The Verb

30 October 2004

Saturday 30 October 2004 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)

Margaret Atwood and Robert Bringhurst talk to Ian MacMillan about the Classical Hyda Mythtellers, the native American stories which Atwood describes as 'An American Iliad'.

Duration:

45 minutes

Programme Details

Writers Robert Bringhurst and Margaret Atwood talk to Ian McMillan about the classical Haida myths. Robert Bringhurst is a poet and cultural activist: he's studied linguistics with Noam Chomsky and lectured on oral literature all over the world and has had a particular interest in the classical Haida myths since at least the 1980's. Margaret Atwood is a novelist, poet, Booker Prize winner and in her lastest novel 'Oryx and Crake' created a world as complete and complex and literary as that of the Haida Myths. They discuss the significance of the myths to the heritage of North American literature. 

'Masterworks of the Classical Haida Mythtellers' in three volumes (the second and third are by Ghandl and Skaay) are available in hardback from Douglas and McIntire.

The playwright and satirist Alistair Beaton has just published a novel called 'Planet for the President' which sticks a satirical scalpel into the world of British and US politics. The Verb has commissioned a new piece from him on the eve of that satirist's dream, the American election, and he reads it for us in this week's edition.

Alistair Beaton's book 'A Planet for the President' is published by Weidenfeld and Nicholson

Mourid Barghouti, the great Palestinian poet, reads us some of his newest work and discusses Arabic myths and how they feed into the mechanics of his writing. Mourid is back in Great Britain as part of a tour of Arab Writers organised by Banipal Magazine and part of Poetry International. You can see Mourid Barghouti in Newcastle at the Festival of Stories tomorrow (Sunday) and next week in London and Edinburgh. 'I saw Ramallah' is published by Bloomsbury.

And Mario Petrucci, Radio 3's poet-in-residence, joins us with some new work, based on spending time with orchestras, as part of the Listen Up! Project here on Radio 3. Listen Up! continues until the 5th of November and you can find further details by going to www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/listenup.

The Verb

Episode and Playlist Information

• 11 December 2004
• 4 December 2004
• 27 November 2004
• 20 November 2004
• 13 November 2004
• 6 November 2004
• 30 October 2004
• 23 October 2004
• 16 October 2004
• 9 October 2004