26/06/2011

Synopsis

Mariella Frostrup talks to John Banville - writing as Benjamin Black - about the fourth novel in his Dublin mystery series, "A Death in Summer." Dublin pathologist Doctor Quirke and Inspector Hackett investigate the supposed suicide of 'Diamond Dick'.

The success of the e-reader has outstripped all expectations. And it's having a particular impact on the popularity of short stories and novellas. How are publishers responding to the ever growing demand for short form fiction and how will writers themselves respond - will it regenerate the short story, or sound its death knell? Dan Franklin, digital editor at Random House, reveals his publishing house's plans for the future, and writers Kevin Barry and Laura Dockrill consider how the phenomenon of the low priced short story download might affect them.

Michelangelo's David and Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa are possibly the two most famous art works in the world and were both produced in Italy in the early 16th century. Co-incidentally two books out now fictionalise the story of their creation. Mary Hoffman and Lucille Turner discuss the implications of writing about the world's most iconic pieces of art, the "muses" that inspired them, and how they approached describing the visual aesthetic at the heart of their books in words.

Producer: Hilary Dunn.