Radio

Posts about radio.

Unearthed Americana: The Forgotten Girls by Monica Potts

Unearthed Americana

Robin Catling / July 17, 2023

Monday morning’s unearthed Americana comes via the airwaves. I feel slightly better about my pastiche-Americana piece for the July writers’ […]

If there is an 'Everyman' in literature, can the experiences of a female character also be universal? Novelist Sarah Hall goes in search of the Everywoman. Our literary and dramatic tradition is built on narrative traditions like the hero's journey, a quest often undertaken by an 'everyman' character. He's relatable, normal, even if he's put into unusual circumstances. But he's always a man. What happens when we assume the male story is the only one that matters? Sarah Hall has been writing novels and short stories for 20 years, and her experiences have left her questioning whether a female character could stand in for the human universal. In these programmes she's going in search of the literary Everywoman. Along the way Sarah traces the roots of the concept with Dinah Birch, and asks what the publishing industry can do to help us read a wide range of characters, speaking to publisher Ellah Wakatama. She shares her experiences of being both a reader and a writer with novelists Monique Roffey, Eimear McBride and Bernardine Evaristo,

Listening to The Everywoman (BBC Radio 4)

Robin Catling / August 23, 2021

We’re currently listening to The Everywoman (BBC Radio 4) and BBC Sounds. This neat, two-part documentary poses the question: If