Podcast appearances and mentions of Rosie Goldsmith

Described as ‘the first lady of Irish cycling', Dervla Murphy was renowned for her intrepid spirit, and she remained passionate about travel, writing, politics, conservation and bicycling until her death in 2022. In this episode of the Slightly Foxed podcast we have gathered a number of those who knew and worked with Dervla to discuss the life and work of this extraordinary travel writer. Gail Pirkis and Steph Allen, from Slightly Foxed, worked with Dervla during their time at John Murray Publishers. Rose Baring was her editor at Eland Books and Ethel Crowley was a friend and editor of the recent anthology, Life at Full Tilt: The Selected Writings of Dervla Murphy. Together with our host Rosie Goldsmith they discuss Dervla's early years and inspiration, consider the experience of publishing her work and examine her place in the Ireland of her time. Born in Lismore, Ireland, in 1931, Dervla lived there until the end of her life. She was an only child and her parents, who originated from Dublin, encouraged her independence and love of books. Her father – who later became the much-loved Waterford County Librarian ‒ had been involved in the Irish republican movement and had served time in Wormwood Scrubs prison for his activities. Dervla spent her childhood caring for her mother who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, and then left school at 14 to care for her full-time. When her parents died in 1962 Dervla, at the age of 30, found herself free to travel. She acquired a bicycle and set out on a journey to Istanbul, through Iran and on to India during one of the worst winters in recent memory. This would become the subject of her first, and most famous book, Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, published in 1965. There followed numerous voyages with her trusty steed and 25 more books, including her highly acclaimed autobiography Wheels within Wheels. She won worldwide praise for her writing and many awards, including the Edward Stanford Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing and a Royal Geographical Society Award. Dervla took huge risks, mostly travelling alone and in famously austere style, whether in far-flung Limpopo, the Andes, Gaza or closer to home, where she documented the worst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Battling injury and political circumstance, she immersed herself in the lives of ordinary people caught in the shifting tides of power that dictated the terms on which they lived. To these people, she listened. What resulted was some of the most astute and compelling travel writing of the twentieth century. As the table choose their favourite book of Dervla's, we also have our usual round-up of current reading, including the latest mystery from Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook, the Booker Prize-nominated The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, and Jon Dunn's monograph on the hummingbird, The Glitter in the Green. For episode show notes, please see the Slightly Foxed website. Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach Hosted by Rosie Goldsmith Produced by Philippa Goodrich

 Any mention of Barbara Comyns usually brings an ‘I know the name but I don't know anything about her' kind of response. In this quarter's literary podcast, presenter Rosie Goldsmith and the Slightly Foxed Editors sit down with Barbara's biographer Avril Horner and Brett Wolstencroft, Manager of Daunt Books, to discover who this fascinating and forgotten novelist really was.  Though Barbara enjoyed success in the later part of her life, and a revival with Virago Books in the 1980s, it's indicative of how thoroughly she disappeared from view that, as Avril tells us, she had difficulty in placing her wonderful biography, Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence, which was finally published this year. Avril describes how, when working on her biography, she came across a huge cache of letters from the 1930s owned by Barbara's granddaughter, some of which ‘made her gasp', and the story of Barbara's life in London is indeed often shocking. It's a tale of almost unimaginable poverty, of tangled affairs with unsuitable men, of a grim experience of childbirth, and countless moves from one bleak rented property to another. Yet after repeatedly hitting rock bottom Barbara always courageously picked herself up and started again. At various times she survived as a commercial artist, artist's model, dog breeder, antique dealer, renovator of old pianos and dealer in classic cars. At last in 1945 she made a happy marriage to Richard Comyns-Carr, who worked for MI6 where he was a colleague and friend of Kim Philby.   The couple moved to Spain, and it was then that Barbara started to write novels drawing on her earlier life such as Sisters by a River and Our Spoons Came from Woolworths. She was admired by Graham Greene who became her publisher, and later came other novels of a more gothic and surrealist kind including A Touch of Mistletoe, Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead and The Vet's Daughter. No two of her haunting and disturbing novels are alike for she wrote in a variety of genres. She's an intriguing novelist, totally original, impossible to pigeonhole and ripe for re-rediscovery. For episode show notes, please see the Slightly Foxed website. Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach Hosted by Rosie Goldsmith Produced by Philippa Goodrich

‘There was no voicemail. I was the voicemail.' In this out-of-series special episode of the Slightly Foxed podcast Joanna Rakoff, author of the 2008 literary smash hit My Salinger Year (released as a Slightly Foxed limited-edition hardback in March 2024), joins us down the line from her home in Massachusetts for a conversation with our podcast presenter Rosie Goldsmith. From their respective sides of the Atlantic, Rosie and Joanna take a trip back to New York in the freezing winter of 1996 when Joanna Rakoff, aged 24, landed her first job as assistant at one of the city's oldest and most distinguished literary agencies. No matter that she didn't even know what a literary agent was and had lied about her typing speed. She'd also led her parents to believe she was living with a female college friend when she was in fact sharing an unheated Brooklyn apartment with a penniless and unpublished Marxist novelist whose sole and very part-time job was watering the plants at Goldman Sachs.  Rosie and Joanna take us deep into the strange, time-warped world she's strayed into at The Agency, with its Selectric typewriters, filing cabinets and carbon paper, and into her unusual relationship with its best-known author J. D. Salinger, to whose mountain of fan mail it was Joanna's job to reply. Salinger was famously reclusive, wanting nothing to do with his fans and Joanna was supposed to reply with a pro forma letter. But the more heart-wrenching the letters she read, the more she found herself pulled into the senders' lives and, unbeknownst to her terrifying boss (‘whiskey mink, enormous sunglasses, a long cigarette holder'), she replied to every single one and sometimes, fatally, enclosed a personal note herself. Joanna describes how My Salinger Year came to be, from a gem of an idea explored in the confessional 2011 BBC Sounds documentary Hey Mr Salinger to a best-selling memoir that inspired a Hollywood film starring Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley, and how, when Salinger died, she turned to her bookshelves for comfort. Now, twenty years after its first publication, My Salinger Year joins the much loved Slightly Foxed Editions list of memoirs by such authors as Hilary Mantel, Jessica Mitford, Roald Dahl, Graham Greene and many others.  For episode show notes, please see the Slightly Foxed website. Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach Hosted by Rosie Goldsmith

This week, Susan Owens explores the surreal and vivid life of the artist Eileen Agar; and Rosie Goldsmith, curator of the European Writers' Festival, joins us to explain what's on the bill.'A Look at My Life', by Eileen AgarThe European Writers' Festival, the British Library, London, 18-19 May 2024Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Langford, author of Rooted: How Regenerative Farming Can Change the World, joins the Slightly Foxed Editors and presenter Rosie Goldsmith round the kitchen table to tell us how and why she gave up her career as a criminal barrister to become a farmer, and about the woman who was her inspiration: Eve Balfour, the extraordinary aristocrat, founder of the Soil Association and author of The Living Soil. Farming was in Sarah's family. So when her own family's circumstances changed and her husband was looking for a new direction, they said goodbye to the city and moved with their two young children to Suffolk, where they found themselves taking on the running of her father-in-law's small arable farm. It was a steep learning curve and Sarah soon realized that the farming landscape had changed dramatically from the one she remembered: ‘My grandfather Peter was a hero who fed a starving nation. Now his son Charlie, my uncle, is considered a villain, blamed for ecological catastrophe and with a legacy no one wants.' Needing to learn more, she describes how she travelled the country, hearing moving and inspiring human stories from small farmers who are farming in a new – but completely traditional – way, working to put more into the land than they are taking out of it, relying on natural processes like crop rotation and grazing animals rather than using chemicals to give life to the soil. This is regenerative farming – a hard row to hoe but with huge potential benefits for the planet as well as for us and other species. Sarah and her husband are now practising it on their own farm. It's a huge and fascinating topic, and other farming books and writers are touched on – A. G. Street's Farmer's Glory, Adrian Bell's Corduroy trilogy and Apple Acre, today's James Rebanks's English Pastoral. Other related recommendations are From Mouths of Men by the rural historian George Ewart Evans, and the delightful Rivets, Trivets and Galvanized Buckets, the story of a village hardware shop by Tom Fort. For episode show notes, please see the Slightly Foxed website. Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach Hosted by Rosie Goldsmith Produced by Philippa Goodrich

Dodie Smith was a phenomenally prolific writer who experienced huge success in her lifetime but is now remembered mainly for her much-loved coming of age novel I Capture the Castle, and her bestselling The Hundred and One Dalmatians.  In this quarter's literary podcast, coinciding with the revival of her play Dear Octopus at the National Theatre, Dodie's biographer Valerie Grove joins the Slightly Foxed Editors and new presenter Rosie Goldsmith at the kitchen table to talk about the life and work of ‘little Dodie Smith', who started writing a journal at the age of 8 and continued every day until she was 90.  Dodie grew up among her mother's family – an experience she brilliantly recalled in Look Back with Love. Dodie's uncles loved the theatre and encouraged her passion for the stage, leading her to train as an actor, with limited success. After years of struggle she turned her hand to writing and soon sold her first play, Autumn Crocus, which launched her career. Success followed, along with fur coats, glittering friends, a Rolls-Royce and the arrival of Dodie's first Dalmatian. Then it was off to America where she and her husband spent the Second World War, joining a literary circle that included Christopher Isherwood and Aldous Huxley. Dodie was terribly homesick and longed to return to home, yet it was her exile that produced I Capture the Castle, a novel through which her nostalgia for England permeates. We end with a round-up of New Year reading recommendations, including a recent biography of the poet John Donne, Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell, and The Last English King by Julian Rathbone, a historical novel set in the years before the Battle of Hastings.  For episode show notes, please see the Slightly Foxed website. Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach Hosted by Rosie Goldsmith Produced by Philippa Goodrich

Author Ivana Komanicka explains her intention to re-contextualise author Jane Austen in Slovak literary scene. Explaining the reason behind gathering top European storytellers at the first ever European Writers Festival at British Library in London is the curator of this event Rosie Goldsmith. Culture news with the invitation to a 79km long festival.

Author Ivana Komanicka explains her intention to re-contextualise author Jane Austen in Slovak literary scene. Explaining the reason behind gathering top European storytellers at the first ever European Writers Festival at British Library in London is the curator of this event Rosie Goldsmith. Culture news with the invitation to a 79km long festival.

Generations of children have grown up with children's books illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Most recently, he read The Gruffalo to school pupils in Hamburg with Her Majesty The Queen Consort during a state visit in Germany. Before the royal visit, journalist Rosie Goldsmith sat down with Axel Scheffler to ask him about his work, his influences and his life as a German in the UK.

In the final episode of Europe Readr Riveting Interview podcast series, journalist and presenter Rosie Goldsmith meets the Finnish artist Sanna Pelliccioni. Sanna studied art, illustration and graphic design in Italy and Finland, and is now an illustrator and author of children's literature, especially picture books, which have been translated into seven languages. She creates illustrations using various techniques, her favourites being collage and other mixed techniques. Her. She lives and works in Helsinki. In this episode, Sanna introduces herself, her work and her Europe Readr featured silent picture book "We had to Leave". 
Listen to the episode to discover more! This episode is brought to you by the European Literature Network in partnership with EUNIC London and the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland.

In the eighth episode of Europe Readr Riveting Interview podcast series, journalist and presenter Rosie Goldsmith meets the Slovak linguist, translator, film theoretician and poet Mária Ferenčuhová. Mária is the award-winning author of six collections of poetry that have been translated into several languages. She also translates prose, poetry and essays from French, as well as being the author and co-author of three scientific monographs on film and working extensively within the Slovak domestic film and documentary scenes. Her poetry resembles entries in a diary, through which she constantly records and describes her everyday life, emotional life, and experiences as a mother. Listen to the conversation to discover more about her work and the Europe Readr featured collection "Threatened Species". This episode is brought to you by the European Literature Network in partnership with EUNIC London and the Embassy of Slovakia in London.

In the seventh episode of Europe Readr Riveting Interview podcast series, journalist and presenter Rosie Goldsmith meets the Belgian artist, illustrator and children's author Ann De Bode. Born in the Belgian Congo, she now lives and works in Duffel, Belgium. During her rich career, she has illustrated almost three hundred books at home and abroad, including many that she has authored herself. Amongst other things Ann De Bode talks to Rosie about her picture book "My street", which is featured on the Europe Readr digital platform. Bring together families from different cultures and parts of the world, "My street" is a picture book with a positive message for all generations! Listen to the full interview to find out more. This episode is brought to you by the European Literature Network in partnership with EUNIC London and Flanders House London.

In the sixth episode of the Europe Readr Riveting Interview podcasts, series presenter Rosie Goldsmith meets the Bulgarian writer Alexander Shpatov. Alexander, 35, was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria, and has never left his home city for more than two weeks. Winner of the 2005 Bulgarian National Best Fiction Debut Prize the Sofia Award for Literature in 2015, Alexander serves as chairman of the Association for Small Urban Libraries and is also a real estate lawyer, a PhD student in Theory of Reading and a tour guide around the literary landmarks of Sofia. Tune in to their interesting conversation to find out more about Alexander and his work as a writer and cultural advocate. This episode is brought to you by the European Literature Network in partnership with EUNIC London and the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in London.

In the fifth episode of Europe Readr Riveting Interview podcast series, Rosie Goldsmith meets the Italian writer, poet, publisher and traveller Tiziano Fratus. Tiziano describes his relation to nature and how in the silence of the Californian forests, he developed the concept of Homo radix (“root man”), the practice of alberography and the discipline of dendrosophy, by which he lives today. Listen to his interview and find out more! This episode is brought to you by EUNIC London in partnership with the European Literature Network and the Italian Cultural Institute in London.

In the fourth episode of Europe Readr The Riveting Interview podcast, the journalist and presenter Rosie Goldsmith meets Akvilė Kavaliauskaitė, a journalist, screenwriter, director and lyricist from Lithuania. They engage in a conversation on journalism, the political situation in Lithuania, what it means to be a writer today and her recent book "Bodies", a collection of short stories from around Europe. Akvilė has successfully made her debut with the partly autobiographical novel "Two Lives in a Single Summer" (2015), which was a great Lithuanian bestseller. Her short-story collection "Kūnai" was selected last year as the best adult book of the year. This episode is brought to you by The European Literature Network in partnership with EUNIC London, the Lithuanian Cultural Institute and the Embassy of Lithuania in London.

In the third episode of Europe Readr The Riveting Interview podcast, the journalist and presenter Rosie Goldsmith meets Axel Lindén, a Swedish author who lives with his family on a farm in southern Sweden. Axel talks about his relation with nature, his decision to move to the countryside and the current climate crisis. He debuted with a book on sheep farming and life, which became a major hit and has been translated into eight languages and he received the Aftonbladets Literature Prize for his essayist, philosophical and reflective writing last year. Listen to the interview and discover more about Axel and his latest book "Every Other Pine, Every Other Fir", featured on Europe Readr digital platform. This episode is brought to you by The European Literature Network in partnership with EUNIC London and the Swedish Embassy London.

The Europe Readr Riveting Interviews is a special series of author interviews to celebrate the Europe Readr project. In the second episode of the Europe Readr podcast series Rosie Goldsmith, meets Lukas Jüliger, an illustrator and author living and working in Berlin. His most recent graphic novel "Unfollow" is available to read on the Europe Readr digital platform. Listen to the conversation and find out more about Lukas and his work. Brought to you by The European Literature Network in partnership with EUNIC London and supported by the Goethe-Institut London.

The Europe Readr Riveting Interviews is a special series of author interviews to celebrate the Europe Readr project. In the first episode the presenter Rosie Goldsmith meets the Slovenian author Drago Jančar and talk about his book "The Tree with No Name" as well as literature and other interesting topics. Brought to you by The European Literature Network in partnership with EUNIC London and supported by the Slovenian Embassy London.

Long overdue, we finally have this wonderful recording from the BCLT Summer School 2019, featuring Swiss-Albanian writer Elvira Dones, her translator Clarissa Botsford and publisher Stefan Tobler. Chaired by Rosie Goldsmith, it's a wide-ranging discussion taking in themes of identity, linguistics, translation processes and the creation of Elvira's book Sworn Virgin. This event took place in partnership with the British Centre for Literary Translation, with support from Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Meanwhile, Simon and Steph talk about lots of exciting NCW things, from the Book Club and drop-in Writing Sessions to the new Creative Writing Online courses and the exciting announcement of NOIRWICH 2020. Some useful links: Join the National Centre for Writing's Discord community: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW Check out the full Noirwich 2020 programme: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW  More info on all of our work to support writers: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/  Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Music by Bennet Maples.

30 years of German literature after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with authors Nino Haratischvili, Julia Franck and Durs Gruenbein, translators Charlotte Collins, Karen Leeder and Ruth Martin. Hosted by Rosie Goldsmith. Filmed at the British Library, November 2019

Following the death of the brilliantly funny Clive James - one of the first presenters of "A Point of View" - this is one of his early talks for the series. In this programme - first broadcast in 2007 - Clive ponders what makes us happy. In his own pursuit of happiness, he sits on a bench in Central Park, relives his first slice of watermelon and considers the wise words of Lawrence of Arabia. Producer: Adele Armstrong Originally produced by Rosie Goldsmith

Following the death of the brilliantly funny Clive James - one of the first presenters of "A Point of View" - this is one of his early talks for the series. In this programme - first broadcast in 2007 - Clive ponders what makes us happy. In his own pursuit of happiness, he sits on a bench in Central Park, relives his first slice of watermelon and considers the wise words of Lawrence of Arabia. Producer: Adele Armstrong Originally produced by Rosie Goldsmith

Number 1 bestselling crime-writer Jo Nesbo (The Snowman, The Thirst) discusses his gripping new thriller, Macbeth, on the eve of its publication. Chaired by Rosie Goldsmith.

„Literatūra yra rinkos dalis ir neapsimeskim, kad kultūra neteikia ekonomikos naudos. Kultūra sukuria daugiau negu žemės ūkis“, – teigia rašytoja Renata Šerelytė.Didžiausias literatūros renginys – Vilniaus knygų mugė – baigėsi, o po jos dažnai pasigirsta įvairių klausimų: Ar mugėje komercija neužgožia kultūros?Ar knygų mugė yra uždaras, nors ir viešas vakarėlisKiek išliekamosios kultūrinės vertės turi kultūrinė programa?Ar mugės renginiai netampa šou, kur pasirodo įžymybės, pritraukiančios daug publikos, tačiau neturinčios nieko bendro su literatūra?Laidoje girdėsime kultūros žurnalistės Jogintės Bučinskaitės įžvalgas, rašytojų Antanos Šileikos ir Renatos Šerelytės komentarus, britų žurnalistės Rosie Goldsmith įspūdžius.

„Literatūra yra rinkos dalis ir neapsimeskim, kad kultūra neteikia ekonomikos naudos. Kultūra sukuria daugiau negu žemės ūkis“, – teigia rašytoja Renata Šerelytė.Didžiausias literatūros renginys – Vilniaus knygų mugė – baigėsi, o po jos dažnai pasigirsta įvairių klausimų: Ar mugėje komercija neužgožia kultūros?Ar knygų mugė yra uždaras, nors ir viešas vakarėlisKiek išliekamosios kultūrinės vertės turi kultūrinė programa?Ar mugės renginiai netampa šou, kur pasirodo įžymybės, pritraukiančios daug publikos, tačiau neturinčios nieko bendro su literatūra?Laidoje girdėsime kultūros žurnalistės Jogintės Bučinskaitės įžvalgas, rašytojų Antanos Šileikos ir Renatos Šerelytės komentarus, britų žurnalistės Rosie Goldsmith įspūdžius.

Operos „Post futurum“ autorius - kompozitorius Gintaras Sodeika, kviečia į premjerą Nacionaliniame operos ir baleto teatre. Eidamas 83-metus mirė operos grandas Virgilijus Noreika. Pokalbis su BBC kultūros žurnaliste, viena Londono knygų mugės organizatore Rosie Goldsmith. Menininkė Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė VDA galerijoje „Titanikas“ pristato parodą „With Love from...“ („Su meile nuo...“). Įspūdžiais iš Vilniaus knygų mugės komentare dalijasi meno kritikas Vaidas Jauniškis. Užsienio kultūros naujienų apžvalga. Garsiose Europos teatro scenose dirbantis vengrų režisierius Árpádas Schillingas, Jaunimo teatre kuria spektaklį „Autonomija“.

Operos „Post futurum“ autorius - kompozitorius Gintaras Sodeika, kviečia į premjerą Nacionaliniame operos ir baleto teatre. Eidamas 83-metus mirė operos grandas Virgilijus Noreika. Pokalbis su BBC kultūros žurnaliste, viena Londono knygų mugės organizatore Rosie Goldsmith. Menininkė Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė VDA galerijoje „Titanikas“ pristato parodą „With Love from...“ („Su meile nuo...“). Įspūdžiais iš Vilniaus knygų mugės komentare dalijasi meno kritikas Vaidas Jauniškis. Užsienio kultūros naujienų apžvalga. Garsiose Europos teatro scenose dirbantis vengrų režisierius Árpádas Schillingas, Jaunimo teatre kuria spektaklį „Autonomija“.

Writer Dennis Kelly reflects on his role in the National Theatre's production of Pinocchio. Chaired by Rosie Goldsmith.

Crooked House: there's an all-star film adaptation of one of Agatha Christie's own favourite novels. Its being shown on Channel 5 before being released in the cinema; does that bode well or ill? The League of Gentlemen began at The Edinburgh Fringe, transferred to radio then to TV, to a stage show and then to film. They're returning to BBC TV for 3 pre-Christmas specials, reviving favourite characters from the many iterations. Cult American TV programme Twilight Zone has been adapted for the stage in a new production at London's Almeida Theatre. How does Rod Serling's classic sci-fi series work when its not 'on the box'? From Life at The Royal Academy in London is an exhibition exploring how artists have made art from life. There's a new translation of Homer's Odyssey by Emily Wilson; the first into English by a woman. Does this give us a radically new perspective on the classical work? Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Helen Lewis, Sophie Hannah and Rosie Goldsmith. the producer is Oliver Jones.

Mark Rylance discusses his role in Christopher Nolan's new film Dunkirk, in which he plays the civilian captain of a small vessel commandeered for the rescue of some of the hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops stranded on the French beach in 1940 as the enemy closes in.Critic Alex Clark and broadcaster and literary programmer Rosie Goldsmith give their recommended reads for this summer, including a selection of best books in translation from France, Italy and Russia. The seventh season of Game of Thrones began this week, and the television series has now overtaken the George RR Martin book series the show is based on. We ask TV critic Sarah Hughes, who has written The Guardian's Game of Thrones Blog since the first season, how she thinks the show will fare without the influence of the books.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Meet two of Europe's most talented novelists. Swedish writer Steve Sem-Sandberg’s The Chosen Ones follows his towering novel The Emperor of Lies in describing brutality and tenderness in the Nazi era – this time in a home for sick children in Vienna. Icelandic novelist Sjón’s highly anticipated Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was is a moving depiction of a young gay man’s experience in 1918 Iceland. They talk to Rosie Goldsmith in this event recorded live at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is London's biggest theatre event of 2016 and probably the decade. J K Rowling revisits her famed creations 19 years after the books ended. Brian Cox plays a revered aging actor at the end of his career and possibly his life in The Carer; a British comedy about fame, mortality, love and incontinence Film director Baz Luhrmann's has a Netflix TV series The Get Down which dramatises the origins of hip hop Clive James' latest book is about the phenomenon of the Box Set. Called Play All, it examines the joys and problems of binge-watching The Knives by Richard T Kelly is a novel set in the corridors of power; following a Home Secretary dealing with matters of domestic terror and family discord Sarah Crompton's guests are Bidisha, Rosie Goldsmith and Benedict Nightingale. The Producer is Oliver Jones.

Dominic West and Janet McTeer star in the first major London production for 30 years of Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Star Wars is back. Unless you've been living in cave, it's been hard to avoid. But is it any good? Last year WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio created the astoundingly successful Serial podcast and now there's a new series unravelling the peculiar story of American soldier Bowe Bergdahl Dickensian is Tony "Eastenders" Jordan's mash-up of several Charles Dickens stories and characters. How well does this TV series capture the spirit of the originals? Penguin publishing is putting out a series of 45 small books, each of which tells the story of a different British monarch. Tom Sutcliffe is joined for the final edition of Saturday Review for 2015 by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Rosie Goldsmith and Patrick Gale. The producer is Oliver Jones.

Author and film-maker Goran Vojnović speaks about his new novel, 'Yugoslavia, My Fatherland', which follows the story of a young man determined to find his missing father and discover the truth about his involvement in the wars of the 1990s.

Author, journalist and activist, Andrej Nikolaidis talks to Rosie Goldsmith about his new novel, Till Kingdom Come. #Transaltions #Montenegro #Balkans

Rosie Goldsmith interviews Goran Vojnović, author of Yugoslavia, My Fatherland, published by Istros Books

Rosie Goldsmith interviews Andrej Nikolaidis, author od Till the Kingdom Come, published by Istros Books

Writers‘ Centre Norwich profiled by Rosie Goldsmith for Pro Helvetia’s 12 Swiss Books magazine 2015

*EURO STARS* is a fresh new look at European literature through its stars – the writers! *EURO STARS* brings the best contemporary writers from across Europe to the UK for a series of lively readings and debates. *EURO STARS* is hosted by journalist Rosie Goldsmith. 3 STAR NOVELISTS & *EUPL WINNERS Carolina Schutti – Austria Ida Hegazi Høyer – Norway Donal Ryan – Ireland 21st September 2015, 18:30 – 20:30 Free Word Centre 60 Farringdon Road London EC1R 3GA

Story-telling from around the world. In this edition Charlotte Pritchard travels to Botswana in search of the best nightclub in Africa; Jonah Fisher in Myanmar tells us why the much-criticised military there is enjoying an unlikely surge in support; Rosie Goldsmith meets writers in Colombia convinced their country's in a critical year of its history; Rob Crossan's hunting for even a crumb of good news in Madagascar, one of the poorest nations on earth and Paul Adams, in the east of Ukraine, talks to a man who's travelled five thousand miles to fight in someone else's war

At a time when Britain's continued membership of both the European Union and the European Convention of Human Rights is the subject of active discussion, Free Word and English PEN have invited five leading writers and thinkers to address - in a series of essays and a discussion - the question of our future relationship with Europe and what might be the new narratives for Europe in an interdependent world. In 2013 President Barroso put out a call to citizens for a "new narrative" for Europe. The idea of Europe - born from the devastation wrought by two world wars and then later strengthened by the reunification of Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall - was, he acknowledged, in crisis. What, he asked, is Europe's role in the world today? How can it become a genuine and effective political body able to rise to the challenges facing European citizens today, engaging in the global issues of our times, protecting commonly held values around democracy, human rights and free expression, and supporting the sciences and the arts to generate new and radical ways of thinking. In launching the call President Barroso highlighted the role of culture and stories; "At a time when culture is perceived as optional rather than essential, It has become difficult to tell each other the simplest of stories, let alone articulate compelling narratives about the values that underpin our society. Yet now is the moment for compelling narratives rather than simple number crunching." Following discussions in Berlin, Brussels, Milan and Warsaw, the debate now comes to London. Join Gabriel Gbadamosi, Xiaolu Guo, A.L.Kennedy, Can Yeginsu and Rosie Goldsmith for a discussion about what Europe means to us.

Rosie Goldsmith chairs a panel discussion investigating the different ways writers can interact with their audiences. Part of the 2014 European Literature House meeting held at Free Word Centre, funded by Fritt Ord and Arts Council England with support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the British Council.

Looking behind the news. In this programme: David Loyn examines the claim that NATO has achieved nothing but suffering in Afghanistan; Louisa Loveluck on controversy surrounding the Egyptian military offensive in Sinai; there's a book boom going on in Iceland and Rosie Goldsmith has been finding out why; gun-toting gangsters on the streets of Acapulco as Mexico tries to deal with the aftermath of two deadly storms - Will Grant's on that story and what makes a war memorial memorable? Steve Evans ponders that question in Leipzig. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

The UK Independence Party has been in the news a lot lately: two of its supporters in Rotherham had their foster children taken away from them because of their UKIP affiliation; Conservative Party deputy chairman Michael Fabricant suggested the Tories might be wise to enter into a pact with UKIP at the 2015 general election; and rumours surfaced of a possible defection of several Conservative MPs to the anti-EU party. And then, of course, there were three Westminster by-elections in which UKIP rattled the main parties. This week, Rosie Goldsmith profiles UKIP's leader Nigel Farage.

Rosie Goldsmith profiles Dame Edna Everage, one of entertainment's most colourful characters . Dame Edna stepped into the public spotlight in 1950s as a dowdy Melbourne housewife. Over the years her popularity has soared and she has turned into a flamboyant "gigastar". She is known for her outlandish outfits, her wit and her derision of the cult of celebrity. But she is soon to leave the stage - her forthcoming tour of the UK will be her last. . Her manager, Barry Humphries, the man behind the creation of Dame Edna's stage persona, said "she's a little weary of touring and strange hotels". Producers: John Murphy Anna Meisel.

Why two crumpled pieces of paper are among the most precious reminders Lyse Doucet has of her reporting trip to beleaguered Syria; Nick Danziger's been back to Kabul and wondered why the voices of Afghan women are too often ignored; Steve Evans in Berlin reflects on the row surrounding the return of twenty skulls to Namibia; building a new nation is never easy, but now Rosie Goldsmith tells us that South Sudan faces an additional challenge as it tries to introduce English as the official language; and Hugh Schofield in Paris on how new technology has breathed fresh life into the ghosts of Montparnasse cemetery.

Rosie Goldsmith profiles Nichi Vendola, the governor of Puglia and the hope for the Italian left. Can this gay, Catholic poet and environmentalist challenge Silvio Berlusconi? Producer: Helen Grady.

The ruined heart of an American city, laid waste by economic collapse, is explored by Paul Mason; Mary Harper visits a hotel in Nairobi that's become a little piece of Somalia; from a South African prison, Hamilton Wende tells an inspiring tale of guilt and redemption; there's an explosion in modern art in the Turkish city of Istanbul, but Rosie Goldsmith's been finding out that not everyone's happy with that. And our correspondent David Willis struggles to embrace America's passion for Halloween.