This Cultural Life Folgen

Kwame Kwei-Armah shares some of the influences that have had a significant impact on his career in the theatre. He became a household name playing paramedic Finlay Newton in BBC One's Casualty, while at the same time pursuing a career in writing. His award-winning plays including Elmina's Kitchen and Statement of Regret have been staged at the National Theatre. He tells John Wilson about his early years at stage school, how seeing a production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson changed the way he saw what theatre could do, and how Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave put him on a different path.Producer: Edwina Pitman

Musician Evelyn Glennie talks to John Wilson about her career and some of the key cultural turning points of her life. From growing up in rural Aberdeenshire and becoming profoundly deaf at a young age, she traces her route to fulfilling her ambition of being the first full-time solo percussionist. She recalls her early musical influences; her teacher, the renowned percussionist James Blades at the Royal Academy of Music, and her electrifying 1992 BBC Proms performance of James MacMillan's percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel.Producer: Edwina Pitman

Author and columnist Caitlin Moran talks to John Wilson about some of the works and events that have had the biggest influence on her writing career.The eldest of eight children, she was home-schooled and raised on a council estate in Wolverhampton. At just 16 years old she published her first novel, became a music journalist, and started writing regular columns in the national press. She explains why Sue Townsend's brilliantly funny The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ fuelled her desire to become a novelist, how the British music press allowed her to hone her craft as a journalist, and how a letter from Lenny Henry changed her life.Producer: Edwina Pitman