Philip Pullman discusses a new anthology celebrating the golden age of children's literature in Russia during the 1920s and 30s. Called Inside the Rainbow, it explores how stories and vibrant modern art were used to win over the hearts and minds of the country's children during turbulent political times, while also allowing creativity banned in other areas of the arts to flourish.

Jung Chang talks to Mariella Frostrup about her biography of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the woman who was the power behind the throne of Imperial China for over forty years. A controversial figure, who poisoned her own adopted son, Chang explains why she feels Cixi has been misrepresented by history and her importance to the modernisation of China.

Alexander McCall Smith shares the book he would never lend - WH Auden's Collected Shorter Poems and describes how the poet has been an inspiration for his own work.

Producer: Andrea Kidd. Show less