Front Row Folgen

New documentary Matangi/Maya/MIA about the political rapper MIA, uses self-filmed archive footage of the outspoken and ‘controversial’ Sri Lankan immigrant artist who took up the Tamil cause. So how does the film by director and friend Stephen Loveridge help us understand her life and music? Journalist Kieran Yates reviews.The Man Booker Prize 2018 shortlist of six books has just been announced and features two debuts, the youngest ever writer to make the list, a novel in verse and four women authors. Toby Lichtig of the Times Literary Supplement and critic Arifa Akbar give their thoughts on a list which includes some notable omissions - Sally Rooney and Michael Ondaatje for example.Nell Stevens is the final shortlisted writer for this year’s National Short Story Award. She joins Kirsty to talk about The Minutes, her darkly funny and mysterious tale which follows a group of students captivated by an enigmatic stranger as they protest against the demolition and gentrification taking place in their neighbourhood.Roy Williams pays tribute to fellow playwright Stephen Jeffreys, who has died aged 68. He is best-known for writing The Libertine, about the hedonistic Restoration poet and courtier - the Earl of Rochester. Jeffreys also long championed the work of young, new dramatists, including Roy, offering them support and advice.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Harry Parker

Eileen Atkins talks about her latest stage role in Florian Zeller’s The Height of the Storm, a play about a couple who have been in love for 50 years. The actress, who began her career in the 1950s explains the challenges of Zeller’s writing and her preference for new theatre. 10 years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, John Kampfner, co-founder of the Creative Industries Federation, and arts journalist Jo Caird discuss the impact of the financial crisis on the arts.Today it was announced that Denis Norden has died. His long career as a comedy writer and performer spanned radio sitcoms in the late 1940s , Hollywood films, and the hugely successful television out-takes show It’ll be Alright on the Night. Dick Fiddy, Archive TV Programmer at the BFI explains his significance.Ingrid Persaud has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award with The Sweet Sop. She explains what inspired her story which explores the relationship between a father and his estranged son. Set in Trinidad and told in a distinctively Caribbean voice, it deals with themes of masculinity, death and…chocolate. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

Director Lenny Abrahamson on his film adaption of Sarah Waters’ novel The Little Stranger, a ghost story set in a dilapidated English manor in the 1940s. Abrahamson, who was Oscar nominated for his previous film Room, explains the how it is more than just a ghost story and talks about the challenges of adapting an unreliable narrator from the book onto screen.As the days get shorter and the light starts to fade, three artists discuss the appeal of darkness and how they use it as a source for their creativity. Artist Sam Winston and photographer Eva Vermandel spend long hours in complete darkness to develop or create their artworks, while TV editor Paulo Pandolpho, whose work includes the recent dramas The Split, Trust Me and Apple Tree Yard, considers the attraction of spending months at a time in a darkened editing suite. Kiare Ladner has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award with Van Rensburg’s Card. She discusses her story which is set in South Africa and is about a woman in middle age dealing with loneliness following the death of her husband and her daughter’s move to Canada. The story is broadcast on Radio 4 at 3.30pm on Tuesday and the winner of the BBC NSSA is announced on Front Row on 2 October.Presenter : John Wilson Producer : Dymphna Flynn