Night Waves

7 February 2006

Tuesday 7 February 2006 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)

Susan Hitch will be talking to Helen Macdonald about her new book about the falcon, a bird which has fascinated humans for over 6000 years, including British Victorian men who found falconry a satisfying mix of manly pursuit and nursemaiding.

Duration:

45 minutes

Programme Details

In Night Waves tonight night Susan Hitch will be talking to the American artist Kerry James Marshall about his exhibition 'Along the Way' which has just opened at Baltic in Gateshead. Marshall's work has been collected by museums all over America but this is his first exhibition in Britain. He was born in Alabama in 1955, the year that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, moved to the Watts area of Los Angeles in the year of the riots and his work reflects this experience - his Lost Boys series is a memorial to children lost to violence and another sequence commemorates African Americans who made an unacknowledged contribution to society.

Also in the programme, John Sutherland will be in the studio to review a new book by the American writer Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut is best known as the author of 'Slaughterhouse 5', a novel which drew on his experience of surviving the British firebombing of Dresden while serving with the American Army. Now, at the age of 83, comes his memoir and polemic about the state of the world, 'A Man Without a Country'.

Also in the programme, Susan will also be talking to Helen Macdonald about her new book about the falcon, a bird which has fascinated humans for over 6000 years, including Goering and British Victorian men who found falconry a satisfying mix of manly pursuit and nursemaiding.

And in a series on Gothic Dreams running throughout the week Louise Welsh will be discussing Gothic literature from Frankenstein to Brett Easton Ellis.

Additional Information
'Falcon' by Helen Macdonald is published by Reaktion Books
'A Man Without a Country' by Kurt Vonnegut is published by Bloomsbury
Kerry James Marshall's exhibition 'Along the Way' is at Baltic in Gateshead until April 23rd (and then in Walsall and Oxford). Details of the exhibition and associated events can be seen at the Baltic website .

Night Waves

Episode and Playlist Information

• 16 February 2006
• 14 February 2006
• 13 February 2006
• 10 February 2006
• 9 February 2006
• 8 February 2006
• 7 February 2006
• 6 February 2006
• 3 February 2006
• 2 Feb 06 Solaris