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Front Row: The British Ceramics Biennial, Novelist Nell Zink, The Jumper Factory, Tamsin Grey

10/09/2019

The British Ceramics Biennial, Novelist Nell Zink, The Jumper Factory, Tamsin Grey

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, The British Ceramics Biennial, Novelist Nell Zink, The Jumper Factory, Tamsin Grey

The British Ceramics Biennial reviewed, and US writer Nell Zink on her new novel, Doxology

We hear about the work on display in Stoke-on-Trent for this year's British Ceramics Biennial, and Nell Zink discusses her acclaimed new book Doxology

Ten years ago when the first British Ceramics Biennial took place, things didn't look good for pots or Stoke-on-Trent, known as 'the potteries' of the UK. The 240-year-old Spode factory had shut, ceramics had a dusty image and the pot-making artist Grayson Perry  said the art world had more of a problem with his being a potter than with him wearing a frock. In Front Row this evening Kirsty will hear how things have changed. Now the old Spode works hosts artists studios and a boutique hotel and this year is at the heart of multiple exhibitions featuring the work of 300 artists - both established and emerging, from home and abroad.

US author Nell Zink's new novel Doxology features two generations of an American family coming of age, one before 9/11, one after. She tells Kirsty about her decision to broaden the scope of her writing to tell a story of modern America and the stark differences between Baby Boomers and 'Generation Z'. 

Tamsin Grey is one of the five authors shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. The writer discusses her story My Beautiful Millennial, which is about a lone young woman living in London and her complicated relationship with an older man.  

And The Jumper Factory, a prison drama developed by the Young Vic Theatre with the help of eight serving prisoners. It's performed by actors with little or no stage experience, though all of them have been affected in some way by the criminal justice system. The play was intended for performance within prisons, but has been such a hit that it is now touring for the public.  

Presenter Kirsty Lang
Producer Olive Clancy

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