18 June 2005
Saturday 18 June 2005 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Ian McMillan presents the writing and performance programme. Featuring a specially commissioned piece from acclaimed new writer Diana Evans; poet Nii Parkes continues his guide to great African authors and Canadian poet Jen Hadfield reads a new road poem, composed especially for The Verb.
Playlist
The Verb Programme Details June 18th 2005
Tx 21.30 - 22.15
On the show this week, JEN HADFIELD, poet and rising star, described by Kathleen Jamie as 'a zestful poet of the road, a beat poet of the upper latitudes' reads a special commission for The Verb, 'Downpour in the Dry Country'. The poem came from a journey Jen took recently in British Columbia, Canada, and it showcases many of her talents and concerns: the need to move, to be on the road; the capture and echoing of experience through impression, image and language. Jen's first collection is ALMANACS, and it's published by Bloodaxe Books.
You can find out more about Jen from her website, rogueseeds.com
And DIANA EVANS, winner of the Orange Prize for new writing for her acclaimed first novel '26A' reads a piece especially written for The Verb: a short story called 'Georgia and Bessi En Route' about two twins, aged 16 and a half, inter-railing around Europe. In an elegiac, moving and quietly powerful piece Diana depicts some of the wonder - and something of the terror - in the experience of being a twin: themes she explores in '26A'. She tells Ian McMillan how her own experiences of being a twin shaped her life and writing, and explains how she came to the triumph of 26A through the tragedy of her twin's death.
26A is published by Chatto and Windus
PETER BLEGVAD, the Verb's resident eartoonist, essayist, polymath and, in the words of one critic, genius, sings and plays live in the studio, performing 'My Father's Face': a typically telling, witty and yet mournful tale, a Verb exclusive, and song to treasure.
You can hear Peter and everyone else by clicking on 'Listen Again to the Last Programme' on the Verb's main page.
And NII PARKES continues The Verb's Africa Book Club, this week with Tayib Saleh's 'Season Of Migration To The North'.
The Verb African Book Club
We asked the poet and performer Nii Parkes to recommend four outstanding books which would give readers new and telling perspectives on writing from the African contient. We asked Nii to choose books listeners might not have read, but which have had a lasting impact on African writers and readers.
From June 11th, Nii will be discussing one of the books each week on The Verb with the programme's presenter, Ian McMillan.
The discussions will be accessible to any listener, but to extract maximum benefit, The Verb urges you to seek out copies of the following, and tune in on Saturday nights, after the live opera, to hear them discussed.
Book one, from West Africa, "Changes" by Ama Ata Aidoo. (Ghana)
Esi, a divorced professional woman in Ghana, falls in love with an attractive married man...
Book two, from North Africa, "Season of Migration to the North" Tayeb Saleh (Sudan)
A student returns to his village after his obsession with the West had led him to London and the beds of women with similar obsessions about the mysterious East...
Book three, from East Africa, "Song of Ocol" by Okot p'Bitek (Uganda / Kenya)
Ocol has embraced the new culture. He sees nothing worth preserving in the old ways and has no hesitation in saying so. The future, he asserts is with the West...
Book four, from South Africa "Collector of Treasures" by Bessie Head
A collection of short stories from one of South Afica's greats...
These books can be a challenge to find. They are all available on the internet, through various book search and online retailers. Your local independent bookshop, if it does not have them, may well be able to order them for you. Your local library would certainly be worth a try.
