Bespoken Word - 08/12/2010

Bespoken Word, Radio 4's performance poetry series, this week comes from the Cheltenham Literature Festival, and features a special guest appearance by Fran Landesman, funky octogenarian, poet and lyric writer for some of the greats of popular music. Fran Landesman was born in 1927 in New York City. She was married to the late Jay Landesman, publisher of the Beat Generation poets. They ran the "Crystal Palace" club, a very successful St Louis performance venue. During this time she started writing lyrics. One of her best known was "Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most". and during her career artists for whom she wrote lyrics include Alec Wilder, Steve Allen, Tommy Wolf, George Shearing, Richard Rodney Bennett, and Dudley Moore. She has published several volumes of poetry. In 1996 the BBC received a number of complaints when Landesman appeared on Desert Island Discs and requested a supply of marijuana as her luxury item. Also on the bill is performance poet - David J. Producer: Graham Frost A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.