20/11/2009

Synopsis

Arts news and reviews with Kirsty Lang. Director Richard Linklater discusses his latest film and the verdict on TV's search for the new Damien Hirst.

Richard Linklater: The US film director's eclectic CV includes Slacker in 1991, Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, and the more mainstream The School of Rock with Jack Black. Linklater discusses his latest film, Me and Orson Welles, and his discovery of Welles's doppelganger.

School of Saatchi: TV's new four-part search for the next Damien Hirst. Charles Saatchi never appears on screen, but helped by judges including Tracey Emin and Matt Collings, chooses six finalists to study with top artists, and a winner to exhibit work in St Petersburg, from thousands of applicants. Christopher Frayling, former head of Arts Council England and The Royal College of Art, reviews.

The Woman in White Anniversary Project: 26 November 2009 is the 150th anniversary of the first appearance of the first episode of The Woman in White in the weekly periodical All The Year Round. It was an enormous hit; there were The Woman in White cloaks and bonnets, The Woman in White waltzes and quadrilles and it was even parodied in Punch magazine. Starting on the anniversary for 40 weeks, the Wilkie Collins Society will be putting the original text online week by week as it appeared in All The Year Round so people can read it just as they did in 1859/60.

Oprah Winfrey: The American talk show host has announced that she will broadcast her final show in 2011. In 1996, Oprah introduced an additional segment to her show: Oprah's Book Club, which has had a phenomenal impact on the American publishing industry, with many of the books she has championed topping the bestseller lists. Writer and literary critic Elaine Showalter reflects on why and how Oprah has achieved such huge influence in the literary world.