Sarah's guest this week is the author, Marina Lewycka.
What a pleasure it was, to interview Marina Lewycka: a lively voice, a self-effacing manner and great sense of humour…and a very interesting way of listening to music. Marina listens like a writer, with an ear for drama, pace and structure: “Why did he choose to do that there?” is a question she often asks, and she told me how she’s picked up ideas from listening to music in that way. I learnt from Marina, too: she reminded me that Prokofiev was a Ukrainian composer, and introduced me to his Symphonic Song, which highlighted a different, more sombre aspect of his personality than we often encounter. I was also intrigued to hear a recording by a singer with Ukrainian roots, Kvitka Cisik (often known as Kasey) who sadly died in 1998 aged just 44. She was an artist with a beautifully fresh and unaffected soprano voice, perfect for the Ukrainian folk song which Marina requested…I’d certainly like to hear more of her work. And last but not least, I was delighted to encounter Marina’s own novels: I started with the second one, Two Caravans, on the recommendation of my producer Sarah Devonald, who’s also a fan. The book creates a truthful, sometimes harrowing, yet ultimately optimistic portrait of the current job market, especially as it affects immigrants; but more than that, it’s a love story, and one with some incredibly colourful characters. I loved Rock, who hails from Barnsley, and who makes many references to his mentor, a certain Jimmy Binbag whom we never actually meet. Is it the percussive, rhythmic quality of that name that makes it so authentic that I could believe I went to school with him?! Marina Lewycka is definitely a writer with a musical ear. Hope you enjoy our interviews.
