Front Row Folgen

Chart-topping New York post-punk group Blondie have more than 40 years of chart success under their belts and in 2019 they decided to travel to play some concerts in Havana Cuba. We speak with singer Debbie Harry about the warmth of the reception they received, about integrating local styles and musicians in their set and much more. A new EP is about to be released which shows the fruits of their labour.This Friday marks 10 years since Amy Winehouse died. In a new film 'Reclaiming Amy' to be shown on BBC Two, director Marina Parker spoke to her friends and her mum Janis to get their side of her story, and how Amy's life and death affected them. She explains to John about working with them and showing the world a different side of the singer.Natalie Williams and Troy Miller both worked with Amy Winehouse. They delve into her musicianship and reassess her legacy as a singer, jazz musician and song writer.

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is a Hollywood veteran and it was the ending of Hollywood’s golden age that was the subject of his last film – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He’s now returned to the story of that film for his debut novel. In his only UK broadcast interview, he explains why he wanted to create a novelisation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.It’s 25 years since Melvin Burgess wrote Junk, a story about heroin addiction. It was an early title in what’s become known as YA and showed the fearlessness to take on challenging topics that has become typical of the genre. His book, Three Bullets, is out this week: it imagines a Britain somewhat like our own but that has been torn apart by war and extreme ideology. It has a mixed-race Trans girl, Marti, as its first person narrator. Melvin Burgess talks about his new book and YA more generally, alongside Sarah Ditum, as part of our series this week looking at the publishing industry. Has fearfulness taken over or is caution a necessary corrective? What stories can be told and by whom? As some voices have been un- or mis-represented in YA fiction, what is the best way ahead for the genre?Our man on the Croissette, film critic Jason Solomons, gives the last of his Cannes reports and discusses the films competing for the film festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.The painting of a smiling woman selling vegetables had languished for years in a cupboard at Audley End, the grand 17th-century house in Essex. When conservator Alice Tate-Harte began a much needed clean-up she was surprised to discover it was two centuries older than was thought and that the smile was a later addition. Alice tells Kirsty Lang why she wiped the smile off the woman's face, and, also what the array of enticing vegetables tell us.

This summer Somerset House in London will be home to a new work by composer Anna Meredith, Bumps Per Minute, which has a distinctly fairground feel. It uses the random interactions of dodgem cars to create a new piece of music. And members of the public are invited to take part in the composition as dodgem drivers. Anna Meredith talks about what inspired her to create a work which mixes fun, frivolity and musical experimentation.The British Podcast Awards have been created to highlight the best podcasts of the year in the UK. Laura Grimshaw, presenter of Podcast Radio Hour on Radio 4 Extra, takes a look at a selection of this year’s 29 winners – from 1600 entries - which includes two new categories; best documentary and best lockdown podcast.We continue our exploration of debates within the publishing industry. Tonight we consider different generational attitudes around ideas of censorship, the moral role of publishing houses and the responsibilities of individual employees when it comes to which works get published. In rows over authors from Mike Pence to Woody Allen many younger publishers have signalled reluctance to work on books they deem hateful and literary agent Clare Alexander described what she saw as a “watershed moment" at a recently parliamentary hearing about freedom of expression. We talk to Tanu Shelar, Chair of the Society of Young Publishers and Caroline Wintersgill, Programme Director of University College London’s MA in publishing.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones