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Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

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Jenni Murray

Jenny Griffith

Belinda Parmar

Fiona Hendry

Dominic Maguire

Sue Barsky Reid

Sarah Greaves

Penny Evenson

Saskia Sarginson

Helen Lee

Woman's Hour: Apps for women; Planning your funeral; Twins; Armenian Threads

Factual

Apps for women; Planning your funeral; Twins; Armenian Threads

30/08/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Apps for women; Planning your funeral; Twins; Armenian Threads

Jenni Murray asks, we hold wedding fairs so why not have funeral fairs?

The latest apps for women. Saskia Sarginson discusses her novel Twins with her own twin daughters. Plus Jenni Murray asks, we hold wedding fairs so why not have funeral fairs?

A search for apps for women instantly points you in the direction of apps that help you 'lose the belly', 'track your period' or turn your phone in to a mirror. In a very male-dominated industry, we speak to app designer Jenny Griffith and to Belinda Parmar, founder of Lady Geek which is campaigning to inspire girls to change the world through technology.

Fiona Hendry is a listener whose husband has recently died. She sent us an email suggesting that we should be able to discuss more freely what we would want our funerals to be like before we become ill. We have Wedding Fairs, so why not funeral fairs? Jenni speaks to Fiona and to Dominic Maguire, from the National Association of Funeral Directors, and to Sue Barsky Reid who runs 'Death Cafes'.

Armenian Threads is a new exhibition in Manchester by artist Sarah Greaves. It showcases a number of embroidered wooden sculptures which have been influenced by figures found in old Armenian manuscripts. On the back wall of the gallery, strips of silk fall to the floor covered with prints of Armenian lace. Also on the wall are dried pomegranates [a symbol of Armenia] and members of the Armenian community in Manchester have decorated them with Marash embroidery [which is unique to their homeland]. Jenni is joined by Sarah Greaves and by Penny Evenson, Chairman of the Armenian Ladies Association in Manchester, to talk about the new exhibition and how Armenian lace and embroidery have played their part in its creation.

The Twins by Saskia Sarginson was published on the 29th August. It has been described as a gripping, emotionally engaging psychological thriller looking at the secrets we carry with us and the bonds between twins that can never be broken...even when the unthinkable happens. Saskia is an ex-magazine journalist and has twins (fashion students who are 22 years old). Saskia and her daughters Hannah and Olivia discuss how twins have a 'gloves-off' approach with each other and how the twin bond is as strong as that between a mother and child.

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Apps for women; Planning your funeral; Twins; Armenian Threads

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