6 November 2004
Saturday 6 November 2004 21:55-22:40 (Radio 3)
Ian McMillan presents the late night showcase of new writing, found language and hi-octane performance. This week's guest is the acclaimed Irish writer Ronan Bennett.
Programme Details
Ian Macmillan takes a look at Gilgamesh, one of the first ever works of literature, created in that cradle of the world that we now know as Iraq. It's an epic of love, adventure and friendship and it was lost for over a thousand years before being rediscovered on a set of clay tablets a hundred and fifty years ago.
Ian talks to Dr Irving Finkel, a curator in the department of the Ancient Near East at the British Museum. We also hear from Stephen Mitchell, the poet and translator whose new version of the Gilgamesh epic has just been published by Profile books.
One of the attractions at this year's Aldeburgh poetry festival is the poet Tony Hoagland, described as America's 'high priest of irony'. He is also one of three poets taking part in the Aldeburgh Poetry festival's first national tour – 'Lines on the Road' – three poets , five readings, five cities. You can see Tony Hoagland as well as Michael Rosen and Henry Shukman in London on 8th November, Oxford on 9th November, Southampton on the 10th, then Manchester on the 11th and finally Birmingham on November 12th.
Visit www.thepoetrytrust.org/html/tour.htm for full details
Robert Potts writes for The Times Literary Supplement and is the Co- Editor of Poetry Review. He talks tonight about poetry and politics in the wake of the American election.
Ronan Bennett was born in Belfast in 1956. His novels are 'The Second Prison' (London, Hamish Hamilton 1991); 'Overthrown by Strangers' (Hamish Hamilton, 1992); 'The Catastrophist' (London, Headline Review 1998); and 'Havoc, In Its Third Year' (London, 2004). He scripted the TV drama Love Lies Bleeding (1993) and several other scripts for film, TV and radio, including 'The Hamburg Cel'l (2004) which was broadcast on Channel 4 to critical acclaim. He talks to Ian about 'Men, Out of their Depth', a specially commissioned radio drama for The Verb. It stars Corin Redgrave as Charles, Sean Baker as David and Tracey Saunders as the female police officer.
Christine Toibin is an Irish singer / songwriter living in London since 1987. Described by The Wire magazine as 'occupying a niche of her own', Christine has recorded six CDs under her own name for the Babel label. "Aililiu" was released in 1995, "Yell Of The Gazelle" in 1996, "House Of Women" in 1998, "Deep Song in 2000", and in 2003 "You Draw the Line". Accompanied on the piano by Liam Noble, she performs music from her new CD 'Romance and Revolution' (Babel). You can see her next at the Progress Bar in North London on Thursday 11 November.
More information is at www.babellabel.co.uk
