大象传媒

23 December 2016

January

Newcomer Amy Liptrot 's Orkney odyssey on addiction and nature

Amy Liptrot in Orkney

The Outrun is Amy Liptrot’s memoir about overcoming addiction while exploring the Orkney landscape. After a spell in rehab after becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs in London, she returned to her parent's sheep farm on her native islands and discovered that the place she once longed to escape offers her a cure; its wildness plays a crucial part in her recovery.

February

Master of espionage John le Carré's The Night Manager hits the small screen

Hugh Laurie in The Night Manager, 大象传媒 One

John le Carré is the former British spy (or was he?) whose best-selling novels captured the drama, paranoia and fear at the heart of the Cold War. Far from the glamour of James Bond, le Carré’s spies inhabited a bleak, grey world of double-agents and treachery that - even if it was fictional - reeked of authenticity. To tie in with the major 大象传媒 adaptation of le Carré's book The Night Manager, our man in the know broke cover to let us in on nine secrets about le Carré, his life and his work.

March

Bards at the 大象传媒: Our picks for World Poetry Day

Sylvia Plath

To celebrate World Poetry Day we cherry-picked some gems from across the 大象传媒 for your viewing and listening pleasure: from Sylvia Plath and Philip Larkin to George the Poet and Allan Ginsberg.

April

Charlotte Brontë at 200: Weird, windswept and wonderful

Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska in the 2011 film adaptation of Jane Eyre

To mark the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, her biographer Claire Harman – author of the critically acclaimed Charlotte Brontë: A Life – revealed how she got under the skin of the unique and pioneering writer.

May

How do your favourite books compare with Hay Festival stars' choices?

Choices include Norman Mailer's The Fight, Joyce's Dubliners and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Hay Festival attracts some of the top names in literature, film, comedy and television to its 10 days of ideas, insight and inspiration. We put some of them on the spot to find out the title of their favourite EVER book.

June

Dahl 100: Illustrator Quentin Blake's friendship with Roald Dahl

The Enormous Crocodile was the first Roald Dahl book to be illustrated by Quentin Blake

The drawings of Quentin Blake are immediately recognisable. He is best known for his illustrations to the stories of Roald Dahl, whose 100th birthday was ‘gloriumptiously’ feted throughout this year. Their working partnership was not an instant success, as Blake's first two sets of drawings for The BFG were rejected by the author. We caught up with Sir Quentin at his studio for a deeply personal insight into is work with Dahl, which started with a handshake and ended up as a friendship.

July

Stepping out from the shadows: Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent returns to the small screen after 24 years

Toby Jones as Verloc in The Secret Agent, 大象传媒 One

A 大象传媒 adaptation of The Secret Agent, starring Toby Jones and Vicky McClure, aired on 大象传媒 One in July. Published in 1907, Joseph Conrad's tale of radicalised individuals, suicide bombers and shadowy espionage activities feels like it could have been written yesterday. With our age practically defined by acts of terror, Conrad's story, with its paranoia and its enemies within, holds a mirror up to our deepest fears. 大象传媒 Arts takes another look at the epoch explored in Conrad's novel to find out what it says about our own.

August

What we learned at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

(l-r) Marina Warner, James Kelman, Irvine Welsh, Nicola Sturgeon and Alan Cumming

The Edinburgh International Book Festival features a host of talent from the worlds of literature, comedy, music and film, taking part in more than 700 events throughout August. We filmed a selection of sessions; here are some choice words of wisdom from the biggest names...

September

John le Carré memoirs are published

John le Carré pictured in 1964

From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut, and Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the fiction of David Cornwell - better known as John le Carré - has always got to the heart of modern times. As his first memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life, was published in September, we took a look at the life, work and philosophy of one of Britain's greatest living writers, alongside highlights from his many 大象传媒 interviews over the past five decades.

October

Man Booker 2016: The 'best shortlist in years'

Satire or reality? George the Poet explores the themes of The Sellout

It is the UK’s most important prize for fiction, and critics called it the best shortlist in years. Excitingly, almost all of the authors were new. Ahead of the ceremony on 25 October, six champions - comedians David Baddiel and Sara Pascoe, presenter Mariella Frostrup, pianist Steven Osborne and crime writer Val McDermid - made the case for their shortlist favourites in a series of special films, and George the Poet explored the themes of the winner, Paul Beatty's The Sellout.

November

Utopia at 500: Did Thomas More’s book really predict the future?

In Search of Utopia at Leuven’s M-Museum | Photo by Dirk Pauwels

In November, as the Belgian city of Leuven celebrated five centuries since the publication of Utopia, we considered Thomas More’s prophecies for an ideal society. From 'property is theft' to free education and euthanasia, how many did he get right?

December

Will Self: Does the novel matter any more?

In an exclusive film for 大象传媒 Arts, writer Will Self considers the potential impact of society’s increasing indifference to the novel and to reading for pleasure. Asked by scientists to respond to their research that reading fiction may help us to form episodic memory, he discusses what impact technology has had on the novel and why our new digital culture may be just the latest in a line of fleeting knowledge technologies.