Front Row - 02/12/2009

The Japanese film Departures won this year's Oscar for best foreign film. Inspired by the memoir of a Japanese mortician, it reveals the world of a sacked orchestral cellist who gets a job performing encoffinments. Sarah Dunant reviews. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and cartoonist Posy Simmonds talk about their collaboration on the book, Mrs Scrooge, a spin-off from the Dickens classic with a twist on modern politics. Welsh singer Rhydian Roberts was the X Factor runner-up two years ago and since then has released, under the guidance of Simon Cowell, two classical crossover albums. The most recent, O Fortuna, is out now. Lionel Shriver gives the fourth of Front Row's five interviews with authors shortlisted for this year's BBC National Short Story Award. The stories are broadcast at 3.30pm every day this week on Radio 4, with Lionel Shriver's Exchange Rates going out tomorrow.