Front Row

On the night of 18th April, 2015 a 90-foot fishing boat packed with migrants sent out a distress signal. It collided with a vessel responding to that call and sank between Libya and the Italian island of Lampedusa. Between 770 and 1,100 people drowned. Now the wreck has been raised and installed at the Arsenale, the historical naval yards in Venice - as an art work. Tim Marlow, director of exhibitions at the Royal Academy, considers the controversy surrounding this, and discusses with John Wilson other works that have drawn his attention at the Biennale. Elizabeth Macneal’s debut novel The Doll Factory, the subject of a bidding war between publishers, is the story of a young woman who finds herself part of the circle around the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The author was also inspired by her fascination with the Victorian taste for collecting. She talks to Front Row about creating a character in charge of her own destiny, about the book’s success - and about her other career, being a potter. At the Venice Biennale, the British artist and author Edmund de Waal introduces us to his two-part project, Psalm, which opened this week at different venues. At the 16th-century Ateneo Veneto he has created a Library of Exile made of porcelain which holds almost 2000 books by exiled writers, from Ovid to the present day. To the north of the island, at the Jewish Museum, he’s installed a series of porcelain, marble and gold works that reflect the literary and musical heritage of the 500-year-old Ghetto.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May

Mark Haddon is the author of the phenomenally successful The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. He talks about his first novel in seven years, The Porpoise, in which he takes on the epic tale of Pericles.At this year’s Venice Biennale, the contentious American artist, Jimmie Durham, will be given the prestigious Golden Lion award for Lifetime Achievement. Art critic Ariella Budick discusses the controversy surrounding the artist whose biography is subject to as much speculation as his art.New discoveries in the tomb of Saexa, an Anglo-Saxon prince, have led archaeologists to dub him the Tutankhamun of Essex. Among the artefacts buried with him are a copper flagon from Syria, beautiful blue glass beakers and a lyre, inlaid with garnets. Sophie Jackson of the Museum of London Archaeology considers what they reveal of the cultural life and taste of people living here in the 580s. Shakespeare’s Globe’s Artistic Director Michelle Terry discusses their new productions of Henry IV parts 1 & 2 and Henry V. She talks about her role as actor-manager and about working with an diverse ensemble cast who collectively bring the show together.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Sarah Johnson

When Guy Chambers teamed up with Robbie Williams in 1997, they created one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in British pop history. Now Guy has released his debut solo album called Go Gentle into the Light, performing hits such as Angels and Millennium on the piano. Writer Nina Stibbe has been announced as the winner of the 2019 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction for her novel, Reasons to be Cheerful. She discusses the art of comic writing.Even a small amount of creativity can help you cope with modern life - so says new research by BBC Arts and University College London. The BBC Arts Great British Creativity Test surveyed almost 50,000 people to explore links between arts activities and wellbeing. Dr Daisy Fancourt, UCL Senior Research Fellow shares the key findings.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Edwina Pitman

Director Amma Asante on her new film Where Hands Touch, which follows Leyna, an Afro-German girl, living under the increasingly dangerous and racist Nazi regime during World War II. Asante discusses her approach, used in this film and in A United Kingdom and Belle, of shining a light on little known histories often involving black characters to tell us something about the world today. Years and Years is BBC One's new drama series created by Russell T Davies. Set in an imagined near future, it stars Emma Thompson as an outspoken celebrity turned political figure whose controversial opinions divide the nation. Katie Popperwell reviews. Aretha Franklin's legendary 1972 album Amazing Grace saw the singer returning to her soul routes after commercial success. The record went on to be the biggest seller of Franklin's 50 year career. Far less well known is the accompanying concert film directed by Sydney Pollack which captured the recording in raw detail, but was subsequently shelved. Forty-seven years later as the film is finally released in cinemas, record producer Joe Boyd tells the story of its long gestation. Deirdre Falvey, arts journalist for the Irish Times, on the ongoing uproar at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin which has seen over 400 theatre professionals in Ireland sign an open letter to the Minister for Culture, Josepha Madigan, expressing their "deep concern and dissatisfaction" with Ireland's national theatre under its current directors.Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn

Among the designs of the leading British-Ghanaian architect Sir David Adjaye OBE are the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, which opened in 2016 in a ceremony led by the then US President Barack Obama, and the planned UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre next to the Palace of Westminster in London.David Adjaye is in Venice ahead of the opening of his Ghana Pavilion for this year's Biennale, and in a rare interview the architect discusses the role of architecture and the importance of anthropology and ethnography in his designs.Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald

The Malian singer Rokia Traoré is celebrated for her extraordinary voice, her collaborations with musicians and writers such as Damon Albarn and Toni Morrison, and her efforts to give opportunities to other artists in Mali. These qualities and interests are reflected in her choices as Guest Director of this year’s Brighton Festival. She talks about the work she and others will be performing.In Germany, the far-right party AfD - Alternative fur Deutschland – are using the nineteenth century painting Slave Market by Jean-Leon Gerome in their posters for the upcoming European elections. The French artist is seen as a leading proponent of Orientalism, and this work depicts a nude fair-skinned enslaved woman paraded for sale and examined by Middle Eastern or North African men. One has his fingers in her mouth, as if she were a horse whose teeth he is checking. BBC Correspondent Damien McGuiness and art critic Fisun Guner discuss the use of this provocative work in a political campaign.Granta, the literary magazine was launched in 1979 by a group of Cambridge University students and went on to become an influential force in the literary world, publishing heavyweights like Angela Carter, Raymond Carver and Philip Roth. Its "Under 40" list of emerging writers was influential and at its height it enjoyed a readership of 135,000. As the magazine turns 40 co-founder and former editor Bill Buford considers its history and place in today's literary world. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Kate Bullivant

The death of Andrea Levy earlier this year adds a poignancy to the National Theatre's staging of her prizewinning 2004 novel Small Island, the story of the Windrush generation and their reception in Britain. Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff reviews. Screenwriter Craig Mazin on his Sky/HBO drama series Chernobyl, about the nuclear plant disaster of 1986 and the people who sacrificed themselves to save Europe from even greater catastrophe. Carol Ann Duffy’s time as Poet Laureate ended this week but her successor has not yet been named. Tristram Fane Saunders on who is likely to be the next Poet Laureate and why is it taking so long to be announced.Barack and Michelle Obama, who last year launched a production company to make TV and films, have announced their first slate of programmes in partnership with Netflix, including a fashion drama and food programme. Boyd Hilton reports. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Timothy Prosser

Ben Lewis talks about his book The Last Leonardo, about the world's most expensive work of art, the painting Salvator Mundi. Authenticated as a Leonardo in 2011, he examines its journey from Leonardo’s workshop in Milan through to the present day and explains why he has doubts about its authenticity.Art critic Waldemar Januszczak and editor of The Art Newspaper Alison Cole assess Leonardo's extraordinary art and legacy, from the Mona Lisa to The Last Supper.One of the UK’s foremost vocal ensembles I Fagiolini talk about and perform live from their new album, Leonardo - Shaping the Invisible, in which they have matched Leonardo da Vinci's artworks with vocal masterworks, illuminating his images through the prism of music. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Edwina Pitman

JRR Tolkien’s literary canon has inspired some of the highest-grossing films ever, now a biopic about his life is being released to cinemas. Tolkien stars Nicholas Hoult as The Lord of the Rings author and looks at his formative years at school and during World War One. But last week the family of Tolkien have issued a rare public statement disavowing the film. Fantasy author and Tolkien fan Samantha Shannon gives her verdict on the film and the disapproval from the Tolkien estate. John Singleton directed Boyz n the Hood when he was 24, becoming the youngest director, and the first African-American to be Oscar nominated. He also worked with rap artists such as Ice Cube, Tupac and Snoop Dogg as well as making the music video to Michael Jackson’s hit Remember the Time which starred Eddy Murphy and Iman. Music journalist Jacqueline Springer considers his legacy.For the first time in its 14 year history, the Afghanistani TV talent competition Afghan Star, has been won by a woman. Journalist Sahar Zand discusses the status of music and women in a country still recovering from the authoritarian rule of the Taliban which banned music and severely restricted women's rights. It's the topic of her new documentary The Art of Now: Afghan Stars which is on Radio 4 next week. Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto and Dr Erik Scherder, Professor in Clinical Neuropsychology, talk about their series of concerts exploring the influence of music on the brain. They demonstrate how music is experienced by brains in different states such as a developing brain, an adult brain, or a vulnerable brain affected by diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

Front Row pays tribute to Les Murray, Australia’s foremost contemporary poet, who died today aged 80. Unlike famous compatriots such as Germaine Greer and Clive James, Murray stayed in Australia and spent his last years on the farm in Bunyah, New South Wales, that had been his family’s home. Murray reacted against modernism, believing poetry should be accessible. He wrote poems about Australian people, animals and landscape in plain, lively and demotic language and so became known as the country’s Australia’s bush-bard. His books were always dedicated ‘to the glory of God’. Louis de Berniere’s best-selling novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin has been adapted for the stage and will be touring the UK. Sam Marlowe joins Samira to review the play and discuss how it compares with the book (and the film).The shortlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019 has been announced.Critics Sarah Shaffi and Toby Lichtig comment on the six novels that made it through from the longlist of 16.A major new exhibition celebrating the life and work of one of the most significant figures in the history of British film - director Stanley Kubrick - has just opened at the Design Museum in London. Samira is joined by the show’s co-curator and director of the Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic, as well as Kubrick’s daughter Katharina who worked on several of the director’s projectsPresenter: Samira Ahmed, Producer: Oliver Jones