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Front Row: Barbara Kingsolver as poet, Es Devlin's Lockdown Discovery, Sculptor Thomas J. Price, pianist Leon Fleisher remembered

Barbara Kingsolver, Es Devlin

Barbara Kingsolver as poet, Es Devlin's Lockdown Discovery, Sculptor Thomas J. Price, pianist Leon Fleisher remembered

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Barbara Kingsolver as poet, Es Devlin's Lockdown Discovery, Sculptor Thomas J. Price, pianist Leon Fleisher remembered

Barbara Kingsolver, designer Es Devlin, and artist Thomas J Price

Barbara Kingsolver's new poetry, designer Es Devlin on Creation Theatre's The Tempest, artist Thomas J Price; pianist Leon Fleisher who played with just his left hand, remembered.

Barbara Kingsolver talks about her new book, How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) which is only her second collection of poetry. As well as offering practical advice (on knitting, getting divorced, doing nothing) the poems are about  family, and making peace with life and death. Barbara also reflects on the redemptive power of art and poetry itself and celebrates the natural world whilst mourning its desecration.

All this week on Front Row, creative individuals from the arts are choosing one Lockdown Discovery, a cultural find that has given them pleasure in the dark months of Covid-19. We start today with production designer Es Devlin, who tells us about her discovery - The Tempest by Creation Theatre. 

Sculptor Thomas J Price will unveil his statue Reaching Out this Wednesday. Depicting an anonymous everywoman absorbed in silent communication, the statue stands at 9 feet tall and will be one of only three public sculptures of Black women in the whole of the UK. 

Norman Lebrecht discusses the extraordinary career of the American concert pianist Leon Fleisher, who has just died at the age of 92. Fleisher lost the use of his right hand and performed left-handed for several decades, before regaining the ability to play with both hands later in life. 

Presenter : Kirsty Lang
Producer : Julian May
Production Co-ordinator : Hilary Buchanan

Main image: Barbara Kingsolver
Image credit: Steven L. Hopp

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