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Woman's Hour: Marian Keyes, Women making crypto art, Self-harm in women's prisons

09/02/2022

Marian Keyes, Women making crypto art, Self-harm in women's prisons

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Marian Keyes, Women making crypto art, Self-harm in women's prisons

The bestselling novelist on revisiting a much-loved character in new book Again, Rachel

Marian Keyes writes funny, clever novels about the tough stuff in life.  Her books feature addiction, break-ups, poor mental health with women at the heart and lots of good men as well. Her new novel Again, Rachel revisits Rachel Walsh whose story of recovery from addiction was told in the 1997 novel Rachel's Holiday. 25 years later Rachel has come full circle and is now working at the rehab facility where she got into recovery all those years ago. Marian joins Emma to explain how her own experience of addiction and recovery shapes the stories she tells and why happy endings are so important to her.

Voice messages left on a crisis hotline ignored for six weeks.  More self-harm incidents than any other women's prison. Violence high and a regime that's uncaring and punitive. These are the findings of an inspectorate report out today into Foston Hall, a women's prison in Derbyshire. Four other women's prisons in England have recently been inspected too. Across the board, self-harm has increased in women's prisons during the pandemic, much more than in men's prisons.  Emma is joined by Sandra Fieldhouse who leads on women's prisons for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons.

The crypto art marketplace has taken off over the past couple of years - with some pieces raking in millions - but surprise, surprise, it is nearly as male-dominated as traditional auction sales. For some female artists though, it has been life-changing. That is especially the case for the Scottish artist Anna Louise Simpson, a divorced mother of two, who is with us this morning. We are also joined by Micol Ap who runs VerticalCrypto Art, a media hub and studio dedicated to NFT art.

For the last week, the media has been full of the aftermath of the Prime Minister's remarks to the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer - that he had failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile for sexual assault while Director of Public Prosecutions.  A claim that is false, but was seized upon by a group of people who surrounded Starmer on Monday evening.  But how has all of this affected Savile's many victims? We hear from one of them, Dee Coles, who told us how outraged she was, and how upset.  Emma speaks to Maggie Oliver, a former detective who now runs the Maggie Oliver Foundation which helps victims and survivors of sexual abuse.

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