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JJ Abrams; Hermione Lee on Penelope Fitzgerald; Time in TV

Hermione Lee discusses her new biography of the late writer Penelope Fitzgerald, JJ Abrams describes his unorthodox new creation 'S', and John Yorke on chronology in TV series.

With Mark Lawson, including an interview with critic and writer Hermione Lee about her new biography of Penelope Fitzgerald, who published her first novel at the age of 60, and won the Booker Prize with her book Offshore at the age of 63.

With the news of a massive find of Nazi looted art in a Munich flat this weekend, Mark speaks to art critic Bill Feaver and Head of Collections at the Berlin Jewish Museum Inka Bertz about the connection to the 1937 "Entartete Kunst" - the Degenerate art exhibition in Berlin which included work by Picasso, Paul Klee, Kandinsky and Nolde.

J J Abrams, the creator of TV series Lost, discusses his latest work - S - a novel where the writing is not just between the lines but in the margins and in scraps of paper embedded between the pages. S tells the story of a book written by a mysterious author and two of its readers who correspond to each other via its yellowing pages. Abrams talks of its conception and why he handed the project to novelist Doug Dorst, while he worked on Star Trek and the new Star Wars movies.

Fresh Meat returns to our screens tonight, joining the students at the beginning of their second year at university. John Yorke, former head of EastEnders and author of Into the Woods: A Five Act Journey into Story, joins Mark to reflect on how TV has used the passage of time to bolster plots and storylines.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Available now

30 minutes

Chapters

  • Penelope Fitzgerald

    Duration: 09:34

  • Looted Nazi art

    Duration: 05:05

  • JJ Abrams

    Duration: 08:28

  • TV time shifts

    Duration: 04:29

JJ Abrams

JJ Abrams
聽created by JJ Abrams and written by Doug Dorst is out now, published by Canongate Books.聽

Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life by Hermione Lee

Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life by Hermione Lee
by is out now, published by聽Chatto & Windus.

(Pictured, Penelope Fitzgerald writing Charlotte Mew, used by permission of Tina and Terence Dooley, all rights reserved).

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Mark Lawson
Interviewed Guest Hermione Lee
Interviewed Guest J.J. Abrams
Interviewed Guest John Yorke
Producer Jerome Weatherald

Broadcast

  • Mon 4 Nov 2013 19:15

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