Rachel Brown, Stephen Fry, Carlos Gamerro

This week we look at how the English language describes intense emotions. British writer and actor Stephen Fry explores, for example, how poor restaurant reviews are often written in the language of real trauma and loss. As the world’s largest arts festival gets underway in Edinburgh, Scotland, we explore one of the highlight events - The Encounter. It’s a time-bending play about the American photographer Lauren McIntyre’s encounter with the Amazon’s Mayoruna people in 1969. The Ethiopian/American singer Rachel Brown talks about her influences and inspirations. We find out about new research that shows playing music during hospital operations can have positive effects on patients and surgeons. Prolific American comedy producer Judd Apatow talks about his new film Trainwreck with Amy Schumer. We have a literary postcard from Carlos Gamerro in Buenos Aires with news of what’s going on in the world of writing in that city. With Cuba and America reconciling diplomatically we take the opportunity to meet Dayme Arocena who talks about her Santeria faith and the music of the country. And the publisher who took a gamble on Harry Potter, after everyone else had turned it down, remembers when he called J.K. Rowling with the good news.
(Photo: Rachel Brown (c) Sarah Smiley, Stephen Fry (c) Samir Hussein/Getty, Carlos Gamerro (c) Johannes Eisele)