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John Wilson

Elizabeth Strout

Kully Thiarai

Julia Donaldson

Katherine Rundell

Rebecca Armstrong

Front Row: Live from Hay Literary Festival - Elizabeth Strout and Julia Donaldson

Live from Hay Literary Festival - Elizabeth Strout and Julia Donaldson

26/05/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Live from Hay Literary Festival - Elizabeth Strout and Julia Donaldson

Hay: Elizabeth Strout; Kully Thiarai; Julia Donaldson; Katherine Rundell; Peter Florence.

At the Hay Festival, Elizabeth Strout's latest novel; Kully Thiarai's plans for the National Theatre of Wales; Julia Donaldson and Katherine Rundell discuss empathy through books.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Elizabeth Strout, discusses her latest novel, Anything is Possible, which looks in detail at some of the lives of those in a small town in Illinois and explores the long term impact of war, abuse and extreme poverty upon the human condition. 

Kully Thiarai took up her post of Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Wales just a year ago and has recently unveiled two major projects which take steel and the NHS as their inspiration. She reveals more to John. 

As the Hay Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary, its founder Peter Florence joins John to remember conceiving the idea around a kitchen table, and reflect on how it's grown to become the UK's largest literary festival. 

And recent studies reveal that reading encourages empathy and putting ourselves in the mind of someone else could improve our social skills. Children's authors, Julia Donaldson, Katherine Rundell and Elizabeth Strout discuss. 

Presenter: John Wilson 
Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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