Front Row

Live from Hay, celebrating reading and writing in many different forms, Samira is joined on stage by Jack Thorne - multi-award-winning screenwriter of the TV sensation Adolescence and his newest drama Falling, about a nun and a priest who fall in love.
Also, Tartan Noir titan Val McDermid speaks about crime fiction and her 40 years of writing.
The Ian Fleming estate has granted novelist Vaseem Khan permission to write a book in the Bond-iverse. This time, it's set in the world of Q, Bond's gadget supplier.
And Hanan Issa, the National Poet of Wales, joins us to explore Welsh/Iraqi storytelling and poetry.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Samira Ahmed is joined by writer Matt Cain and critic Suzi Feay to review:
Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart's new novel John of John, set on the Isle of Harris.
New series The Boroughs, which stars Alfred Molina and Geena Davis in a retirement community, executive produced by Stranger Things' Duffer Brothers.
And Holy Pop!, a new exhibition at Somerset House in London that celebrates fandom.
Also, film critic Tim Robey joins Samira from the Cannes Film Festival to talk through some of his highlights.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Lucy Collingwood

Canadian author Rachel Reid talks to us about the the phenomenon which has followed the publication of her books about the romantic relationship between rival ice hockey players.
We speak to author Yang Shuang-zi and translator Lin King, the author and translator of this year's International Booker Prize winning book, Taiwan Travelogue.
And Mull Historical Society's latest album In My Mind There’s A Photograph sees singer-songwriter Colin Macintyre work with lyrical contributions from a panoply of world-leading authors. He reveals his collaborative process with the likes of Irvine Welsh, Ali Smith, Irenosen Okojie, Yiyun Lee, and Sir Alexander McCall Smith, and performs a track live in the Front Row studio.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan

The paintings of Winston Churchill are being exhibited at the Wallace Collection in London. Xavier Bray, Director of the Wallace Collection, and Katharine Carter, curator at Chartwell, Churchill’s country house in Kent, discuss what we learn about Churchill from his art.
Creator and star Phil Dunning talks about series two of Smoggie Queens, which follows a close-knit group of friends; it’s a celebration of queer culture and a love letter to Middlesbrough and its community.
As questions are being asked about the use of AI in one of the regional winning entries of a prestigious short story prize for unpublished fiction, writer and journalist Hari Kunzru talks about the impact of AI on writing.
And Tom visited the RHS Chelsea Flower to see the Tate Britain show garden, which offers a taster of the forthcoming Clore Garden.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Claire Bartleet

Leo Woodall stars in the film Tuner, about a young piano prodigy who turns to crime, in cinemas on the 29th May.
The classical music world has been paying tribute to the soprano Dame Felicity Lott, who died on Friday at the age of 79. Critic David Benedict joins us to discuss her life in music.
Ronald Firbank is considered a pioneering queer voice of modernist fiction, but he's often overlooked. Sir Alan Hollinghurst and the poet and critic Jack Parlett join us to assess his literary impact and his legacy, a century on from his death.
Mary Astell championed women’s education and spoke out against what she saw as the tyranny of marriage in the early 18th century. But despite her impact she's in danger of being forgotten. Now a new play imagines her in conversation with another famous feminist philosopher, Virginia Woolf, encountering each other in a celestial waiting room. We speak to the playwright, Shelagh Stephenson about her play Astell & Woolf, playing now at Newcastle's Live Theatre.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Harry Graham