Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 279,786 playable programmes from the BBC

The Invisible College

Series 2

3. Dealing With Critics

Duration: 30 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 Extra

Available for years

Dr Cathy FitzGerald concludes her second series of lessons in creative writing made from archive recordings of great novelists, poets and playwrights talking about their craft.

In the last of three episodes:

Lesson Seven - Dealing with Critics

If you're going to put your work out in the world, sooner or later someone's going to tell you what's wrong with it. In this lesson, we hear tips on dealing with critics from the author of The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles, and poets Edith Sitwell, Philip Larkin and John Betjeman.

Lesson Eight - What I Learned from James Baldwin

Contemporary writer Caryl Phillips analyses a passage written by his friend and literary mentor, the American novelist James Baldwin. How does Jimmy handle back-story and perspective? Featuring rare archive recording of James Baldwin reading from his 1962 novel, Another Country.

Lesson Nine - Block

A lesson on that trickiest of ailments - writer's block. With tips from the author of Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, and sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury, along with an extraordinary recording of Truman Capote reading from his novel Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Presenter and Producer: Cathy FitzGerald

A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2017. Show less

About this data

This data is drawn from the data stream that informs BBC's iPlayer and Sounds. The information shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was/is subject to change and may not be accurate. More