The Perfect American

Available for over a year

The best of the world's arts, film, music and literature brought to you every day. Presented by Mark Coles The Perfect American Philip Glass's latest opera The Perfect American is based on the life and death of Walt Disney, but it's not a pretty story. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Stephen Scott is the production designer on Tommy Wirkola's new film, he explains how he came up with the overall look for the film and shares some of the tricks of his trade. Andrew Kaufman Canadian author (of the cult novel, All My Friends Are Superheroes) his latest novel, Born Weird, a magic realism tale involving five siblings, their evil grandmother, their absent, presumed dead, father, and their mother who has a breakdown and thinks she's a hairdresser. Voices United for Mali More than 40 of Mali's most famous musicians have joined together to record a song calling for peace in their country, where Muslim separatists in the north are trying to ban music. Hilary Mantel The prize-winning writer Hilary Mantel joins Harriett Gilbert on The Strand to discuss how the supernatural permeates her work in mysterious ways. Jaipur Literary Festival We report from the Jaipur Literary Festival, where the speakers include the Dalai Lama and novelists Manu Joseph, Sebastian Faulkes and Kishwar Desai and the ten finalists for the Man Booker International have been announced. Nadim Karam Nadim Karam's renowned and beautiful public art works grace cities around the world Dana Stebenow The Alaskan author talks about Kate Shugak - the private investigator at the heart of her series of twenty best-selling crime novels. Hear My Country Listeners to The Strand were given the opportunity to choose a piece of music that sums up where they live. We hear choices from Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica. Image: Christopher Purves (Walt Disney) and Rosie Lomas (Josh) in The Perfect American by Philip Glass. Photo: Javier del Real/Teatro Real