Front Row

Author Percival Everett, director Pravesh Kumar on Little English


Listen Later

Author Percival Everett on his novel Dr No; Director Pravesh Kumar on his film Little English; the new Yeats Smartphones poetry trail in Bedford

Award-winning US novelist Percival Everett on his surreal new book, Dr No – in which unlikely heroes and uber-wealthy super villains chase after a box containing absolutely nothing.

Pravesh Kumar has been running a theatre company for over two decades and last year received an MBE in the New Year Honours List for services to theatre. As he makes his debut as a filmmaker with romantic comedy Little English - centred on a British South Asian family living in Slough - he discusses the importance of nuanced portrayals and overturning stereotypes.

It’s a century this year since W. B. Yeats won the Nobel Prize in literature for his poetry, ‘which…gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.’ This is marked by a new guided, smartphone app trail around places where he lived and that influenced him early in life. It is narrated and with poems read by Oscar nominated actor Ciarán Hinds. But it is not, as you might assume, in Ireland. Front Row reports from the launch.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Producer: Julian May

(Picture of Percival Everett. Photographer credit: Nacho Goberna)

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Front RowBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

118 ratings


More shows like Front Row

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,711 Listeners

Ask Penguin by Penguin Books UK

Ask Penguin

149 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,069 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,547 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,880 Listeners

In Our Time: Philosophy by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Philosophy

867 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

611 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

725 Listeners

Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

Arts & Ideas

306 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,735 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,023 Listeners

World Book Club by BBC World Service

World Book Club

370 Listeners

Desert Island Discs by BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs

2,017 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

502 Listeners

Last Word by BBC Radio 4

Last Word

48 Listeners

Backlisted by Backlisted

Backlisted

587 Listeners

Start the Week by BBC Radio 4

Start the Week

164 Listeners

Bookclub by BBC Radio 4

Bookclub

240 Listeners

Private Passions by BBC Radio 3

Private Passions

51 Listeners

The TLS Podcast by The TLS

The TLS Podcast

181 Listeners

The Waterstones Podcast by Waterstones

The Waterstones Podcast

43 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,175 Listeners

This Cultural Life by BBC Radio 4

This Cultural Life

112 Listeners

Take Four Books by BBC Radio 4

Take Four Books

8 Listeners

A Good Read by BBC Radio 4

A Good Read

38 Listeners