麻豆社

Libby Purves meets British Museum curator Dr Daniel Antoine; translator and editor Brendan King; artist Hetain Patel and writer Sue Swingler.

Dr Daniel Antoine is the curator of human remains at the British Museum. He is overseeing the museum's new interactive exhibition Ancient lives, new discoveries. The exhibition uses state-of-the-art technology to allow visitors to look inside mummy cases and examine what's underneath the wrappings. Visitors will encounter each mummy with accompanying large-screen visualisations which penetrate through the skin to reveal the secrets of mummification. Ancient lives, new discoveries is at the British Museum.

Brendan King is a freelance translator, editor and reviewer. Between 1987 and 2010 he worked as Beryl Bainbridge's secretary, helping her prepare some of her novels for publication including The Birthday Boys; Master Georgie and According to Queeney. He also completed the novel she was working on at the time of her death, The Girl in the Polka-Dot Dress, from his copy of the working manuscript. An exhibition of Beryl Bainbridge's paintings, Art & Life: The Paintings of Beryl Bainbridge is at the Cultural Institute, King's College, London.

Hetain Patel is a visual artist whose work crosses a number of art forms, with the body and identity as his core concerns. His new solo show, American Boy, is a warm and witty self-portrait created entirely from quotes from American movies and home-grown television. American Boy is at the Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler's Wells, London.

Sue Swingler's new book, The House of Fiction, tells the story of her complicated family background and her relationship with her father Leonard and step-mother, the Australian novelist Elizabeth Jolley. The House Of Fiction - Leonard, Susan and Elizabeth Jolley, is published by Scribe. A drama documentary The House of Fiction, based on Sue's book, will be broadcast on 麻豆社 Radio 4.

Producer: Paula McGinley.