emma Cline looks at relationships and their consequences in a Charles Manson-like cult in California. The City of London has placed 15 sculptures by leading artists among architectural landmarks such as the Gherkin and the Cheesegrater - an opportunity to see engaging works in unusual settings. Polish television drama serial The Border dealing with the highly topical subject of immigration control starts downloads on All Four this week. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Ellah Alfrey, Linda Grant and Nikesh Shukla. The producer is Harry Parker.

John Mitchinson and Andy Miller are joined by author Linda Grant and Unbound's Mathew Clayton to discuss 'Good Morning, Midnight' by 'Wide Sargasso Sea' author Jean Rhys. Plus perfume, the previously unheard of genre of Scandinavian magic realism, and a mistake in the best selling science book of all time. Join in the conversation on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BacklistedPod And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/backlistedpod/

The film Suffragette looks at the campaign 100 years ago to gain women the right to vote. It was made with an all-star largely-female cast and crew. How broad is the appeal of this historical retelling? City On Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg has been hyped by the publishers and lauded by many critics. It's a 944-page novel about New York City in the mid 1970s; does it justify the hoopla? Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes is a modern reworking of Moliere's Tartuffe at London's Tricycle Theatre. Set in a black southern baptist church with a dissembling pastor, do the themes still resonate in the twenty-first century? 'Periodic Tales, The Art of the Elements" is an exhibition at Compton Verney in Warwickshire. It explores the way the elements of the periodic table have inspired and influenced artists over the centuries. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Rowan Pelling, Geoffrey Durham and Linda Grant. The producer is Oliver Jones.

A brand new interpretation of the classical story The Oresteia begins a Greek Season at London's Almeida Theatre. How well does it bring an ancient story up-to-date? Czech writer Milan Kundera has just published his first novel for 12 years The Festival of Insignificance Iain Banks' 2012 novel Stonemouth about a young man returning - under a shadow - to his Scottish hometown has been dramatised for BBC1 London's Serpentine Gallery has 2 portraiture exhibitions opening - Duane Hanson and Lynette Yiadom Boakye. The film Listen Up Philip follows the life and relationships of an obnoxious young author who seeks life advice from a similarly obnoxious older writer Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Linda Grant, John Mullan and Frances Stonor Saunders. The producer is Oliver Jones.

On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to Zachary Leader about the life and work of Saul Bellow, one of America's most famous novelists. Bellow's vivid prose and mix of high and low culture brought 20th century America to life. Linda Grant reflects on his significance for writers today and on the literature of immigration he represents. Aeschylus' play cycle The Oresteia brought to the stage a world the Ancient Greeks understood only too well - family drama and bloody politics. In a new production Robert Icke radically re-imagines the play for a modern audience. The rapper Speech DeBelle looks back at what inspired her to find her voice, and the challenge to retain it. Producer: Luke Mulhall.

One of Israel’s most acclaimed writers, David Grossman is the author of numerous pieces of fiction, nonfiction and children's literature. His work has dealt with Jewish history, the occupation of the West Bank, the cost of war and the dramas of family life, and has been translated into 25 languages around the world. He has been a vocal critic of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians and has been one of the most prominent cultural advocates of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He came to the Intelligence Squared stage on October 4th 2011 to discuss his life and work with novelist and journalist Linda Grant. Thanks to Audible for supporting the Intelligence Squared podcast. Get a free audiobook of your choice at audiblepodcast.com/debate. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nightcrawler is a movie about the ambulance-chasing camera crews who film at the site of traffic accidents, shootings etc and sell the footage to TV stations for their news bulletins. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, we see him begin his nightcrawling career, but will it make a good man turn bad? 'Tis Pity She's a Whore is being staged at London's Globe Theatre. Written in the early 1600s by John Ford, the plot includes incest which made it extremely controversial at the time. And it was so controversial in fact that it wasn't revived in London until 1923. How will 21st century London audiences respond? Richard Ford's new book Let Me Be Frank With You is a collection of short stories all featuring the same main character: Frank Bascombe who has appeared in Ford's previous work. He's getting older and returns in all his imperfect glory, dealing with the mess of life. The Queen recently opened the latest gallery at London's Science Museum. It's called The Information Age and it's the first permanent gallery dedicated to the history of information and communication technologies. How have they managed to bring Translatlantic cable-laying to life? BBC1's latest World War 1 drama, Passing Bells follows the lives of two young recruits, one English, one German as they take part in and are affected by the conflict. Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Linda Grant, Emma Woolf and David Benedict. The producer is Oliver Jones.

Novelist, Journalist, Author of “I Murdered My Library” Interview starts at 23:05 I was sitting, reading this novel on my Kindle. And I thought, actually, this is a perfect medium for this particular book [In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut], which had a very pared-down writing style. And I did have this very, very eerie sense […]

The curators of the new First World War Galleries at the Imperial War Museum in London walk Samira Ahmed round their new exhibition, part of the extensive new design for the building. Linda Grant discusses her new novel Upstairs at the Party, where the arrival of a glamorous, androgynous couple at a university campus in the '70s has long-term consequences. John Fay returns to The Mill, his Channel 4 drama series. And Catherine Bray reviews the French film Grand Central which stars Blue is the Warmest Colour's Léa Seydoux.

Richard Linklater's latest film, Boyhood, was filmed over 39 days over a period of 12 years, so the actors and characters on the screen age in real time. When production began, the lead actor was 6 and it follows him dealing with life's ups and downs as he progresses towards adulthood. Linda Grant's new novel Upstairs At The Party is the tale of a group of friends at a northern university in the 1970s and how their lives are changed by a personal catastrophe Intimate Apparel is a play by African American playwright Lynn Nottage at London's Park Theatre. Set in 1905, it tells the story of Esther, a 35-year old African American seamstress who moved from North Carolina to New York City to seek her fortune and her relationships with the city's upper crust and lowlife alike. BBC 3's People Just Do Nothing is a comedy set in a London pirate radio station and its cheerfully deluded team of enthusiastic idiots. A new exhibition at SOAS in London chronicles the role of Sikh soldiers in The First World War. Indian soldiers made up one-in-six of the ranks of the British Empire forces, but their role has now been largely forgotten. Sarfraz Manzoor is joined by Cahal Dallat, Louise Doughty and Antonia Quirke. The producer is Oliver Jones.

With John Wilson. Five of the world's greatest ballet stars are together on stage this week in Kings Of The Dance at The London Coliseum. John talks to principal dancers Roberto Bolle and Marcelo Gomes. John Banville, the Man Booker Prize winning author of The Sea, also writes crime fiction under the pen name Benjamin Black. Now Banville, writing as Black, has taken on the legacy of Raymond Chandler and penned a hardboiled detective novel. John Banville discusses Chandler's iconic private eye, Phillip Marlowe, and the re-creation of Chandler's literary style. The life of French designer Yves Saint Laurent is the subject of two films this year. The first biopic looks at his taking over Christian Dior's fashion house at the age of 21, and finding creative success whilst battling with personal demons. Linda Grant, Orange Prize winner and author of The Thoughtful Dresses, reviews. Director Nicholas Hytner discusses his plans for the National Theatre in the year ahead. It's the last year Hytner will be responsible for the theatre, before Rufus Norris takes over the role. The season is dominated by new works from David Hare, Polly Stenham and Tom Stoppard. Producer: Rebecca Nicholson.

Matthew Sweet leads an elite party of literary explorers - Linda Grant, Aminatta Forna, Naomi Alderman and Tim Stanley on an expedition to find "the common reader" -- being stalked by Woolf in the 20th Century and by Johnson in the 18th. Both believed that the common reader "uncorrupted with literary prejudices" was the final arbiter of "poetical honours" so it's a quest that's clearly still relevant today. The question is what does a common reader look like in our digital age? What are they reading? Where? And how?

With Mark Lawson. Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West star as the ultimate celebrity couple, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, in a new BBC Drama written by William Ivory. Focusing on the period when they appeared together on Broadway in Noel Coward's Private Lives, Burton and Taylor imagines the complex relationship between the ex-husband and wife. Linda Grant reviews. Writer Denise Mina has received the Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel award, for the second year running. Her winning novel, For Gods and Beasts, weaves together three stories of Glasgow's criminal underworld. She explains why she had to re-write it over a weekend and reveals the flaws in her books. Director Noah Baumbach discusses Frances Ha, his acclaimed black and white drama about the misadventures of a twentysomething dancer, played by co-writer Greta Gerwig. He also reveals what his parents thought of his break-through film, The Squid And The Whale, which was inspired by the fall-out from their divorce For Cultural Exchange, dramatis Mark Ravenhill chooses Casanova, the first television series from Dennis Potter, starring Frank Finley as Casanova. Producer Nicki Paxman.

Matthew Sweet is leading an elite party of literary explorers - Linda Grant, Aminatta Forna, Naomi Alderman and Tim Stanley on an expedition to find "the common reader" -- being stalked by Woolf in the 20th Century and by Johnson in the 18th. Both believed that the common reader "uncorrupted with literary prejudices" was the final arbiter of "poetical honours" so it's a quest that's clearly still relevant today. The question is what does a common reader look like in our digital age? What are they reading? Where? And how?

Writer and broadcaster Aminatta Forna is in the presenter's chair this week talking to Pat Barker about Toby's Room, her latest novel set around the First World War. And authors DJ Taylor and Linda Grant discuss the topic: questions never to ask an author.

Andrew Marr discusses the life and work of the writer Vasily Grossman in a special programme recorded at an event in Oxford to celebrate his greatest novel, Life and Fate. Grossman was a Ukrainian Jew who spent most of WWII reporting on the front line with a humanity and attention to detail that defied the Soviet censors. His masterpiece, Life and Fate, pitted communism against fascism but came down on the side of human kindness. Start the Week looks at the legacy of a writer who is largely ignored in his own country, and asks how Grossman's depiction of the war compares to the authorised version in Russia today. Andrew talks to the historian Antony Beevor, the writers Andrey Kurkov and Linda Grant.

James Naughtie and readers talk to Linda Grant about her novel When I Lived in Modern Times, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000. Linda is known for bringing a strong Jewish identity to most of her writing. 'Scratch a Jew and you've got a story', remarks the main character Evelyn Sert on the story's first page as she looks over her life. The novel follows Evelyn - hairdresser, spy, lover - on her voyage from post-war London to Tel Aviv, where the British are preparing to leave Palestine and the new state of Israel is about to be born.

The 2008 Man booker Prize was announced on 14th of October at a ceremony in London's Guildhall. The same evening, in anticipation of the announcement, an audience gathered in Dún Laoghaire County Hall to discuss the shortlisted works and speculate on the result. This is the second and final part of the podcast of that event. Host Bert Wright and panelists Declan Hughes, Claire Kilroy and Alison Walsh continue their discussion with a look at the final three books on the shortlist: "The Clothes on Their Backs" by Linda Grant; "The Northern Clemency" by Philip Hensher; and "A Fraction of The Whole" by Steve Toltz. The podcast ends with the news from London that the prize has been won by Aravind Adiga's "The White Tiger".

The 2008 Man booker Prize was announced on 14th of October at a ceremony in London's Guildhall. The same evening, in anticipation of the announcement, an audience gathered in Dún Laoghaire County Hall to discuss the shortlisted works and speculate on the result. This is the second and final part of the podcast of that event. Host Bert Wright and panelists Declan Hughes, Claire Kilroy and Alison Walsh continue their discussion with a look at the final three books on the shortlist: "The Clothes on Their Backs" by Linda Grant; "The Northern Clemency" by Philip Hensher; and "A Fraction of The Whole" by Steve Toltz. The podcast ends with the news from London that the prize has been won by Aravind Adiga's "The White Tiger".

Host Suzanne Lieurance talks with children's author Linda Grant De Pauw.