Open Book: Grace McCleen on The Professor of Poetry
Books and Authors
BBC
4.2 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 28 July 2013
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mariella Frostrup talks to Grace McCleen about her new novel The Professor of Poetry and on the centenary of her birth, James Runcie celebrates the life and works of Barbara Pym.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers. |
| 0:07.9 | But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA |
| 0:12.0 | was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife. |
| 0:18.0 | Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family? |
| 0:21.3 | When lies are still being told to this day, who do you believe? |
| 0:25.0 | I wouldn't even know where to start, and I'm with the irony. |
| 0:28.5 | Steakknife. |
| 0:29.6 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.4 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:37.1 | My name's Linda Davies, and I |
| 0:38.7 | commission podcasts for BBC Sounds. As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very |
| 0:44.1 | highest quality, featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may |
| 0:50.9 | not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things, |
| 0:55.4 | like pop stars, poltergeists, cricket, and conspiracy theories. |
| 1:00.5 | And that's just a few examples. |
| 1:02.4 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, |
| 1:05.6 | find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 1:09.0 | This is a download from the BBC. |
| 1:11.5 | To find out more, visit BBC.com.ukuk slash radio four. |
| 1:17.1 | Hello on today's programme, despite her debut winning both the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot Awards, |
| 1:22.7 | Grace MacLean tells me why she may never write again. |
| 1:26.0 | And Chardonnay, anyone? |
... |
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