Nordic Noir and the Moomins

Nordic Noir and the Moomins

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

Indian-based author and podcaster Purba Chakraborty talks about the history of fiction writing.

We hear about the rise in popularity of 'Nordic Noir', following the publication of Henning Mankell's crime novels.

Then we listen to BBC archive of writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges - regarded as one of the most influential Latin American writers in history.

Plus, the trial of two Soviet writers, Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky, accused of smuggling their works to the west.

Helen Fielding looks back at her weekly newspaper column about a 30-something, single woman in London, which became a cultural phenomenon in the 1990s.

The niece of Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson talks about her iconic Moomin books - which have been published in more than 60 languages.

And finally, we hear the personal story of young Nepalese athlete Mira Rai, which shocked the ultra-running world.

Contributors: Anneli Høier - literary agent. Jorge Luis Borges - short story writer and poet. Purba Chakraborty - writer and podcaster. Andrei Sinyavsky - Russian writer and Soviet dissident. Alexander Daniel - son of Yuli Daniel, Russian writer and Soviet dissident. Helen Fielding - journalist and writer. Sophia Jansson - niece of Tove Jansson, author and artist. Mira Rai - Nepalese trail runner.

(Photo: Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell and a copy of one of his books. Credit: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images)

Episoder(467)

Kuwaiti Women Secure the Vote

Kuwaiti Women Secure the Vote

Women in Kuwait win the right to vote, and the only women on the front line on the Western Front in World War One; battling smog in Mexico City in the 1980s, the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, and America's first incident of Islamic terror forty years ago.Photo: the first women candidates for parliamentary elections in Kuwait in 2006, Aisha al-Rashid (R) and Rola Dashti (C) (Credit: Yasser al-Zayya/AFP/Getty Images)

10 Mar 201750min

Mother Teresa - The Nun Who Became A Saint

Mother Teresa - The Nun Who Became A Saint

Life with Mother Teresa among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, how the World Health Organisation came to realise that obesity was a global problem and Eleanor Roosevelt in the White House. Plus the immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks - a remarkable story of one woman's impact on medical research.(PHOTO: AP Mother Teresa holds a child in 1978)

4 Mar 201750min

The German American Bund

The German American Bund

In the 1930s, a group of German-American Nazi sympathisers known as the German American Bund held rallies and summer camps across the US. Also, the lawyers who helped Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic defend himself against war crimes charges and how vandals attacked Denmark's famous Little Mermaid Statue.

25 Feb 201750min

Love and Marriage

Love and Marriage

From speed-dating to gay romance, from divorce to bigamy we look at recent changes in the way society perceives love and marriage. Plus - an expert view on how to make sure your love endures.Photo: A heart hanging over Carnaby Street in London. Credit: BBC.

18 Feb 201750min

Sanctuary Cities in the USA

Sanctuary Cities in the USA

This week how American cities like San Francisco became safe havens for undocumented immigrants, the story of Tilikum and first recorded killing of a human by an orca whale, discovering DNA, the ship wreck that gave locals whiskey galore and Kenya's smash hit song - that got everyone singing in Swahili.(Photo: Supporters of Sanctuary Cities demonstrating in San Francisco, January 2017. Credit: AP)

11 Feb 201750min

The End of Apartheid

The End of Apartheid

Former South African police minister on ending apartheid, eyewitness to Black Hawk Down, landmark sexual harassment case in India, the last South American war and a record breaking solo trek across the Antarctic Picture: Anti-apartheid protestors demonstrate in Cape Town on the same day that President de Klerk announced the lifting of the ban on the ANC and the release of all political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela (Credit: RASHID LOMBARD/AFP/Getty Images)

4 Feb 201750min

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy

On 26 January 1972 four Aboriginal men began a protest outside Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. They erected a beach umbrella on the grass and called it an 'embassy'.Plus, the murder of five lawyers in Madrid in 1977, which became a turning point in Spain's return to democracy; the invention of the microwave oven; Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; and 75 years of the BBC's longest-running programme, Desert Island Discs.

28 Jan 201750min

Roots - The TV Series

Roots - The TV Series

The epic mini-series about slavery in the US hit TV screens in January 1977. We hear from actor Leslie Uggams, who played the character Kizzy, recalling how "Roots" revolutionised perceptions about African-American history. Plus: when peace deal ended El Salvador's brutal civil war, the murder of prominent Turkish Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, life in the world's largest refugee camp, and how Dungeons and Dragons came about.(Photo: Actors LeVar Burton, Todd Bridges and Robert Reed in Roots. Credit: Alamy)

21 Jan 201750min

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