The Strand - Wednesday 7th October 2009.

Available for over a year

The best of the world's arts, film, music, literature and music brought to you every day. Presented by Bidisha. Hilary Mantel (above photo by John Haynes) Fresh from her Booker win Bidisha talks to Hilary Mantel about her literary triumph, the blurring of fact and fiction in Wolf Hall and the prospect of a whole new readership for her work. Shigeyuki Kihara Shigeyuki Kihara is a visual and performance artist of Samoan & Japanese decent. Kihara is also a member of Samoa's third gender community. She tells The Strand how her lastest photographic series Vava'u: Tales from Ancient Samoa, where she enacts characters from the Samoan creation stories, explores all these aspects of her life. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan The Strand talks to Lin Hwai-Min, founder and choreographer of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, one of Asia's leading contemporary dance groups about his visually stunning works. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan is touring around the world. They are at the Barbican in London 6 - 10th Oct with their work Wind Shadow. Madeleine Albright - Jewel Power The first woman Secretary of State Madeleine Albright talks to Bidisha about her new book 'Read My Pins - Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box' and the accompanying exhibition of her jewellery at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.