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Documentary Witches of the Orient, Antonia Fraser's verse and who should be writing book reviews?

Julien Faraut on his film about Japan's women's volley ball team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Their success was one of the most watched television events ever.

A new documentary Witches Of The Orient' looks back at the last time that Tokyo acted as host. Volleyball made its debut in The 1964 Summer Olympics. And the success of the home team in women鈥檚 volleyball became one of the most watched domestic TV events ever. French film director Julien Faraut discovered this now-largely-forgotten event and was captivated by it.

The historical biographer Lady Antonia Fraser reveals an unknown aspect of her writing life as four of her poems are set to music by Stephen Hough. Two were written in and about lock-down, one wittily recalls a whirlwind American book tour book and the last is a tender memory of Harold Pinter. Just after their premiere today she told Elle Osili-Wood about them and her lifelong habit of writing verse.

We continue this week鈥檚 series around debates in the book world. Tonight: reviews. Is the traditional media giving readers what they want? Does getting your book reviewed in the broadsheets matter any more? And how might the way books are reviewed be done differently, from broadening the pool of reviewers to shifting the aesthetic hurdles required to assess writing of quality? Elle is joined by Professor Sandeep Parmar, founder of the Ledbury Poetry Critics Scheme, a national programme to encourage diversity in poetry reviewing culture aimed at new critical voices along with Michael Caines, Assistant Editor at the Times Literary Supplement and founder of the Brixton Review of Books.

Presenter: Elle Osili-Wood
Producer: Simon Richardson
Studio Manager: Donald MacDonald

Main image: a still from the Witches of the Orient documentary film.
Image credit: Courtesy of Modern Films

Available now

28 minutes

Clip

Witches of the Orient

Witches of the Orient
Julien Faraut's documentary Witches of the Orient is in cinemas from 16 July 21, certificate U, and can be streamed .聽 聽 聽聽Main image and image to the left: stills from Witches of the Orient.聽 聽 聽 聽聽Images credit: Courtesy of Modern Films


Antonia Fraser

Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Fraser's verses are set to music by pianist and composer .聽 A recording of them being performed by the mezzo soprano Kitty Whately accompanied by pianist Simon Lepper is available on the Wigmore Hall's .聽 聽Image: Lady Antonia Fraser.聽 聽 聽Image credit: Getty Images

Publishing: Reviews and criticism

Publishing: Reviews and criticism
For more about literary criticism:聽聽 聽and聽 聽

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