On the back of the overwhelming success of Conversations on a Bench in Manchester, we are thrilled to announce two more editions of Conversations on a Bench (Presenter Anna Scott-Brown, Producer Adam Fowler) for BBC Radio 4.
First, we head to Edinburgh, with a commissioned poem by Janette Ayachi. The programme will air this Sunday 22nd October @ 4.30pm, repeated Saturday 28th October @ 11.30 p.m.
Janette Ayachi‘s bench is in Inverleith Park, Edinburgh. She says: “A combination of live art, installation improv and script all driven by the impulse of instantaneous thought and urgency of desire to speak – I’m in! I love the juxtaposition of ‘prearranged conversations’ and ‘chance encounters’ which brings to light the tension between a poet’s obsession with structuring words on a page and the more stream-of-consciousness spill into performance poetry – careful revision and revisiting merged with off the cuff and by chance.”
Next week, the conversation will take place in London’s Chinatown with a commissioned poem by Sarah Howe. Broadcast on Sunday 29th October @ 4.30 pm, repeated Saturday 4th November @ 11.30 p.m.
Sarah Howe has chosen a bench in China Town, London, reflecting her own Chinese roots, and uses her “rich, imagistic poetry that plays wildly with form” to explore this culture. She wanted to write a poem for Conversations on a Bench because the series “expresses the spirit of a place as well as something more literally human.”
