Front Row

We last saw the work of the Cuban artist Tania Bruguera when she was commissioned for the turbine hall of Tate Modern. She’s known for facing down police interrogation of her work in her native Havana. Now she’s harnessed Manchester’s international community for what she calls a School of Integration. In May, Ibrahim Mahama was one of the six Ghanaian artists chosen to represent the country as it made its debut at the Venice Biennale. Now, he’s come to Manchester to create Parliament of Ghosts – an exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery which reflects both on Ghana’s time under British rule, and the years following the country’s independence. The Mexican-Canadian electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s new work, Atmospheric Memory uses the very latest technology but is rooted in the story of the English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. We’ll be asking why this very contemporary artist is seeking inspiration in the nineteenth century.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producers: Ekene Akalawu and Olive Clancy

Filmmaker Chanya Button talks about Vita & Virginia, which explores the relationship between Virginia Woolf and fellow writer Vita Sackville-West, the inspiration for the protagonist of Woolf’s novel Orlando. Based on the correspondence between the two women, the film stars Elizabeth Debicki and Gemma Arterton.Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, hailed as one of the funniest plays ever written, was first performed in 1982 at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, where a new production has just opened. It’s a farce about a touring production of a farce, in which the Assistant Stage Manager Poppy struggles to control her actors. Front Row talks to Lois Chimimba, who plays Poppy, and her real life counterpart, Caroline Meer.Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, based on an ode by Friedrich Schiller, was adopted by the EU as its anthem. Following the Brexit party’s response to it being played at the opening of the European parliament, Norman Lebrecht discusses why this piece of music has had so much political resonance since its composition in 1824. Once upon a time, computer games - like much of the media - perpetuated negative stereotypes about mental health. Now they’re at the forefront of moves to tackle the stigma sometimes associated with conditions like depression and anxiety. Jordan Erica explains why the rise of the independent gaming sector and the mental health backgrounds of many developers makes modern gaming the perfect forum in which to boost empathy between sufferers and non-sufferers.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Rebecca Armstrong and Simon Richardson

Howard Jacobson is renowned for his comic novels, winning the 2010 Booker Prize for The Finkler Question . Now he’s published a funny but also tender novel about life and love in older age: Live a Little. He talks to Front Row about his trademark wit, insight and irreverence.Othello: Remixed locates Shakespeare’s play into a London boxing club in 2019. Staged by Intermission Theatre Company, their director Darren Raymond discusses this production and explains how their approach of swapping street vocabulary for the Elizabethan slang used in the original text is intended - and has managed - to allow a wider audience to relate to the work.St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff has been shortlisted for Museum of the Year. A £30m extensive refit has changed much of the site. There are new interactive galleries and more reconstructed buildings in their huge outdoor area. 3,000 volunteers helped throughout the redevelopment and continue to do so. Kirsty takes a tour with Director of Learning and Engagement Nia Williams and meets some of the volunteers. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Oliver Jones

Inkheart writer Cornelia Funke discusses Pan's Labyrinth, her new collaboration with director Guillermo del Toro, who approached her to write an adult novel based on his 2006 dark fantasy film.The filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck discusses his latest work Never Look Away, which has blurred the line between fiction and biography. The Oscar-nominated epic historical drama follows 30 years in the life of a great artist, loosely based on Gerhard Richter, one of the 20th century's most admired visual artists, as it sees him struggling to create meaningful work under Nazism, Socialism and the Avant-Garde. The striking grey exterior of V&A Dundee has been likened to the prow of a ship and to sea cliffs. Inside it houses treasures of Scottish craft. Shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year less than a year after it opened its doors, Director Philip Long talks about the impact of the building, inside and out. Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Jerome Weatherald

50 years ago, on July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to set foot on the moon. A new film documentary, Apollo 11, charts that historic event using unseen archive footage and some of the 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings. The film’s director Todd Douglas Miller discusses the challenge of bringing NASA’s monumental achievement to the big screen. We conclude our exploration of LGBT literature marking today’s 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The events of 28th June 1969 were a key moment in the birth of the gay rights movement. Dr Erica Gillingham, Bookseller at London’s ‘Gay’s the Word’ bookshop and specialist in LGBT young adult fiction guides us through titles from the last decade.It’s been a big week for memes with Boris Johnson’s image being transposed to the Titanic and an Ikea catalogue. Louis Wise unpicks what makes the best ones so successful and consider what memes tell us about the zeitgeist, how memes act as instant feedback on TV, film or music videos, and how far memes undermine, or proliferate, celebrity culture.Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Edwina Pitman

Kate Atkinson discusses her new novel, Big Sky. For Jackson Brodie fans it’s been a long nine years but finally he’s back. After the first four books in this crime fiction series, the acclaimed writer turned her attention to World War II resulting in two prize-winning novels, Life After Life and A God In Ruins. She explains how almost a decade later she was ready to return to Jackson and why the sixth Jackson book is not so far away.As insults fly, tempers flare, and books are pulled, writer Leo Benedictus, Charlotte Eyre, Children’s Editor at The Bookseller, and Children’s and YA author Patrice Lawrence discuss the impact that online criticism is having on the world of Young Adult fiction.We continue our exploration of LGBT literature which marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969, a key moment in the birth of the gay rights movement. Today journalist Amelia Abraham, author of the recently published book Queer Intentions: a Personal Journey through LGBTQ+ Culture, guides us through her favourite LGBT books from 1999 to 2009.Presenter Stig Abell Producer Jerome Weatherald

A killer dress is on the hunt in Peter Strickland’s new kitsch horror film In Fabric, which stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as an innocent sales shopper. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews. We continue our exploration of LGBT literature marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The events of 28th June 1969 were a key moment in the birth of the gay rights movement. Today novelist and salon host Damian Barr reflects on growing up gay in 1990s Scotland and the queer books he loves from that decadeToday is National Writing Day and Rajan Dator meets Kaoru Akagawa who is keeping alive Kana Shodo, a script developed in 10th century Japan by women, so they could write, and for women, so they could read. Akagawa tells its story and explains how she uses Kana Shodo in her own art.For the third of Front Rows reports from the five museums and galleries shortlisted for the 2019 Art Fund Museum of the Year, we visit HMS Caroline in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast, a First World War naval cruiser, the sole survivor of the Battle of Jutland in 1916, and now a floating museum following an £18m restoration.Presenter: Rajan Datar Producer: Julian May

Tuyen Do has acted at the Royal Court and the National Theatre and now sh'e written a play. Not only is it her first drama, it’s the first by British-Vietnamese writer to have a full professional production in the UK. Summer Rolls is a family saga that centres on Mai, whose parents have escaped war-torn Vietnam, but carry psychological wounds. They are anxious not just for their children to succeed, but that their daughter in particular should not stray from Vietnamese culture and language. But Mai is young, inquisitive and growing up in multicultural Britain. She yearns for the freedom her parents fled to the UK for but which they won’t allow her. Tuyen Do talks to Kirsty Lang about dramatizing dual identity, and the importance of telling such stories.The first retrospective in Britain of the American artist Cindy Sherman opens at the National Portrait Gallery this week, spanning her 40 year career. Best known for her fictionalised photographic self-portraits, Sherman manipulates her own appearance and imagery derived from film, advertising and fashion in her work. Critic Andrea Rose reviews.This week marks the 50th anniversary since the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York, a key moment in the birth of the gay rights movement. Each night this week Front Row is reflecting on the best examples of queer fiction since then, one night for each decade. Tonight is the turn of the 1980s and our guide to the decade is the novelist VG Lee.It's a decade today since Micheal Jackson died. Even in death his career has been stunningly successful - in the past 10 years his estate has made $2.4bn. We consider his continuing success and ask whether it's ever going to endPresenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Oliver Jones

The 2019 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition has been won by the Ukrainian baritone Andrei Kymach. The week-long competition held every two years is one of the most significant competitions in the classical calendar and has helped make stars of many participants since its inception in 1983. We hear from this year's winner Andrei Kymach and from music critic Anna Picard.This week marks the 50th anniversary since the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York, a key moment in the birth of the gay rights movement. Each night this week Front Row will be reflecting on the best examples of queer fiction since then, one night for each decade. We begin with the 1970s and our guide to the decade is poet and critic Gregory Woods.As we head into the final weeks of this year's prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year competition, Front Row looks at the five shortlisted institutions vying for the top prize of £100,000. Today it’s the turn of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, whose director Dr Laura Van Broekhoven explains why she believes the Pitt Rivers would be a worthy winner.Plus novelist Celia Brayfield joins Stig to discuss the work of writer Judith Krantz whose glamorous romantic novels have sold over 85 million copies worldwide.Presenter : Stig Abell Producer : Dymphna Flynn

Richard Curtis talks to John Wilson about The Beatles, the rom-com and time itself. He's written Yesterday, a musical fantasy comedy directed by Danny Boyle in which a musician, after an accident, finds himself in another world. Here he is the only person who remembers The Beatles, a fact he turns to his advantage. He takes the credit and becomes famous for writing and performing their songs. Himesh Patel stars as the singer and Lily James, Kate McKinnon, and Ed Sheeran also appear. Several writers and commentators have now withdrawn from the Bradford Literature Festival because of the funding of a pre-festival programme by Building a Stronger Britain Together, a Home Office counter extremism programme. Front Row hears from one of them, Hussein Kesvani, author of Follow Me, Akhi : the Online World of British Muslims, and discusses the reasons for the withdrawals.It's the summer solstice and Radio 4 has been celebrating with new poems throughout the day. In Front Row Mona Arshi reads her specially written midsummer song. She talks, too, about her new collection, Dear Big Gods, in which she explores both the intimacies of ordinariness and the collective experience of myth. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May