This Cultural Life20 Aug 2022

Kate Mosse

The author of the multi-million-selling Languedoc trilogy, set amidst religious wars in south-west France and beginning with the bestselling Labyrinth, Kate Mosse has written nine novels and short story collections, and four plays. She is also one of the co-founders of the Women’s Prize For Fiction.

Kate Mosse tells John Wilson about first visiting the Festival Theatre in her hometown of Chichester at the age of six and seeing the 19th-century French farce The Italian Straw Hat, an experience that opened her mind to the power of drama. She remembers being among the million and a half visitors to the blockbuster Tutankhamen exhibition at the British Museum in 1972, and explains how her interest in historical narratives can be traced back to the treasures of the boy king.

Kate Mosse also chooses two literary influences for This Cultural Life. Having read Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights as a teenager, she says the way that Bronte describes the Yorkshire moors as like a character in their own right influenced her own novels in which the Languedoc landscape plays a similar narrative role. Her last big cultural moment is the 1991 Booker Prize for Fiction when an all-male shortlist prompted Kate and other literary figures to create the Women’s Prize for Fiction as a way of shining the spotlight on novels written by women anywhere in the world.

Producer: Edwina Pitman

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(161)

Tania Bruguera

Cuban performance and conceptual artist Tania Bruguera talks to John Wilson about her career and cultural influences. Her work explores freedom of speech, political oppression and social justice, ofte...

9 Juli 43min

Anish Kapoor

The artist and sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor talks to John Wilson about his career and cultural influences. Renowned for his innovative, often monumental works, Kapoor gained international recognition in ...

2 Juli 43min

Frank Cottrell-Boyce

The writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences and career. He started out as a screenwriter on the television soaps Brookside and Coronation Street, before publishi...

25 Juni 42min

Kiefer Sutherland

John Wilson talks to the actor and musician Kiefer Sutherland. The son of Canadian actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas, he first made his mark in the 1980s and 90s with films including Stand...

18 Juni 43min

Liam Young

Australian-born artist, filmmaker and speculative architect Liam Young discusses his work and cultural influences with John Wilson. Young creates imaginary future worlds through films and art installa...

11 Juni 43min

Kristin Scott Thomas

Award-winning actor Kristin Scott Thomas talks to John Wilson about her career and cultural influences. After a breakthrough role in the Evelyn Waugh film adaptation of A Handful Of Dust, she became a...

4 Juni 43min

George Saunders

The Booker Prize winning American author George Saunders talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences. He made his name as a writer of satirical or absurdist short stories which often explore co...

28 Maj 43min

Felicity Lott

The soprano Dame Felicity Lott talks to John Wilson about her distinguished career and cultural influences. One of Britain's best-loved sopranos, her breakthrough role was as a last minute stand-in fo...

21 Maj 41min