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Front Row: Maggie O'Farrell, Singing in Choirs and Covid, Mark Billingham's Lockdown Discovery

Maggie O'Farrell, Singing in Choirs and Covid, Mark Billingham's Lockdown Discovery

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Maggie O'Farrell, Singing in Choirs and Covid, Mark Billingham's Lockdown Discovery

Maggie O'Farrell on Hamnet, shortlisted for the Women's Prize.

Maggie O'Farrell on her novel Hamnet, the impact of coronavirus on group singing in choirs, and Mark Billingham does jigsaws.

Front Row is featuring interviews with all the shortlisted authors for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction.  Tonight, Maggie O'Farrell, whose novel Hamnet is about the son of William Shakespeare who died aged 11, an event thought to be the inspiration for Hamlet. In her novel, Maggie O’Farrell imagines the family life and tragedy of one of our greatest playwrights, about whom so little is known.

Group singing has been severely affected by government advice on restricting the spread of Coronavirus as inhaling microscopic droplets expelled by fellow singers is a high risk activity.  But choirs serve functions beyond singing together.  We speak to Katherine Dienes Williams, Master of The Choristers at Guildford Cathedral and to Martin Trotman, director of The Wellbeing Choirs which aim to promote and maintain good mental and physical health through singing.

This week we’ve been hearing from artists and creators who’ve been telling us about their Lockdown Discoveries, a cultural find that has given them pleasure in the dark months of isolation. Today crime writer Mark Billingham reveals his unexpected rediscovery…jigsaws!

Presenter:  Kirsty Lang
Producer:  Sarah Johnson

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