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BBC Radio 4

Fri 15 Mar 2013 09:00 BBC Radio 4

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David Almond

Duration:: 45 minutes

First broadcast:: Sunday 10 March 2013

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer David Almond.

Most of his work is for children but the adults who populate the juries of heavyweight literary prizes really like it too. The accolades began with his first novel Skellig published in 1998 when he was 47; it won the mighty "Whitbread Children's" award and then many others besides.

Ever since, he's been acclaimed for his ability to craft complex, philosophical narratives with strikingly down to earth characterisations.

He grew up just outside Newcastle in a big, Catholic family and his childhood features heavily in his stories.

He says "Each of my books has had to be written - there was something that had to come out."

Producer: Alison Hughes.

Claudio Monteverdi Possente Spirito
Performer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson and the English Baroque Soloists Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner
L’Orfeo, ARCHIV
Doris Day Black Hills of Dakota
Performer: Doris Day
A Portrait of Doris Day, STYLUS
Giacomo Puccini O soave Fanciulla
Performer: Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni and the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Le Boheme, DECCA
Four Tops Reach Out I’ll Be There
Four Tops: Reach Out, TAMLA MOTOWN
Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings
Performer: New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein - The Royal Edition No. 39 of 100, SONY CLASSICAL
Tod Machover Skellig
Performer: Matthew Long, Merrin Lazyan, Omar Ebrahim with the Northern Sinfonia and chorus conducted by Garry Walker (Recorded at the Sage in Gateshead November 2008)
Skellig Opera
Johann Sebastian Bach Variation 1
Performer: Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould Goldberg Variations, SONY CLASSICAL
Natalie Merchant Which side Are You On?
The House Carpenter’s Daughter, MYTH-AMERICA

BBC Radio 4Sun 10 Mar 2013 11:15 BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4Fri 15 Mar 2013 09:00 BBC Radio 4

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