18 April 2008
Friday 18 April 2008 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Ian McMillan talks to a group of writers who are playing with form, including Adam Foulds, who has just published a narrative poem about the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya in the 1950s.
Foulds reveals that although he envisaged a series of short stories, he found that the conflict was best expressed through poetry instead.
Jon Canter, who has written comedy for radio and television, explains why the story of his new comic creation, a self-obsessed lawyer, had to be told in a novel and David Gaffney, who created a type of short story called Sawn Off Tales, introduces his experiment in a new form - a 'sawn-off' opera.
Sawn Off Opera
Ian Mcmillan with the Sawn Off Opera
Playlist
On The Verb this week Ian McMillan talks to a group of writers who are playing with form.
Adam Foulds has just published a narrative poem about the brutal suppression of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya in the 1950's. When he started thinking about the work, he tells Ian, he thought he would write a series of short stories but found himself writing poetry instead.
Jon Canter who has written comedy for radio and television explains why the story of his new comic creation, a self obsessed lawyer, had to be told in a novel and David Gaffney, who invented a type of short story called Sawn Off Tales introduces his experiment in a new form: a sawn off opera.
Also on the programme, following The Verb's recent discussion about loan words in English, writers Lesley Downer and Peter Robinson discuss the words that the Japanese language has borrowed.
The Broken World by Adam Foulds is published by Cape.
A Short Gentleman by Jon Canter is published by Random House.
