Front Row

Taylor Swift, who recently won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, has today released a new album called Fearless (Taylor's Version), which is an exact remake of her 2008 breakthrough album, Fearless. Music critic Sophie Harris explains why Taylor is repeating herself and reviews the new record.

Tom Sutcliffe discusses HRH the Duke of Edinburgh's interest in art and literature with Jonathan Yeo, who painted his portrait, and Ian Lloyd, author of The Duke: 100 Chapters in the life of Prince Philip.

Skellig author David Almond discusses his new novel Bone Music. Set in the forests and fells of Northern England, it's about a young girl who connects with a spiritual ancestor from the stone-age.

Critics Jan Asante and Kohinoor Sahota discuss the provocative new Amazon drama, Them. Does it offer something new in the politicised American gothic horror genre or is it just a Jordan Peele rip off?

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Main image above: Taylor Swift. Image credit: Francis Specker/CBS via Getty Images

Peggy Seeger has just released her latest album, The First Farewell, at the age of 85. She tells us about the pleasures of working on it with her family, her worries about the post-Covid music scene, getting older - and getting younger.

Liverpool is about to take part in a pilot scheme testing live events. There will be an open-air film screening, a comedy gig and a club night. We talk to Liverpool's director of culture, Claire McColgan, about how it will work and the scientific questions behind it.

Francis Spufford is the author of Golden Hill which won the Costa First Novel Award. Hafsa Zayyan's novel We Are All Birds of Uganda is on Radio 4 this week and won the Merky Books New Writing Prize. The two authors discuss what it means to be a writer of faith in 21st century Britain.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang

Katherine Parkinson is best known as an actress – she won a BAFTA playing Jen in The IT Crowd and warm praise for her performance on stage in Laura Wade’s play Home, I’m Darling. But she has also written a play, Sitting, an interwoven set of three monologues first performed at the Edinburgh Festival and now on BBC4 as part of BBC Lights Up. It is inspired by her own experience sitting for a portrait painter when she was a student and like the work of the actress herself spans from sharp comedy to raw emotion. She talks to John about performing in the play for the first time.

Louise Kennedy discusses her new collection of short stories, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac, which focus on the rugged landscapes and tough characters of north-west Ireland, just south of the border, where she lives. Secrets, lies, cruelty and history lie at the heart of many of the 15 stories, infused with the country’s folklore and politics.

The band Years and Years released a snippet of their new single on TikTok before any other platforms and set a challenge to fans to make the most interesting video with lead singer Olly Alexander. Music Journalist Zoya Raza-Sheikh discusses how bands use TikTok to interact with fans and promote their music.

As he founds a new organisation dedicated to improving Muslim representation on screen, Muslim Film UK, we talk to actor and producer Sajid Varda.

Presenter: John Wilson

Riz Ahmed stars in Sound of Metal as a rock drummer who loses his hearing. The actor and rapper discusses learning American sign language, working with culturally Deaf actors as well as learning about addiction for his Oscar nominated performance.

So far, 2021 has seen a large number of novels with a climate change theme being published. Toby Lichtig, Fiction Editor at the Times Literary Supplement, reports on some of the new releases and shifting attitudes in publishing towards avowedly-politicised fiction.

Concerts and plays with a live audience have been taking place in Israel for over a month now, with audience members required to show a vaccination certificate known as a “green pass”. Allison Kaplan Sommer from the Haaretz Newspaper in Tel Aviv reports.

Paul Ritter has died aged 54. Perhaps best known for playing the dad Martin in Friday Night Dinner, we speak to the show's writer Robert Popper about Paul's life and career.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

A year ago, the writer, poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen was rushed to hospital with Covid. Put into an induced coma in intensive care for 48 days, he underwent weeks of convalescence as he learned to walk again.

Following his recovery he wrote a new book, Many Different Kinds of Love: A Story of Life, Death and the NHS, featuring letters written to him by the medical staff who cared for him, as well as a series of poems about his months in hospital. Michael Rosen discusses his near-death experience and his desire to pay tribute to the NHS workers who saved his life.

Presenter Elle Osili-Wood

Tonight's Font Row is a blue odyssey led by John Wilson as he talks to:

Dr Narayan Khandekar, Director of the Forbes Pigment Collection and one of the first people in the world to recognise the significance of the accidental creation of new pigment, YInMn Blue;

Artist Idris Khan is known for the use of blue in his work. He accepted Front Row's invitation to play with the newest blue pigment on the block. Idris Khan's work can be seen online as part of a group show at Victoria Miro, themed around the colour blue. The exhibition is called The Sky Was Blue the Sea Was Blue and the Boy Was Blue and runs until the end of April. Idris’s solo show, The Seasons Turn, will mark the reopening of the Victoria Miro gallery to the public, on April 13. His show runs until 15 May;

Science journalist Kai Kupferschmidt who has written a new book, Blue: In Search of Nature's Rarest Colour which will be published in the UK in June;

Architect Huang Wenjing who has designed a new blue building - the Pinghe Bibliotheater - in Shanghai;

Saxophonist and composer Branford Marsalis who has written the blues soundtrack for the new film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom which can be seen on Netflix;

and Colourist Jodie Davidson on the significance of blue when telling stories on the big and small screen.

Presenter: John Wilson

Minari tells the story of a Korean family who move to a farm in Arkansas in pursuit of the American Dream. The film’s director, Lee Isaac Chung, explains how his own family story inspired events in the film, and the impact Awards nominations have on his career as a director.

Pianist and musicologist Samantha Ege has launched an album of piano music from the often overlooked African-American composer, Florence Price. She discusses the revival of Price's music, and why it is important her work is remembered today.

With news that Paul Simon has joined a high-profile group of singer/songwriters - including Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Stevie Nicks – who’ve recently sold the entirety of their musical output, comedian and singer Amy Webber muses on the 50 Ways to Monetize Your Back Catalogue.

Professor John Mullan has been celebrating the pleasures of reading, and re-reading, the novels of Jane Austen during lockdown for Front Row. For the final novel he recommends Persuasion, with its depiction of a thwarted love, and reflects on the series.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Andrew Miller, the Government’s first Disability Champion for Arts and Culture, is stepping down after three years in the post. He discusses the challenges facing disabled people in the creative industries and his hopes for the future.

Jenny Sealey is Artistic Director of deaf and disabled theatre company Graeae and Robert Softley Gale is Artistic Director of Birds of Paradise, Scotland’s first touring theatre company employing disabled and non-disabled actors. They discuss the impact of the pandemic on disabled theatre makers.

The London Symphony Orchestra has announced that Sir Antonio Pappano will be their next Chief Conductor, starting in September 2024. He takes over from Sir Simon Rattle who made a surprise announcement in January that he would be returning to conduct in Germany. Norman Lebrecht - author of The Maestro Myth - discusses the significance of this appointment for classical music in the UK.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Main image: Graeae Theatre Company's 2018 tribute to wounded British veterans, This is Not For You

Novelist Nadifa Mohamed and translator Maureen Freely review the just-announced longlist for the International Booker Prize 2021.

Author Joanne Harris talks to her Italian translator Laura Grandi, her collaborator of 22 years, about their special partnership.

Plus writer and artist Khairani Barokka and Maureen Freely explore the question of how to choose who is the best person to translate each text, in light of the recent departure of several translators from the project of translating the work of Black US inauguration poet Amanda Gorman.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang

Kevin Macdonald’s new film The Mauritanian is based on the true story of a prisoner held in Guantánamo Bay for 14 years but never charged. The French-Algerian actor Tahar Rahim, recently seen in the TV drama series The Serpent, discusses the challenges of playing Mohamedou Slahi, who was shackled, beaten and waterboarded by the US authorities.

The Lip depicts a hidden Cornwall, the one we rarely see. Its author, Charlie Carroll discusses writing about the second poorest region in all of Europe and how he included mental health issues within his work.

Ready for a new radio soap opera? Greenborne launched this month and this new audio drama aims to reflect the real world we live in. Ella Watts reviews.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe