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Front Row: Paul Auster, Tom Robinson plays Beck

Paul Auster, Tom Robinson plays Beck

07/12/2012

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Paul Auster, Tom Robinson plays Beck

Writer Paul Auster; Tom Robinson plays Beck's sheet music album; comedian Trevor Noah.

John Wilson interviews American author Paul Auster and South African stand-up comic Trevor Noah; Tom Robinson tries out Beck's latest album, released only as sheet music.

With John Wilson.

Paul Auster is the best-selling author of The New York Trilogy and Moon Palace. His latest book, Winter Journal, takes him in a more reflective direction, examining his own life through a series of autobiographical fragments and memories. He explains why he refuses to call the book a memoir and why - despite priding himself on being a safe driver - he has given up driving completely. 

The musician Beck has sold millions of CDs, but his latest album Song Reader exists only as sheet music. No recording is available. Singer-songwriter Tom Robinson brings his guitar to the studio to try out a selection from the album. 

Trevor Noah is a South African comedian whose talent was spotted by Eddie Izzard. The son of a black South African mother and a white Swiss father, Noah is currently performing a stand-up show called The Racist, with tales of growing up under apartheid. He reflects on his early years and the importance he places on the precise use of language. 

Producer Rebecca Nicholson.

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