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Front Row: Normal People, Víkingur Ólafsson, Seán Hewitt, Theresa Lola

24/04/2020

Normal People, Víkingur Ólafsson, Seán Hewitt, Theresa Lola

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Normal People, Víkingur Ólafsson, Seán Hewitt, Theresa Lola

Sophie Raworth and Naomi Alderman on TV drama Normal People. And pianist Víkingur Ólafsson

Sophie Raworth and Naomi Alderman review TV drama Normal People. Plus pianist Víkingur Ólafsson plays Bach live from Iceland.

For Front Row’s Friday Review, BBC  journalist Sophie Raworth and the novelist Naomi Alderman discuss the new TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s extraordinarily successful novel Normal People. They also review the new collection of short stories by Frances Leviston, The Voice in my Ear.

Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, Front Row's Artist in Residence during the lockdown, continues his weekly live performances from the Harpa Concert Hall in Iceland. This week Víkingur will play the sublime Andante from Bach's Organ Sonata No.4, transcribed for piano by August Stradal. 

The poet Seán Hewitt's discusses his first collection, Tongues of Fire, which contains poems about encounters in the natural world, with owls, trees and plants. He signed his book contract the day his father died and the pervading grief makes this a collection for our condition today. 

Theresa Lola, the Young People's Laureate for London, has launched an online initiative encouraging young people to write something that describes what is bringing them calm during the lockdown, Say your Peace. For Front Row's Culture Club, Theresa and Seán offer tips on how to begin writing a poem - and how to know when it's finished.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Timothy Prosser

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