Anna Politskovskaya
Tuesday 27 March 2007 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Journalist Anna Politskovskaya was murdered in her Moscow apartment building in October 2006 in what looked to some like a contract killing. She was known to many as 'Russia's lost moral conscience' and her critical reports from Chechnya and elsewhere had made her plenty of enemies in the country's political class. Philip Dodd and guests assess Politskovskaya's posthumously published account of life in contemporary Russia.
Playlist
Tony Harrison
The Leeds born writer Tony Harrison, Britain's foremost film and theatre poet, has been writing in his distinctive voice for over 40 years, combining classical forms with colloquial language.
The variety of countries and cities he has lived in, from Nigeria to Prague and New York, seep into his work, which also carries an intense personal dialogue between Harrison's working class roots and his classical education.
Fellow poet Simon Armitage joins Philip Dodd to discuss the first full collection of Tony Harrison's work, which is being published to mark his 70th Birthday.
Tony Harrison's Collected Film Poetry is published by Faber and Faber.
Collected poems is published by Viking.
Anna Politskovskaya
Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist and activist, was found shot dead in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment in October last year.
She was a renowned critic of the Russian government and of President Putin and a political activist who worked tirelessly against the conflict in Chechnya.
Her journalism led her into dangerous conflict with the authorities and many suspect that her death was a contract killing.
On tonight's Night Waves, Orlando Figes, the writer on Russian affairs, discusses the importance of Politkovskaya' work with presenter Philip Dodd - in particular the diary that she wrote right up to her death and that has now been published.
Surreal Things
The major new spring exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London is Surreal Things, a show exploring the influence of surrealism on the world of design, theatre, fashion, film and architecture.
Philip Dodd and guests - Kristoff Fijalkowski, the academic involved in present day surrealist activity, and fashion critic Caroline Cox - discuss the contemporary standing of surrealism.
Has it lived up to early ideas? Are the influences on contemporary culture that we call surrealist really valid? And does surrealism have anything profound to offer to the way we live in the visual world or is it merely trivial?
The Surreal Things exhibition is on at the Victoria & Albert museum from March 29th to July 22nd.
Morten Ramsland
Philip also interviews best-selling Danish author Morten Ramsland, whose multi-award winning novel Doghead has caused a sensation in his home country and across Europe.
Now his tale of families, dark secrets and the spellbinding Nordic landscape has been translated into English.
Morten joins Night Waves live from Copenhagen to talk about the book and how he feels about having a tilt at the large and lucrative English market.
Doghead is published by Doubleday.
