Front Row

Acclaimed author Siri Hustvedt on Ghost Stories, her memoir of her marriage to novelist, poet and filmmaker Paul Auster and her grief following his death in 2024.
Following last night's live report on the controversies surrounding this year's Venice Biennale, we are joined by one of the curators of the Ukrainian Pavillion, to hear how a concrete sculpture of a deer rescued from the frontline of the conflict in Ukraine forms the centrepiece of their exhibit.
As a new documentary - Salm Nan Daoine (Psalms of the People) explores how the Gaelic Psalm singing tradition is being kept alive in communities across Scotland and Ireland, singer and musician Rob MacNeacail talks about the history of the tradition and gives us a live demonstration in the studio.
And as a major new project is launched by the National Theatre of Scotland to enable care-experienced people to tell authentic stories about their lives,, playwright Nicola McCartney is joined by the artistic director of The Big House, a London-based charity which empowers young care-experienced people through theatre to fulfil their potential through impactful stage productions.
Presenter: Kate Molleson
Producer: Mark Crossan

Antony Gormley joins Samira Ahmed. The sculptor and artist is best known for landmarks such as Angel of the North or the beach figures of Another Place, in Liverpool. But Antony has also been exhibiting drawings since the 80s and with the publication of the book Drawing he tells Samira what this art means to him.
After the Devil Wears Prada 2 topped the box office this week, BBC New Generation Thinker Dr. Sarah Smyth and author and critic Hanna Flint discuss how films depict women, work and romance.
Following the resignation of the entire jury last week, we discuss the fraught politics of the Venice Biennale with Ed Behrens, editor of visual arts magazine Apollo.
Bruce Dickinson joins Samira to talk about the new documentary Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Harry Graham

As the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration prepares to open in London, we find out how illustrators are adapting to a changing world.
Starting with a rare interview from Quentin Blake, we'll hear how this once undervalued side of the visual arts still creates the defining images of childhoods, whilst also now playing a central role in the visual language of the internet.
Featuring voices working across illustration, including Posy Simmonds, Chris Riddell, Michael Rosen, Christoph Niemann, Lizzy Stewart, Benji Davies, Murugiah, Chie Kutsuwada and Jane Rosenberg and Olivia Ahmad.
The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration opens 5th June.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Harry Graham

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by playwright Mark Ravenhill and academic and critic Maria Delgado to review:
The first major UK exhibition of Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán at the National Gallery.
A new Spanish language series adaptation of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits on Amazon Prime video.
Please Please Me by Tom Wright, a play about manager Brian Epstein and The Beatles at the Kiln Theatre in London.
Plus Tom speaks to the winner of the prestigious Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, seen on the series Making of a Maestro.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Lucy Collingwood

From the rebellious spirit of The Jam in the 1970s to the soulful sound of The Style Council and mellow ballads as a solo artist, singer-songwriter Paul Weller is about to release Weller At The BBC Volume 2 - a series of session recordings of his classic hits and interpretations of other artists' songs. He .discusses his musical evolution and his influences.
She's been rather overshadowed by fellow writers such as James Kelman and Alasdair Gray, but in her centenary year Scottish novelist Agnes Owens (who died in 2014) is being celebrated with two exhibitions, and the republication of out-of-print books with new introductions by contemporary writers. Owens' son and literary executor John Crosbie and novelist Kirstin Innes discuss her significance as a writer and her trademark tone.
Writer Fran Kranz discusses his play Mass, in which the parents of a school shooter meet those of a victim, and which is currently running at the Donmar Warehouse in London.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan