91Èȱ¬

Mark Rylance who plays the title role in the new film of Roald Dahl's The BFG talks about the mythological nature of giants and their language - as written by Dahl. Dr Sophie Coulombeau looks at racism in children’s books of the past, particularly Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate factory and Herge’s Tintin in the Congo. Children’s writers Frank Cottrell Boyce and Bali Rai discuss modern day kids’ books and the lack of value placed on children’s literature. Saul Williams, the American rapper, musician, poet and actor, explains the importance of poetry to him. Lopa Kothari hears British-born Palestinian singer Reem Kelani tell of her musical childhood as well as music from her trio, fusing traditional Arabic and jazz influences. The British street artist Stik , famous for his murals, often many metres high, of simplistic figures which can be seen all over the world, reveals his troubled past with homelessness and mental problems and explains how he came to draw his distinctive figures. Audrey Brown asks which African books deserve a wider audience. British poet and rapper Akala and British Nigerian writer Sarah Ladipo Manyika give their answers. Seventh generation master sitar player Nishat Khan improvises an ‘afternoon’ raga and a ‘late afternoon’ raga and shows how sexy the sitar is.

(Photo shows: The BFG (c) Disney, Reem Kelani (c) 91Èȱ¬, Saul Williams (c) Pascal Le Segretain/Getty)