20 May 2006
Saturday 20 May 2006 21:15-22:00 (Radio 3)
Insects may be seen as pests but they have influenced and shaped our language as well as our literature. Pest expert Bridget Nicolls and pest musician Mira Calix prove this to Ian McMillan in surprising ways. And Orange Prize winner Kate Grenville reads a specially commissioned short story.
Programme Details
Orange Prize winner Kate Grenville has long been one of Australia's leading writers, and now she has been awarded this year's Commonwealth prize for fiction. Her winning novel, The Secret River, tells a story of the first white settlers encountering Australia and it's aboriginal people. Kate joins us on The Verb to share the secret of writing this great novel and to reveal her surprisingly spontaneous approach.
Also, Peter Blegvad pays homage to a suicidal, psychopathic, chess playing writer - the French 20th century master, Raymond Roussel. Listen in as he makes a bid to convince us of the talents of this neglected master and the joys of his rather esoteric writing technique.
And Mira Calix raids the world she hears to create unique and extraordinary music, transforming found sound and language into striking soundscapes. However, it is the sound of insects that is perhaps her most unique inspiration. She has worked with wasps and crickets to create beautiful orchestrations, and has even performed live on stage with her fellow insect musicians. Join Mira as she introduces The Verb to the musical language of the insect world.
We're also joined by pest lover Bridget Nicolls, founder of the world's first international festival dedicated to insects, Pestival. Bridget explains the debt we owe insects in the literary canon and in language, and reveals how even Nabakov, the creator of Lolita, raided insect terminology to add new words to his work.
That's the buzz on the street on The Verb with Ian McMillan at 21.15 here on BBC Radio 3.
Additional Information:
The Secret River by Kate Grenville is published by Canongate
The albums One on One and Skimskitta, and the 3 Commissions EP by Mira Calix can be found on Warp Records
Pestival is at London's Wetland Centre from 27 May to 4 June
Producer: Ariane Koek
