Podcasts about producer dymphna flynn

In a special programme first broadcast in 2013, Hilary Mantel discusses Bring Up the Bodies, her second Man Booker Prize-winning novel with James Naughtie and his Bookclub audience. England, 1535. A one-time mercenary, master-politician, lawyer and doting father, Thomas Cromwell has risen from commoner to become King Henry VIII's chief adviser. He learnt everything he knew from his mentor Cardinal Wolsey, whose place he has taken. Anne Boleyn is now Queen, her path to Henry's side cleared by Cromwell. But Henry remains without a male heir, and the conflict with the Catholic Church has left England dangerously isolated as France and the Holy Roman Empire manoeuvre for position. Mantel charts how the King begins to fall in love with the seemingly plain Jane Seymour at her family home of Wolf Hall; how Cromwell must negotiate an increasingly dangerous court as he charms, bullies and manipulates nobility, commoners and foreign powers alike to satisfy Henry, and advance his own ambitions. Hilary Mantel was the first author to win two Man Booker Prizes with consecutive novels. She discusses Bring Up the Bodies with Jim and her readers at the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival in Devon - and gives tantalising insights into the final part of the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light. Producer : Dymphna Flynn

With James Naughtie. Celebrated Irish writer John Banville discusses his novel The Sea which won the Man Booker prize in 2005. In The Sea, middle-aged art historian Max Morden loses his wife to cancer and is compelled to go back to the seaside resort where he spent childhood holidays. It is also a return to the place where he met the Graces, the well-heeled family with whom he experienced the strange suddenness of both love and death for the first time. John Banville talks about the power of revisiting places from childhood, how he wanted to be a painter as a teenager but found he had no talent. He explains how he painstakingly writes his novels over many years, creating sentence after sentence, but in the end he always feels the book is an embarrassment and a failure, and that he must move on to the next novel. May's Bookclub choice is The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

On Front Row tonight Kirsty Lang talks to Kate Winslet about her new film Divergent - aimed at young adults she plays an arch villain in a dystopian future and she explains why making the film made her feel old; and Kirsty meets German author Timur Vermes who's written a best-selling satire depicting Hitler as a present day celebrity after awakening from a 66-year sleep in 2011. There's a review of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's new tv series The Trip to Italy and we go backstage at rehearsals for Matthew Bourne's new dance production of Lord of the Flies in Salford. Plus - as a rail design exhibition opens at the National Railway Museum in York and RIBA shortlists entrants in their aesthetic overhead line structures competition, we consider the design of rail-gantries past and present. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

With John Wilson. We announce the winner of the inaugural Folio Prize and speak to her/him live from the ceremony in London. The £40,000 prize celebrates the best English-language fiction from around the world, regardless of form, genre, or the author's country of origin. Cézanne and the Modern is a new exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, featuring the collection of Henry and Rose Pearlman. They began collecting in 1945 with a work by Jacques Lipchitz and it now includes a matchless group of paintings and watercolours by Paul Cézanne, as well as paintings and sculptures by artists including Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, and Edgar Degas. Curator John Whitely talks to John Wilson about the collection. John also talks to guitar hero Jeff Beck about a 50 year career that has seen him play with the likes of The Yardbirds, David Bowie, Eric Clapton and Morrissey. And as a new teen movie the GBF (Gay Best Friend) is about to open, writer Damian Barr looks at the appeal of the gay best friend in film. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With John Wilson. Based on the bestselling novel by Markus Zusak, the film of The Book Thief - starring Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson - tells the story of a spirited young girl Liesel in World War II Germany. Liesel finds solace from the war by stealing books and sharing them with others. Novelist Meg Rosoff reviews. Professor Joseph Rykwert is one of the few critics to win the prestigious Royal Gold Medal for architecture for a body of work that includes the ground-breaking book The Idea Of a Town. Written in 1963, it warned of the problems of traffic congestion in cities and the rise of the high-rise building. He tells John if anything has improved over the last 50 years. The comedian and actress Isy Suttie, from the TV series Peep Show, discusses her new stage role in a 'musical fable' The A-Z of Mrs P, about Phyllis Pearsall, the woman who set out to map an entire city in 1936, resulting in the classic A-Z map of London. Two books of monologues for black actors have been published to provide young performers with a diverse range of speeches to use at auditions. The monologues are taken from the Black Play Archive and have been compiled by theatre producer Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway. She and actor Jimmy Akingbola explain why these books are needed and discuss whether there is a glass ceiling for black British actors. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

With John Wilson. George Clooney directs and stars in The Monuments Men, a drama set in the Second World War. Based on a true story, he plays a member of a group of curators and scholars attempting to rescue art works from the Nazis. The film co-stars Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett and John Goodman. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews for Front Row. Tennessee Williams spent much of his later life living in hotel rooms, inspiring his 'hotel plays' which open this week in performance at London's Langham Hotel. John meets the director, set designer and cast from Defibrillator theatre to talk about the logistics of staging three plays in three different rooms on three floors of the grand hotel. Grammy-winning singer songwriter Enrique Iglesias began his career as a Spanish language artist before crossing over to the English market with hits like Bailamos and the global number one single Hero. Now releasing his tenth album, he talks to John about keeping his record contract secret from his father Julio Iglesias, and why he sees concern over sexualised music videos as hypocritical. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong is the subject of Oscar-winning documentary-maker Alex Gibney's latest film, The Armstrong Lie. In 2009 the film-maker, whose previous documentaries include Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, set out to make a film about Armstrong's comeback year after a four-year retirement from the sport, but found himself with a bigger story in the wake of his doping confession on Oprah. Michael Carlson reviews. Juliet Stevenson stars as Winnie in Samuel Beckett's play of resilience and self-reliance, Happy Days, at the Young Vic. Juliet tells Kirsty about her reservations in playing this major role, seen by some as the female Hamlet, and about the challenges of acting when submerged from the neck up. In American writer Willy Vlautin's new novel The Free, a young member of the National Guard is returned home after suffering serious brain injury as a result of a roadside bomb in Iraq. The Free charts his slow recovery and the struggles he faces in a country which seems not to care. Vlautin discusses his novel and the dispossessed who feature so much in his work and his songs. The poet Ahren Warner, who recently took up his position as poet-in-residence at London Zoo, joins Gillian Clarke - who had a similar role at the Museum of Zoology in Cambridge - to discuss the experience of writing from nature, and the inspiration it can bring. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

With James Naughtie. Donna Tartt discusses her cult debut novel The Secret History, first published in 1992. "I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell." In a rare visit to the UK, Donna Tartt discusses The Secret History, which she has described as a 'why dunnit'. It's a murder mystery about a group of classic students at a privileged New England college; but from page one she discloses that the friends have murdered one of their number, Bunny. A literary thriller with allusions to Euripides and Dostoevsky, The Secret History was an overnight sensation and has gripped readers for decades. As always in Bookclub, a group of invited readers join in the discussion too. February's Bookclub choice : The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Oscar contender American Hustle stars Christian Bale and Amy Adams as a pair of con artists who are forced to help the FBI in a huge sting operation, but things go awry when Bale's erstwhile wife, Jennifer Lawrence, gets involved. Critic Antonia Quirke delivers her verdict. It would be hard to miss Mark Gatiss' work over the course of the holiday period. On Christmas day, he makes his directorial debut with The Tractate Middoth and follows it with Ghost Writer, a documentary about M.R. James, who wrote the original story upon which his drama is based. Earlier in the day, there's a chance to catch up on his bio-pic about the beginnings of Dr Who, An Adventure In Space And Time. New Year's Day sees the start of a new series of Sherlock, which Gatiss co-created and takes a supporting role as Holmes' brother, Mycroft. Meanwhile, the actor-writer-director is appearing on stage in London in a new version of Coriolanus. 2013 has been an eventful year in music, bookended by surprise albums from David Bowie and Beyonce and featuring the rise of 17 year old New Zealander Lorde and a chart topping album from Rod Stewart, his first UK number 1 since 1976. For those who are dazzled by the choice, Gemma Cairney, Sara Mohr-Pietsch and Kate Mossman join Mark to give their recommendations for the pop, classical and alternative albums of the year. Producer: Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. The Hunger Games : Catching Fire is the second adaptation of Suzanne Collins' runaway bestselling trilogy of novels. Jennifer Lawrence is Katniss Everdeen in the post-apocalyptic state of Panem, where the Hunger Games are a televised fight to the death between teenagers. Rosie Swash gives her verdict. The realities of the modern political world come under scrutiny in Michael Ignatieff's new book Fire and Ashes: Success and Failure in Politics. The Canadian academic, writer and broadcaster shelved his university career to enter politics, becoming leader of the country's Liberal Party in 2008. On the line from Toronto - where the city's controversial mayor is fighting for political survival - Ignatieff reflects on his bruising electoral defeat and what he learnt on the front line of 21st century politics. Adrian Lester, Rory Kinnear and Lucy Kirkwood were among the winners at last night's Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Mark spoke to the night's winners as they reflected on the past year on stage. Tate Britain re-opens today after a major refurbishment. The Duveen galleries are hosting works by Alison Wilding, one of Britain's foremost sculptors known for her inventive approach to form and materials. She tells Mark about making a model of one of her pieces - Harbour - from a piece of cheese before working it in alabaster, and how she'll stop schoolchildren touching her work if she spots them. Following the announcement of the death of Doris Lessing on 17 November we pay tribute with an excerpt from a Front Row interview in 2008, where she talks about the effect of winning the Nobel Prize for literature on the sales of her books. Producer: Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Seduced and Abandoned is a new documentary made by the actor Alec Baldwin and the writer/director James Toback. The film was shot in Cannes and depicts the difficulties faced by filmmakers trying to find funding for their projects, with contributions from Ryan Gosling and Diane Kruger. Ryan Gilbey reviews this movie about the movie business. In Doctor Who's 50th anniversary year 11 authors have been commissioned to write short stories about the 11 Doctors. It was announced today that the final author in the series is Neil Gaiman who has written a story about Matt Smith's Doctor, called Nothing O'Clock. He talks to Mark about creating his own villain and why Margaret Thatcher makes a cameo appearance. As Channel Four receives complaints about the latest joke about Prince Harry's social life, we ask media lawyer Duncan Lamont about the use of irony as a defence - when is a joke not a joke, in terms of fictional wisecracks about real people. Californian soprano Angel Blue, a former model, is an award-winning opera singer, recently performing at the Wigmore Hall in London. Angel Blue discusses singing with Plácido Domingo, how she prepares for a performance, and her former life as a beauty queen. Today the world of academia reports that translators of Beowulf have misinterpreted the opening line of the epic poem for at least 200 years. Translator Amanda Hopkinson looks at accidental and deliberate mistranslations as well as untranslatable phrases in literature. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Writer Susan Hill is now probably best known for her ghost story The Woman in Black, which became a long-running play and a major film. Her new novel Black Sheep is set in a mining village, and like many of her books, it's full of emotional claustrophobia, isolated characters and set at an unspecified time in the 20th century. She reflects on her long career and her approach to fiction. The Corrupted, a major new Radio 4 drama series, plots the course of one family against the backdrop of a revolution in crime, as the underworld extends its influence to the very heart of the establishment. Mark talks to its creator G F Newman, the award-winning writer of Judge John Deed and Law And Order. Pop Art Design is the first major exhibition in this country to examine the relationship between artists such as Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton and Roy Lichtenstein and the world of commercial design - from posters to album sleeves to architecture. Critic William Feaver delivers his verdict. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With James Naughtie.Hilary Mantel discusses Bring Up the Bodies, her 2nd Man Booker Prize winning novel.England, 1535. A one-time mercenary, master-politician, lawyer and doting father, Thomas Cromwell has risen from commoner to become King Henry VIII's chief adviser. He learnt everything he knew from his mentor Cardinal Wolsey, whose place he has taken.Anne Boleyn is now Queen, her path to Henry's side cleared by Cromwell. But Henry remains without a male heir, and the conflict with the Catholic Church has left England dangerously isolated as France and the Holy Roman Empire manoeuvre for position.Mantel charts how the King begins to fall in love with the seemingly plain Jane Seymour at her family home of Wolf Hall; how Cromwell must negotiate an increasingly dangerous court as he charms, bullies and manipulates nobility, commoners and foreign powers alike to satisfy Henry, and advance his own ambitions.Hilary Mantel is the first author to win two Man Booker Prizes with consecutive novels. She discusses Bring Up the Bodies with Jim and her readers at the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival in Devon - and gives tantalising insights into the final part of the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, which will be published in 2015.November's Bookclub choice : Now All Roads Lead to France by Matthew Hollis.Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. The artworks competing to occupy Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth in 2015 and 2016 were unveiled today. Shortlisted artists Marcus Coates and Liliane Lijn discuss their designs, along with Ekow Eshun, chair of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, who make the final decision about which two artworks will be successful. Stephen King publishes a sequel to his 1977 novel The Shining today. The boy Danny Torrance has grown up, but has he managed to escape the legacy of his alcoholic psychopathic father? Rachel Cooke reviews Doctor Sleep. Lionel Shriver is the latest writer in our series of interviews with the contenders for the BBC National Short Story Award 2013. Her story called Prepositions is set around events during 9/11 and takes the form of a letter between two women. Prepositions is broadcast on Wednesday at 3.30pm on Radio 4. Alfred Brendel, one of the world's greatest pianists, retired from playing in public in 2008, although at the age of 82 he still performs his own poems and is about to take part in a poetry and music event with his son, the cellist Adrian Brendel. They reflect on their artistic relationship and what it is like to perform together as father and son. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. The 1970s Formula 1 rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt is the focus of a new film Rush, directed by Ron Howard with a script by Peter Morgan. Alyson Rudd reviews the film that includes Lauda's 1976 crash that nearly claimed the driver's life. The Wipers Times is a 90-minute TV drama about the men behind a satirical newspaper created for soldiers on the Western Front in the First World War. Co-writers Ian Hislop and Nick Newman discuss their project which is based on a true story, and stars Michael Palin and Julian Rhind-Tutt. Thomas Pynchon's new novel Bleeding Edge is a historical romance set in New York at a time between the early days of the internet and the events of September 11, 2001. Novelist and Pynchon expert Lawrence Norfolk reviews the eighth novel from this famously private author, who once told CNN "my belief is that recluse is a code word generated by journalists ... meaning, 'doesn't like to talk to reporters...'". And Mark reports on a literary first: the new novel by the Scottish writer Angus Peter Campbell will be published simultaneously in Scots Gaelic and in English. Angus Peter has written two versions of the book, which is mostly set on the Isle of Mull, an English language edition entitled The Girl on the Ferryboat and a Gaelic-language edition called An Nighean Air an Aiseig. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With James Naughtie. The celebrated travel writer Paul Theroux discusses Dark Star Safari. The book is his account of an overland journey from Cairo to Cape Town, which he made 35 years after first living as a volunteer teacher in Malawi in the early 60s. In the programme he talks about the pleasures and hazards of travelling across countries that many consider no-go areas. He recalls the joy of wild camping by the little known pyramids of the Sudan, the peril of being shot at on the road, and how the continent has changed since he first knew it as a young man. He explains his theories on western aid, and how he manages the rigours of travelling. He says it's best to travel light and alone, with an open mind, a willingness to make friends - and to never forget a paperback. October's Bookclub choice : Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Kirsty Lang. The acclaimed Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov is best known in the UK for his cult novel Death and the Penguin. He reflects on the origins of his new book, The Gardener from Ochakov, a dark satire where a young man can time travel between 2010 and 1957 Ukraine, with the help of a vintage Soviet police uniform. Two new TV documentary series begin tonight, aiming to reveal what it is like to work in retail and sales at the moment. Channel 4's The Dealership shows Essex car salesmen in action, while BBC Three's Shoplife follows a group of young people who are employed at the Metrocentre in Gateshead. Tiffany Stevenson gives her verdict. With three Australian circus troupes taking to the stage at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and another currently entertaining audiences in London, Kirsty talks to the creative minds behind two of these shows - Wunderkammer and Limbo - to find out why Australian circus seems to be soaring. For Cultural Exchange, writer Jeffrey Archer chooses the painting Ecce Homo by the 19th Century Italian artist Antonio Ciseri, which depicts the moment Pontius Pilate presented Jesus to a hostile crowd. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. The World's End is a new comedy film from Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright, completing a trilogy which began with Shaun of the Dead and continued with Hot Fuzz. Adam Smith reviews. Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning dramatist Marsha Norman discusses how she adapted Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple as a musical for the stage. The show is about to receive its British premiere. Marsha Norman also reflects on how she teaches the art of writing for musicals. Badults is a new TV comedy which follows the exploits of three childhood friends who made a pact to live together when they grew up, but find themselves struggling to adapt to adult life. The show is written by and stars Ben Clark, Matthew Crosby and Tom Parry, also known as the comedy troupe Pappy's. They discuss their move from the live comedy circuit to the small screen. In tonight's Cultural Exchange, American writer David Sedaris chooses the TV programme Ru Paul's Drag Race. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

The National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke discusses her collection Ice which was shortlisted for last year's TS Eliot prize. Inspired by the snowy winters of 2009 and 2010, the poems in Ice move through the seasons : from Gillian's experience of being snowed in to the sound of an icicle as it begins to melt. From the bluebells of Spring (inspired by a Renoir painting at the National Museum of Art in Cardiff) through to a hot summer's day and on to the harvest moons of autumn to New Year's Eve. They also include Gillian's earliest childhood memories, such as the opening poem Polar, which recalls the toddler Gillian lying on a polar bear rug which her father bought in a junk shop; and memories of a more collective nature - mining disasters and ancient British mythology. The land, language, history and myths of Wales are all present in these poems. Gillian says a love of language and an inherent ability to articulate is something the Welsh are brought up with, learnt from the early days of attending Chapel; and she says that being National Poet of Wales is no different than getting up at a family occasion and giving a verse or two, a tradition which lies at the heart of her culture. James Naughtie presents and a group of readers ask the questions. Recorded at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea. June's Bookclub choice : Quarantine by Jim Crace. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Tonight Front Row launches Cultural Exchange, in which 75 creative minds share their passion for a book, film, poem, piece of music or other work of art. Tonight Tracey Emin reflects on her favourite painting - Vermeer's Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid. The ITV series Broadchurch reaches its climax tonight, when the murderer of Danny Latimer is revealed. It's reported that even the actor playing the killer didn't know they were the guilty party until the last moment. Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall and John Yorke, author of Into the Woods, A Five Act Journey into Story, discuss the art of suspense in TV drama. Jack Black stars as a funeral director who strikes up an unlikely relationship with an elderly widow played by Shirley MacLaine in the film Bernie, a black comedy based on a macabre true story. Novelist Lionel Shriver delivers her verdict. Playwright Graham Reid discusses his latest play Love, Billy. It's the fifth part of a series which focuses on a Belfast based family, first seen on TV in 1982 with Kenneth Branagh in the leading role. In this latest instalment Billy returns to Belfast after 25 years away. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With John Wilson. Danny Boyle - director of Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire - this week releases his first film since his Olympic opening ceremony last year. In Trance, starring James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel, an art auctioneer who has become mixed up with a group of criminals, joins up with a hypnotherapist to recover a lost painting. Mark Eccleston reviews. Keeping Britain Alive: The NHS in a Day is a new eight part series filmed over on one day across the NHS. The programme aims to highlight the increasing demands that the service faces and how these have changed since its inception 70 years ago. Executive producer Amy Flanagan and director Shona Thompson discuss the challenges involved in the production. Choreographer Gillian Lynne is to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Laurence Olivier Awards. Her long career includes dancing for George VI, choreographing Yentl and Man of La Mancha, along with two of Andrew Lloyd Webber's greatest successes - Cats and Phantom of the Opera. She argues that reality TV casting shows are harming musical theatre, and reveals why, at the age of 87, she is still working with no plans to retire. As 12 In A Box, starring Miranda Hart, arrives in cinemas seven years after it was made, Andrew Collins considers the other films that have been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Edmund de Waal, author of the bestselling memoir The Hare with the Amber Eyes, reflects on finding novels written by his grandmother, Elisabeth. She grew up in Vienna, and escaped when Hitler's troops marched into Austria on 12 March 1938, 75 years ago today. Her novel The Exiles Return examines the stories of five exiles returning to Vienna after World War II, and is now being published for the very first time. The Paperboy is the latest film from Lee Daniels, the director of the award-winning Precious. It caused a sensation amongst critics at last year's Cannes festival, thanks to a notorious scene involving Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron and a well-known antidote for a jellyfish sting. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh considers whether this swampy Southern melodrama has any real bite. The first major UK retrospective of the American realist painter George Bellows opens this week. At the time of his death in 1925, at the age of just 42, Bellows was considered one of the greatest artists America had ever produced. He left 600 paintings of urban New York, boxing matches, social scenes and portraits, making him a chronicler of early 20th Century New York life. Sarah Churchwell reviews. A leading bookshop chain is offering an exclusive edition of the new paperback by Joanne Harris, featuring an epilogue unavailable elsewhere. Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller, considers this latest move in the fierce battle between traditional shops and online retailers. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Sue Perkins is the writer and star of the new TV sitcom Heading Out about a gay vet who is struggling to come out to her parents. She reflects on the process of creating a character for herself to play. Richard Gere's new film is the thriller Arbitrage. He plays a hedge-fund magnate whose world falls apart on his 60th birthday, when a deal goes wrong and he desperately needs $400m to cover his losses. Susan Sarandon co-stars as his wife. Rachel Cooke gives her verdict. Twenty years after their eponymous debut album and a decade after their last recording, Suede have finally returned to the studio with Bloodsports. Lead singer Brett Anderson discusses Britpop, reunions and comebacks. Most struggling writers long for the book that will make them a literary star, but how many consider the danger of writing a book so good they can never escape from its shadow? Erich Kästner is best known for Emil and the Detectives. As Going to the Dogs, one of his less famous titles, is republished, Professor John Sutherland reflects on the dangers of creating a classic. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI happens to coincide with the release this week of a new cinema documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, which features the departing Pontiff. Alex Gibney's film charts the claims of sexual abuse made by individuals who were in the care of Catholic priests in the US, and how many similar claims from across the world made their way to the highest level in Rome. Kate Saunders reviews. Writer and director Ray Cooney, who is now 80, talks about creating a film version of his most successful farce, Run for Your Wife, which ran for eight years on the London stage. The film has a host of British stars in cameo roles - including Judi Dench, Cliff Richard and Richard Briers. Marianne Elliott's credits as a director include War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and most recently Simon Stephens' play Port, all for the National Theatre. She reflects on the process of directing, her theatrical family and whether she wants to run the National Theatre in the future. Business is the focus of two TV series starting this evening. The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track goes behind the scenes of the UK's rail network, while businesswoman Alex Polizzi aims to turn around the fortunes of small family-run enterprises. The FT's management columnist Lucy Kellaway reviews both series. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Kristin Scott Thomas and Lia Williams star in a new production of Harold Pinter's play Old Times, in which three characters are locked away in a secluded farmhouse and reminisce about their early days together in London. The two actresses discuss the play and how they are addressing the challenge of alternating roles during the show's run. The one-time Dada artist Kurt Schwitters fled the Nazis, was interned at a camp in the Isle Of Man, and spent the rest of his life after the war in a barn in the Lake District. As his work goes on show in a major new Tate exhibition, novelist Iain Sinclair delivers his verdict. Two films by the off-spring of famous directors are about to reach our cinemas. Chained is a psycho-drama directed by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of the man who gave the world Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, David Lynch; Antiviral is a futuristic satire on celebrity culture helmed by Brandon Cronenberg, the son of Videodrome and Crash auteur David Cronenberg. Ryan Gilbey discusses whether sons and daughters can ever emerge from the daunting shadow cast by their famous film-making parents. And with issues of strong language in the air in Django Unchained and the edited repeats of Fawlty Towers, Mark considers how you teach books which contain words now considered unacceptable, but which are present in school set texts - such as Of Mice and Men. What kind of dilemma does this present for teachers and how do students respond? Two teachers discuss the issue. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

Sathnam Sanghera discusses his memoir The Boy With The Topknot, which won the 2009 Mind Book of the Year. Born to Punjabi parents in the West Midlands, the book is his account of his childhood in 1980s Wolverhampton. The youngest of a Sikh family, it wasn't until he was 24 that he discovered his mother had protected him from the family's secret : that his father had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia all his life. Subtitled "A memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton", writing the book was Sathnam Sanghera's way of confronting his mother with some uncomfortable truths; that after his grammar school and Cambridge education, he had moved away from the family's culture and religion and was not going to accept an arranged marriage. This was a journey of discovery and independence for Sathnam that began on the day he went to the barbers on his own, and had his joora - his Sikh topknot - cut off. When the barber asked him if his dad knew he was doing this, he thought, 'it's my mum you should be worrying about'. The memoir is a meditation on mental illness as well as class and cultural differences, and in Bookclub Sathnam ponders on whether it was a young man's folly to 'share too much information' by writing down his life story. James Naughtie presents and a group of readers ask the questions. January's Bookclub choice is Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. This week sees the return of The Hour, the drama set in a TV newsroom in the 1950s. The series picks up where the last one left off with ambitious producer Bel, played by Romola Garai, attempting to keep Dominic West's newsreader Hector in check, with a little help from Peter Capaldi as the new head of news. Former Deputy Director of BBC News Mark Damazer gives his verdict. A new Tate Modern exhibition takes David Hockney's A Bigger Splash and Jackson Pollock's action painting Summertime as its starting point, and surveys modern art movements which claimed that the making of art is as important as the art itself, whether it's Yves Klein painting nude models blue and imprinting their figures on rolls of paper or Niki De Saint Phalle shooting her paintings with air rifles. Lionel Shriver delivers her verdict. Dramatist Nick Dear's new play is the story of poet Edward Thomas, scraping a living in the Hampshire countryside in the winter of 1913. He meets the American poet Robert Frost and as their friendship blossoms, so does Thomas's work. Nick Dear and director Richard Eyre discuss the play, The Dark Earth and the Light Sky, and its approach to biography. Light from the Middle East at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the first major UK museum exhibition of contemporary photography from the region, spanning North Africa to Central Asia. It includes a series of images of Mecca, which on closer inspection are of architect's models of the city; photojournalism from the streets of Kabul and portraits of professional women in Saudia Arabia. Shahidha Bari reviews. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

David Almond talks about his prize winning novel, Skellig, which is loved by children and adults alike. Skellig is the story of what happens when a Newcastle boy finds a strange man living in the garage of his new home. Michael sets out to help the ill Skellig recover. With him is his new unconventional friend Mina, who David Almond says is the star of the book. She introduces Michael to the worlds of nature and evolution, and to William Blake's poetry, his drawings of angels, his views on education. David says that when Mina walked into the book she brought Blake with her. David Almond's story centres on the imaginations of children - is Skellig an Angel, or perhaps a man evolving into a bird? In the programme, David refuses to confirm either, saying that to him, Skellig is as much of a mystery as he is to the reader. Recorded at the Lit and Phil Library in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. James Naughtie presents. December's Bookclub choice : The Boy with the Top Knot by Sathnam Sanghera. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. The film The Master is an impressionistic tale of an American war veteran who drifts into a cult led by a charismatic writer. Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up to There Will Be Blood is partly inspired by the activities of novelist and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and the director even invited Scientologist Tom Cruise to a personal screening. Lionel Shriver, author of We Need To Talk About Kevin, delivers her verdict. Seduced By Art is the National Gallery's first major exhibition of photography. Recent photographs by Martin Parr hang next to a painting by Thomas Gainsborough from 1750, as the exhibition explores the relationship between historical painting, early photography and works created by photographers today. Photographer Jillian Edelstein and art critic William Feaver give their reaction. In a rare broadcast interview recorded in New York, composer Thomas Adès discusses his opera The Tempest, which he is currently conducting at Metropolitan Opera. He also reveals why he fled from a performance of Britten's Peter Grimes, and why he was unable to produce a score for a libretto written by James Fenton. And James Grant, film locations manager on Skyfall, talks about the most desirable movie locations world-wide, as Big Ben opens for filming. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Dramatist Tom Stoppard discusses his TV adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall, and his screenplay for Anna Karenina, with Keira Knightley in the title role. The Watch, the latest vehicle for Ben Stiller, is a comedy about a group of neighbours who have defend the earth from alien invasion. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reveals whether it's out of this world. Director Tony Scott's credits include Top Gun, True Romance and Enemy of the State. Following the news of his death at the age of 68, Front Row pays tribute with another chance to hear an interview from 2009, in which Tony Scott recalled his approach to shooting action, his love of painting and his relationship with his older brother Ridley. Cellist Natalie Clein is the latest artist to spend time in A Room for London, a boat-like structure on the roof of the Hayward Gallery, overlooking the Thames in the centre of London. As she prepares to perform a recital to be streamed live online, she talks about her choice of music, which reflects her riverside location. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Kirsty Lang. Mark Rylance returns to the stage for the first time since his award-winning performance in Jez Butterworth's play Jerusalem. Andrew Dickson reviews Rylance in the lead role in a new production of Richard III at Shakespeare's Globe in London. Dutch novelist Herman Koch discusses his novel The Dinner, which has sold over a million copies in Europe. Set during one evening in a restaurant in Amsterdam, it tells the story of two couples who meet over dinner to discuss both their 15-year-old sons who have committed an atrocity, and shattered the comfortable worlds of their families. A new film documentary Searching for Sugarman tells the story of Rodriguez, a singer/songwriter from Detroit who was discovered by two music producers in the '60s who thought he'd be bigger than Bob Dylan. When his 2 albums flopped Rodriguez fell into obscurity, but unbeknownst to the musician himself, he became an inspiration to a generation of South Africans. In this award-winning film two of his fans set out to find out more about Rodriguez and discover the truth behind the story that he'd spectacularly killed himself on stage. The South African-born novelist and playwright Gillian Slovo reviews. The Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang established herself as one of the leading young violinists of her generation when she performed with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 12. More recently she won a Classic BRIT Award for Best Newcomer. Vilde Frang discusses the appeal of Scandinavian music and how her father put her off playing the double-bass in favour of the violin. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Terry Pratchett has teamed up with science fiction author Stephen Baxter to write The Long Earth, the first book in a projected series, which centres around a string of alternate earths accessed via a low-tech portal powered by electricity from a potato. They discuss why they decided to work together, what they argue about and who writes what. Emily Blunt and Rosemary Dewitt star in Your Sister's Sister, a romantic comedy about love, grief and sibling rivalry. Director Lynn Shelton is known for her improvised dialogue and indie sensibility. Gaylene Gould reviews. Jed Mercurio, writer of the TV medical dramas Cardiac Arrest and Bodies, talks about his new series Line Of Duty, which focuses on a corrupt police officer. Mercurio, who trained as a doctor, discusses the similarities and differences between TV drama's two favourite genres, and explains why the changes in modern policing make it perfect for his brand of gallows humour and unnerving realism. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Mark Lawson. Novelist Toby Litt reviews David Cronenberg's new film Cosmopolis, based on the novel by Don DeLillo. It stars Twilight's Robert Pattinson as a billionaire cocooned in his limousine, crossing Manhattan to get a haircut. Janet Suzman has played most of the major theatrical roles for women, including Cleopatra, Ophelia, Shaw's Saint Joan and Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. Now she has published a book, Not Hamlet, in which she reflects on the 'frail position of women in drama', arguing that they do not enjoy the same status as their male counterparts. A major new exhibition called Invisible: Art of the Unseen includes plans for an architecture of air and a pair of blank canvases entitled Magic Ink. Richard Cork reviews this unexpected collection of works. American writer Ben Marcus talks about his new novel, The Flame Alphabet, a dystopian story about an epidemic hitting America - the sound of children's speech has become lethal. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

December's Bookclub author is Sebastian Barry. Well known as a successful dramatist and novelist, his literary career became stellar when he won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year Award with this month's chosen book, The Secret Scripture; and he is considered one of Ireland's greatest living writers. The novel is told by Roseanne, who is uncertain of her age; she thinks she is now one hundred. She's been incarcerated in asylums in Ireland for over sixty years, and is writing the story of her life, on pieces of paper that she hides under the floor boards of her room. This is the Secret Scripture of the title; which comes from a poem by an Irish nationalist poet, Thomas Kettle, who fought for the British in World War I. As the book unfolds, we discover the why and the how of her incarceration. The second narrator of the novel is Roseanne's psychiatrist Dr William Grene, who must judge whether Roseanne can be released into society as the hospital is about to close. As he comes to know her, he becomes fascinated by her and the history - which is the history of twentieth century Ireland - that she represents. Sebastian Barry tells readers how he uses his own family in his fiction and how the character of Roseanne came from hearing about a great aunt who had been shunned by the rest of the family - the only thing known about her was her great beauty. His was a family beset with secrets, and his mother, Joan O'Hara (a famous actress of her day), was a "consummate un-coverer of secrets". January's Bookclub choice : 'The Beatles' by Hunter Davies. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Arundhati Roy talks to James Naughtie and readers about her Booker prize winning novel The God of Small Things. It's Arundhati Roy's first and so far only book of fiction and it took the literary world by storm, winning the Booker Prize in 1997. It's a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who must be loved, and how, and how much". The book is a description of how the small things in life affect people's behaviour and their lives, and with a love affair between characters of different backgrounds, shows how cruel the caste system could be. Arundhati Roy talks about why she's never written fiction since, and how she's not ruling out a return to the genre. She describes how her training as an architect was useful in the planning of this multi-layered story, with its complex time frames which owe a debt to James Joyce's Ulysses. November's Bookclub choice : The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Mohsin Hamid talks to James Naughtie and readers about his bestselling book The Reluctant Fundamentalist. This edition of Bookclub will be broadcast just two days after the novel has been featured as Radio 4's Book at Bedtime, and it's a timely choice as we approach the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2007 The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a sparse, gripping, short novel that tackles the complex issues of Islamic fundamentalism and America's 'war on terror' with sympathy and balance. It's the story of Changez, a high-flying young Pakistani man living in New York at the time of the attacks, whose life is turned around on that day, and who in the aftermath returns to his native Pakistan. Changez tells his life story to an unnamed stranger, an American man, at a tea house in Lahore. Readers may recognise the same device was used by Albert Camus in his novel The Fall - and Mohsin Hamid acknowledges the debt to the French novel. As night falls, the tension grows between the Changez and the American and a sense of mystery and suspense grows page by page. Who is this American? Is he a spy? Does he have a gun in his pocket, and what exactly has the 'reluctant fundamentalist' come to believe? This novel has one of the most ambiguous endings in contemporary fiction and readers will be telling Mohsin Hamid how they think it finishes. October's Bookclub choice : 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Donna Leon talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about the first in her hugely successful crime series set in Venice, Death At La Fenice. The book launched the career of her fictional detective, Commissario Guido Brunetti in the early 1990s, and he is now beloved by readers. Like an Italian Maigret, he's a policeman of integrity. Brunetti also has a fulfilled family life with his intellectual and feminist wife Carla, and their two children, who are trapped in an eternal adolescence as the Brunetti series progresses and the years pass by. The portrait of the family, along with the subtle and vivid picture of Venice, and the enticing descriptions of what Venetians eat, is at the heart of Leon's books, giving a warmth that balances out the darkness of the crimes. The books also give us an insight as to how Italy as a country works. Donna Leon is an American who's lived in Venice for more than twenty years and she describes the corruption, inertia, nepotism and cynicism so sharply we can only think it's authentic. Although the books are translated into twenty languages now, Italian is not one of them. She tells James Naughtie and assembled readers it's because she wishes to remain anonymous in her adopted city. September's Bookclub choice : 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' by Mohsin Hamid. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

James Naughtie and readers talk to William Fiennes about his memoir The Music Room. The book is his account of growing up in a castle with an epileptic brother. It's an honest yet discrete story of a fascinating family and how they deal with the eldest brother's struggle with epilepsy. In his upbeat moments, Richard brims with tenderness and high spirits, and at his worst he is threatening and even violent. Richard dies of a seizure at forty-one; his life defined by damage done to his brain by his epilepsy. The book is potted with medical histories of epilepsy alongside anecdotes about the film crews, country fairs and conventions that dominated daily life for Fiennes' family in the castle. Twelve thousand visitors passed through the castle every year - giving, he says, new meaning to the phrase 'tidy your room. But the book is also a testament of a family's love for their ill and sometimes difficult son. William talks about his family story and the result is an unforgettable picture of the disordered world that he experiences through his brother, set in an ancient house where the music room of the title is the place where he sought refuge and enjoyed playing as a child. August's Bookclub choice : 'Death at La Fenice' by Donna Leon. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

James Naughtie and readers talk to American writer Nicole Krauss, shortlisted for this year's Orange Prize. Our chosen novel is her critically acclaimed The History of Love. It's a complex tale of loss - a lost manuscript, lost homelands, characters grieving for lost loved ones. There are four separate narrators who are all drawn to the lost book - also called The History of Love. Leo Gursky is at the end of his life, tapping his radiator each evening to let his neighbour know he's still alive, drawing attention to himself at the local coffee bar. He doesn't want to die on a day when no-one has seen him. As a young man Leo wrote The History of Love in pre-war Poland. Although he doesn't know it, the book also survived, crossing oceans and generations and changing lives. Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that book, and lives across New York City from Leo. She and her little brother, who thinks he is the Messiah, are recovering from the loss of their father. The starting point for writing the novel was the story of her grandmother, who came to England as a chaperone on the Kindertransport, and lost all her family in the Holocaust. She had fallen in love with a young doctor, whom she had also presumed dead. Forty years later, he wrote to her grandmother from South America. Nicole's History of Love is like a jigsaw, where all the pieces come together at the end - and she talks about how she has no preconceived idea about where the story will end as she begins. Nicole likens it to being a traveller in a foreign city, walking from street to street, finding her way. July's Bookclub choice : 'The Music Room' by William Fiennes. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Andrew O'Hagan is a rising star in the literary world. He joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss his novel Be Near Me, the story of Father David, an aesthetic English Catholic priest working in a working class community in Ayrshire. This is a poignant story of a man who doesn't fit in. Father David is trapped by class hatreds, and troubled by sexual feelings which he struggles to keep submerged. He's a character who's almost intent on self destruction, and as the reader follows his story, we can't help but think it's going to end in tragedy. Andrew O'Hagan talks about the challenges of writing such a story in the first person, how inevitably people think it's about himself - and how by creating a protagonist whose side of the story is not quite reliable leads to intrigue in the mind of the reader. Andrew has drawn on the community where he himself grew up - a community ridden by class and religious divide. One of the novel's strongest characters is Father David's housekeeper Mrs Poole who was based on Andrew's mother and colleagues. His mother was a school cleaner and as a child Andrew spent some of his school holidays watching and listening to their conversations as they went about the 'big clean' - preparing the school for the new academic year. The starting point for the book was when Andrew happened to be in a café in Paris and noticed a Catholic priest drinking coffee alone in the corner. Andrew watched as a tear fell down the priest's cheek, and immediately began to wonder what his story was and went home to write it. As always on Bookclub, a group of readers join the author in the discussion and James Naughtie chairs the programme. June's Bookclub choice : 'The History of Love' by Nicole Krauss. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Recorded at the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry/City of Derry, James Naughtie and readers talk to one of Ireland's finest writers - Jennifer Johnston. Now in her eighties, Jennifer has been called 'The Quiet Woman' of Irish literature. Her distinguished career has spanned more than 40 years and has netted the Whitbread Prize among her many awards. Her books are taught on the Irish school curriculum and in American Universities. The chosen novel for this edition of Bookclub is one of her later ones, The Gingerbread Woman. Like many of her novels, this story deals with personal conflict, as two characters meet by chance one day on a cliff top overlooking Dublin Bay and form an uneasy friendship. Yet the conflict between these two mirrors a bigger question - the conflict between the North and South of Ireland. Jennifer Johnston is a writer who watches and listens. She's best known for her portrayal of different Irelands, notably the group called the Anglo-Irish, who appear in what became known as The Big House novels. More recently she has moved her protagonists out of the countryside and into the affluent suburbs. Jennifer grew up in a theatrical house - her father Denis was the leading playwright of his day and her mother Shelah an actress. Jennifer describes how her literary upbringing has resonated through her writing, and how much she enjoys writing dialogue. As always on Bookclub, a group of readers join the author in the discussion and James Naughtie chairs the programme. May's Bookclub choice : 'Be Near Me' by Andrew O'Hagan. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

James Naughtie and readers talk to Benjamin Zephaniah, the poet and novelist who's equally popular with both adults and children. Our chosen novel is Refugee Boy, written for young adults. Benjamin is perhaps best known for his performance poetry with a political edge, but he has also written novels for young people. Benjamin is interested in international affairs and travels extensively throughout the developing world. He has visited refugee camps in places like Gaza and Montenegro and in Refugee Boy he borrows from many of the stories he heard, to create a tale that many refugees would recognise. Refugee Boy is the story of Alem, whose mother is Eritrean and father Ethiopian. With both countries at war, his family are neither safe nor wanted in either country. Alem's father brings him to the UK for a better life. Benjamin has said it's hard being a writer who's labelled as 'political' - because he's first and foremost interested in people, not politics. This edition of Bookclub features a group of young adults as well as older readers from the University of the 3rd age, and is chaired by James Naughtie. April's Bookclub choice : 'The Gingerbread Woman' by Jennifer Johnston. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

James Naughtie and readers talk to this year's Man Booker prize winner - Howard Jacobson. The chosen book for this edition of Bookclub is the one he says he wants people to read : The Mighty Walzer, first published in 1999. Peculiarly, it is a comic novel about the joy and despair of table tennis. It's also a portrait of a Jewish boyhood in Manchester, showing how the main character - Oliver Walzer - comes to terms with the demands of puberty and his sporting genius; as well as the attentions of his mother, grandmother and assorted aunties. Back in the 1950s Jacobson, like his alter-ego Oliver Walzer, was one of the top 10 junior table tennis players in the country. This is a heavily autobiographical novel from a writer who's has been called 'the master of confessional humour'. As always on Bookclub, a group of readers join the author in the discussion and James Naughtie chairs the programme. February's Bookclub choice : 'Blood River' by Tim Butcher. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

James Naughtie and readers talk to American writer Siri Hustvedt about her novel What I Loved. Siri Hustvedt's novel is part love story, thriller, and part family saga. It's set in New York's glamorous art world, and starts in 1975 when an art historian buys a remarkable painting of a woman and tracks down the artist. The two men become good friends and their lives intertwine as their sons grow up together. In the boys' teenage years the worlds of the two families fall apart and the novel changes tack, as a mystery develops in the second half of the book that the reader has no idea about in the novel's early stages. This is a novel about love and loss that became a word-of-mouth success with book groups, and went on to become a world wide bestseller after its first publication in 2003. James Naughtie chairs the programme. September's Bookclub choice : 'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

James Naughtie and readers talk to the Swedish thriller writer Henning Mankell about his novel Sidetracked, featuring his detective Kurt Wallander. Henning Mankell's character is now in the pantheon of fictional detectives. Like Conan Doyle before him, Mankell receives letters from readers addressed to Kurt Wallander. They think he's real because he's like us. He's a detective who suffers angst about the way the world is changing, readers witness his depressions and his difficult relationships with women. Mankell calls it the 'diabetes syndrome'. Can you imagine, he says, James Bond stopping mid-action for a shot of insulin? Mankell was already a well known writer in Sweden before he found worldwide fame with Wallander. He created Wallander to write about the changes in Swedish society. Always known for its generous welfare state and its tolerance, Mankell was dismayed to see a certain xenophobia developing with race crimes against immigrants in the early nineties. For him, the best way to explore this issue was within a crime story, and so he needed a detective to solve the mystery. Recorded with a group of twenty-five readers in the studio, Bookclub with Henning Mankell is a lively and entertaining discussion that belies any stereotype of Swedish moroseness - with a writer considering his best known creation. James Naughtie chairs the programme. August's Bookclub choice : 'What I Loved' by Siri Hustvedt. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

James Naughtie and readers talk to the celebrated author Lynne Reid Banks about her first novel, The L-Shaped Room. It was an instant success and has been in print ever since it was published exactly fifty years ago. It's the story of Jane, a single young woman who falls pregnant. Reading The L-Shaped Room again in 2010, it's easy to forget what a taboo it was to be pregnant and unmarried in the early 1960s. Jane is a brave character who decides to bring up the baby by herself, after her father throws her out. But her feelings are mixed, and as almost a punishment to herself she rents a grubby L-shaped room at the top of a run- down boarding house in Fulham. Gradually as she settles in and does up the room, she makes friends, and in tandem with the improvements to her surroundings, her life gets better. This is a novel that has inspired young women to independence, whatever their situations. Readers in the audience describe what this book means to them - from a woman whose own mother brought her up single-handedly to another who says that the line about Jane having to wear a wedding ring 'brought it all back.' Lynne Reid Banks was one of the first female news-reporters at ITN. Although she complained she was always given 'soft stories' she did not consider herself a feminist at the time, which is ironic, as the L-Shaped Room is considered as a feminist novel. Recorded with a group of twenty-five readers in the studio, Bookclub with Lynne Reid Banks is a lively discussion with a writer looking back at the book that changed her life as well as many readers' lives. James Naughtie chairs the programme. July's Bookclub choice : Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

James Naughtie and readers talk to Jeanette Winterson about her breakthrough first novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, about a girl growing up in an Evangelical Christian group. This Spring Jeanette is celebrating twenty five years since the book was first published - the question the book has always raised is how much of it is autobiographical? Because there are distinct parallels, the main character is called Jeanette, she lives in the same kind of Northern mill town and had a similar story. Jeanette Winterson will be talking to James Naughtie and readers about how fact meets fiction, and how she looks at this book as a kind of cover story of her own life. Adopted into a Pentecostal family, the fictional Jeanette is brought up to be a missionary and encouraged to preach from an early age; but when she falls in love with another girl, she decides to leave her beloved community and her home. Jeanette explains how this event is not the point of the story, but pivotal to it. Now on the curriculum for English at AS Level, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a warm and - perhaps surprisingly - very funny study of a girl setting out on her path in life. Producer : Dymphna Flynn.