Ron Leshem
Tuesday 25 March 2008 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Rana Mitters talks to Israeli journalist Ron Leshem about his acclaimed novel Beaufort, set among a group of teenage soldiers in a military outpost of the Israeli Defence Force in occupied southern Lebanon.
Also, as part of Radio 3's Rites of Spring season, Kurdish writer Choman Hardi explores the history and meaning of Nowruz, the Persian New Year festival marking the first day of spring, and which is celebrated from Iran to the Balkans.
Playlist
The English Surgeon
Rana Mitter talks to the neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, the subject of a new television documentary that observes him making life and death decisions on a daily basis. The film follows Marsh on his unpaid travels to Ukraine where he takes unwanted medical equipment from Britain and carries out surgery in challenging environments. How does it feel to be a surgeon? What is it like to make decisions that can result in renewed life, death, or permanent brain damage?
The English Surgeon is in the Storyville Slot on BBC 2 this coming Sunday at 10.55 pm.
The New BBC Arabic TV service
The BBC has launched an ambitious new TV Channel which is available free to anyone with the right technology in the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf. The new Arabic language channel carries on a tradition started by radio and the World Service in 1938 and hopes to reach many of the 206 million adults who live in the region. But what is it like? And what kind of news does it feel it is offering the Arabic world? Night Waves looks at the opening two weeks of the new service and compares its output to Al-Jazeera with the help of Hugh Miles, Abdel Bari Atwan and Armine Hussein.
The BBC Arabic TV service is available via satellite and cable
Ron Leshem
Rana Mitter talks to the Israeli writer Ron Leshem, winner of Israel's top literary prize for his first novel, Beaufort. Now adapted into a big budget movie, the story tells of Israel's invasion of Southern Lebanon and the occupation by a group of teenage soldiers of an old crusader fort. Based on conversations with the young veterans of the conflict, Leshem's fiction is a powerful indictment of war and a story that even few Israelis were aware of. He talks to Rana Mitter on tonight's Night Waves.
Beaufort by Ron Leshem is published by Harvill Secker
The Rites of Spring - festival of Nowruz
As part of Radio 3's Rites of Spring season, Night Waves will be revealing across the week how spring is celebrated in different parts of the world. In today's Night Waves the Kurdish poet Choman Hardi describes the festival of Nowruz.
