Front Row

Avengers: Infinity War is released in cinemas today. Fans have been counting the days until the film's release, but what does this ambitious high-budget offering reveal about the state of the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe? Mik Scarlet and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh consider the bigger picture.At a time when many libraries across the UK are facing an uncertain future, Salley Vickers has gone back to the 1950s for her new novel The Librarian. Salley, and Peter Gaw who runs Nottinghamshire's libraries, consider how the role of the library has changed and adapted to a modern world, and the challenge they face today. Two Welsh musicians - singer Kizzy Crawford and pianist and composer Gwilym Simcock - perform from their new album Cân Yr Adar, or Birdsong. They talk about their collaboration, which also involves Sinfonia Cymru, and how they were inspired by the landscape and wildlife of Carngafallt, the nature reserve in mid-Wales, known as the Celtic rainforest. Presenter Stig Abell Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Janelle Monáe, the American singer and actress, discusses her new album Dirty Computer, working with Prince, and her roles in recent films Hidden Figures and Moonlight. Controversialist Katie Hopkins has said that she might be murdered for her outspoken views. A new musical based on this premise, explores imagined events in the aftermath of her death. The Assassination of Katie Hopkins considers the boundaries of liberal tolerance and the pervasive power of social media. We talk to the show's writer, Chris Bush and the composer, Matt Winkworth Hopkins. This year's contenders for the Turner Prize have been announced. Art critic Jonathan Jones, who was a judge for the prize in 2009, assesses the work of the four shortlisted artists in what might turn out to be a controversial year for the prize.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins(Main Image: Janelle Monáe Credit: Juco).

Rodin and the art of ancient Greece is a new exhibition at the British Museum which highlights the influence the Greek Parthenon sculptures had on the French artist on his first visit to the museum in 1881. The show's curators, Ian Jenkins and Celeste Farge, discuss the relationship between Auguste Rodin's works, including The Kiss and The Thinker, and Pheidias's Elgin Marbles. One of Britain's leading young composers Mark Simpson, himself a winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Award, has written a cello concerto for his friend, Leonard Elschenbroich. Mark and Leonard reveal the collaborative process involved in its composition and Leonard performs an extract live in the studio.Novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, famous for her novels American Wife and Eligible, talks to John Wilson about her first collection of short stories, You Think It, I'll Say It. The book, nominated for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, includes a story told from the point of view of Hillary Clinton as she runs for the Democrat nomination for president. Other stories delve into parenthood, extra-marital affairs and reconciling our teenage selves with how we are in middle age.Momtaza Mehri, the London Youth Laureate, explains the huge popularity among young people of television dramas made in Korea, and the significance of the Korean Wave or Hallyu, as it is known.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May.

Today the first statue of a woman in Parliament Square in London was unveiled. Millicent Fawcett, the suffragist who fought for women's right to vote in the early 20th century, joins 11 male figures including Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandi. Art critic Estelle Lovatt gives her verdict on the artwork.We talk to dramatist Joe Penhall, writer of the award-winning The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon and hit play Blue/Orange, about his new work Mood Music, about a feuding singer and music producer.Theatre and show effect lighting could be seriously affected by new EU regulations intending to make lighting and other electrical goods more energy efficient. Lighting designers Paule Constable and Patrick Woodroffe explain how the entertainment industry would be affected if the new proposals, which are currently in consultation, were to be implemented. This year marks the 300 anniversary of Thomas Chippendale, arguably the greatest and certainly the most well-known furniture maker in the world. Front Row reports from the small town of Otley in Yorkshire, where Chippendale was born and started out in his trade as a cabinet maker and where celebrations are in full swing. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Edwina Pitman.

The shortlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018 has been announced today, critics Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig comment on the six novels that made it through from the longlist of 16. Country band The Shires perform live and discuss their new album, Accidentally on Purpose, working with Ed Sheeran and why country music is having a resurgence in popularity in the UK.Sean O'Brien is a man of letters, writing essays, plays and novels; as well as his celebrated poetry. He talks about and reads from Europa, his latest collection - and his ninth. The tenet is that Europe is not a place we can choose to leave and the poems explore how our culture, language, history and identity are inextricably entwined with mainland Europe. Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Romola Garai is known for her roles in films such as Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, and in The Hours, Emma and The Miniaturist on television. For her latest role she's on stage in Ella Hickson's new play, The Writer. Garai discusses playing the writer, who battles patriarchy and capitalism in her determination to create a pure art that will change the world. The South African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo have been singing and touring for over 50 years. On the eve of their performance in the Queen's 92nd birthday concert and subsequent UK tour they perform live for Front Row.Guy Gunaratne's debut novel, In Our Mad And Furious City, focuses on the lives of five inhabitants of a London Council Estate and explores themes of violence, extremism, and division in society over a 48 hour period. Guy joins Kirsty to discuss.

When the Empire Windrush docked, the first contribution of the arrivals from the Caribbean was cultural - Lord Kitchener singing his calypso "London is the Place for Me". Stig Abell talks to publisher Sharmaine Lovegrove and calypsonian Alexander D Great about the artistic contribution of the Windrush Generation, and their offspring. Alexander sings 'After the Windrush', a new calypso written especially for Front Row.Comedian David Walliams pays tribute to his friend the television presenter Dale Winton who has died. Known for his warmth and unpretentious style he presented many programmes including Supermarket Sweep, Pet Win Prizes and In It To Win It. As the BBC Proms 2018 season is announced, music critic Alexandra Coghlan assesses this year's offerings.Imtiaz Dharker is an interesting mixture, she grew up as a Muslim Calvinist in a Lahori household - in Glasgow. So she has plenty to draw on as a poet. She talks about and reads from her new collection 'Luck is the Hook'. Her poems range widely and intriguingly, and include one about an elephant walking on the Thames.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Edwina Pitman.

Tina Turner has been closely involved with Tina, the musical which tells the story of her tempestuous life. It has just opened and Front Row has a review. The actor Nicola Walker discusses her role in Abi Morgan's new television drama series about divorce lawyers, The Split, and some of her other roles.A report was published last week looking at booking accessible tickets for people with disabilities, for music and entertainment venues. Samira Ahmed speaks to Claire Griffin from the Roundhouse in London and Richard Howle from the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham - both venues praised in the report for their progress in becoming accessible venues. Mik Scarlet, Access and Inclusion Advisor and a regular gig goer himself, joins the conversation to discuss if the report reflect his own experience and to consider what further improvements need to be made to the industry as a whole.The cherry trees are blooming here and in Japan, where the blossom prompts celebration - drinking, picnics, poetry reading and the writing of haikus under flower festooned branches. But, Samira hears from a poet in Kyoto, an invasive beetle is threatening the trees, and this loved tradition.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May.

Following last night's broadcast of The Queen's Green Planet on ITV, which features the Queen in intimate conversation with Sir David Attenborough, we talk to the documentary's director Jane Treays about working with the Queen and look back over the history of royal TV projects with critic Chris Dunkley.Luke Evans has featured in many Hollywood films including The Girl on the Train, Fast & Furious, the Hobbit franchise and last year as Gaston in Disney's live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. The Welsh actor discusses his new Netflix series The Alienist, in which he plays a newspaper illustrator who teams up with a criminal psychologist to catch a serial killer in 1890s New York. Composer Sir James MacMillan's choral work Stabat Mater will make history on 22 April, when it becomes the first work to be video-streamed live from the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. It will be performed by The Sixteen and Britten Sinfonia under conductor Harry Christophers. MacMillan and Christophers discuss the challenges of performing in this revered venue.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Mike Newell discusses his film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which stars Lily James as a writer uncovering a mystery from World War II on the Channel island. The director looks back at his career which includes Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Donnie Brasco.Joanna Walsh is one of the UK's leading experimental writers. She discusses her new novel, Break.up about a nameless woman recovering from a relationship with a man which was mainly conducted online. Break.up also challenges the borders between fiction and non-fiction, as it ranges into travelogue, essays on music, boredom, marriage and art.Film critic Hannah McGill examines the cultural legacy of the late Czech filmmaker Miloš Forman, known primarily for his two Oscar-winning masterpieces One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus.Music writer Ben Wardle attempts to prove that 1978 was the greatest and most significant year in the history of pop music - think Kate Bush, Blondie, The Village People, The Police, Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town, Buzzcocks, and Kraftwerk's The Man Machine for starters. Presenter: Alex Clark Producer: Hannah Robins.