Front Row

Norwich will soon be home to the new National Centre for Writing in the medieval Dragon Hall. Chris Gribble tells Kirsty Lang about the extraordinary building and the role of the Centre. Authors Sarah Perry and Sarah Hall describe the thriving literary culture of the city and Kirsty visits The Book Hive, one of the city's independent bookshops. She goes to the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library and to the University of East Anglia, home to the MA in Creative Writing that has Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro and Anne Enright among its famous graduates. There she meets tutor Rebecca Stott, author Imogen Hermes Gowar, whose novel The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock is shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and poet and MA student Gboyega Abayomi-Odubanjo.

Graphic artist David Shrigley discusses his role as Guest Director of the Brighton Festival 2018, and his new book Fully Coherent Plan for a New and Better Society.Madeline Miller won the Orange Prize for Fiction with her debut The Song of Achilles, which told the story of a love affair between Achilles and Patroclus. Her latest novel continues the Greek theme with the story of the first witch in Western literature, Circe, daughter of Helios, who is scorned and rejected by her kin. She discusses what inspired her to take up her story.The Cannes film festival starts next week, but it's being boycotted by Netflix, one of the world's most powerful entertainment companies. Netflix has been accused of cultural imperialism and Cannes of living in the past. Boyd Hilton and Simon Usborne consider the significance of this turn of events.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald.

The Burning Chambers is the latest historical novel from bestselling author of Labyrinth and co-founder of the Women's Prize for Fiction, Kate Mosse. Set in sixteenth century Languedoc it is the first in a new quartet that covers three centuries of religious conflict. Kate Mosse explains the inspiration for the books and her fascination for medieval France.Kanye West is never far away from controversy and this time the US rapper has caused a public outcry with his comments about slavery. Jacqueline Springer and Katie Puckrik discuss Kanye's recent provocative remarks. The results of the Loewe Craft Prize are announced and Samira talks to the man behind it, fashion designer Jonathan Anderson, Deyan Sudjic, the director of the Design Museum which is exhibiting the entries, and the winner of the prize. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Harry Parker.

In a BBC national poll Benjamin Zephaniah was voted the nation's third favourite poet of all times, after TS Eliot and John Donne, and the only living one in the top ten. Aged 60, the award winning playwright, novelist, activist and musician has published a memoir, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah. He talks to John Wilson. Coronation Street has just revealed that the character, Aidan Connor, will take his own life next week. Over the years soaps generally have not shied away from dealing with such controversial issues but do they always get it right when including them? Kate Oates, the producer of Coronation Street, and Emma Bullimore, the television and film critic, discuss this type of storyline.The award- winning American stand-up comedian and actress Amy Schumer stars in a new film called "I Feel Pretty". Film and TV critic, Emma Bullimore, discusses the film and the appeal of Amy Schumer.A lost novel by Romanian author Mircea Eliade was rediscovered in an attic and has just been published in English for the first time. Susan Curtis-Kojaković, the director of Istros Books who are publishing the novel, joins John to talk about its significance.

Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art, a new exhibition at Tate Modern, explores the intertwined stories of the two art forms from the early photographic experiments to the digital innovations of the 21st century. The two curators discuss the relationship between artists, including Jackson Pollock, Georges Braque and Bridget Riley, and photographers, including Man Ray and Edward Weston.Stephen Deuchar, chair of the judging panel for the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize, reveals the shortlist for this year's award. Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling was the bestselling novel of 2017 in Ireland, beating David Walliams to the coveted Christmas number one slot. The main character, Aisling, started life as a fake Facebook account created by two friends, Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen. They discuss bringing their surprise hit novel to the UK. The chief economist at the Bank of England has said that popular trends in streaming music can be as important indicators of upcoming consumer confidence as more traditional statistical methods. Can trends in happy or sad downloads really be a basis for fiscal strategy? The BBC's Economics Editor Kamal Ahmed looks at the possibilities of the arts for economic forecasting.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Edwina Pitman.

Plan B - the singer, director and actor, aka Ben Drew - releases his fourth studio album this week. Plan B discusses Heaven Before All Hell Breaks Loose, featuring songs that reflect how his life has changed since his last album six years ago. From Picasso to Grayson Perry, design critic Corinne Julius and the Royal Academy of Art's commercial director Jo Prosser discuss the history and trends in artists' work reproduced on homewares.We hear about a new exhibition of Chinese art exploring the portrayal of women - as wives, mothers, workers, and students - over the past 100 years, which opens tomorrow at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May.

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.