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Episode details

Radio 4,30 Jun 2026,41 mins

Dave Eggers on his new novel Contrapposto and Supergirl director Craig Gillespie

Front Row

Available for over a year

Author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and The Circle, Dave Eggers is back with a new novel about a young aspiring artist. Contrapposto follows Cricket, an insular smalltown boy, enchanted by drawing, as well as an older girl, and in part draws on Eggers’ on experiences of the art world. Visiting the UK for the first time in over a decade, he speaks to Samira Ahmed in a rare interview. As an officially licensed AI Michael Caine narrated audiobook The Odyssey has recently been released, Media and AI lawyer Kelsey Farish and Guardian Film Editor Catherine Shoard discuss why a number of high profile actors, or their estates, have signed up to have their images and voices cloned for use by AI and what it means for the future of the industry. Jamir Nazir has won this year's Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Called The Serpent in the Grove, he explains how his childhood observations of rural life in his native Trinidad inspired the story, and describes the impact of winning on him and his family. Craig Gillespie talks about his new film Supergirl, a space adventure starring The House of Dragon actress Milly Alcock as Superman's mighty cousin. The I, Tonya and Cruella director reveals how this movies was inspired by the western True Grit and why he wanted to make the last daughter of Krypton a more complex and flawed character than has been shown on screen before. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Andrea Kidd

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