Front Row - 03/06/2009

Marilynne Robinson, the winner of the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction, talks live from the ceremony at The Royal Festival Hall in London. The other shortlisted authors were Ellen Feldman, Samantha Harvey, Samantha Hunt, Deidre Madden and Kamila Shamsie. Based on the hit movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, the musical comedy Sister Act has opened on the London stage, starring Sheila Hancock as Mother Superior and Patina Miller in the lead role. Goldberg is co-producer of the stage version of the story of a club singer who witnesses a murder and is placed in protective custody in a convent, where she disguises herself as a nun. Novelist Sarah Dunant was at the opening night and delivers her verdict. Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind was a global best seller and one of the most successful books in Spanish publishing history. His latest novel, The Angel's Game, revisits some of the characters and gothic detail which helped make The Shadow of the Wind such a success. John Wilson talks to the author about how to follow up such a publishing phenomenon. This year's Venice Biennale features artists from more countries than at any time in the event's 104- year history. The United Arab Emirates are among the newcomers, with an exhibition entitled It's Not You, It's Me. John Wilson talks to UAE pavilion curator Tirdad Zolghadr and to Dubai-born artist Lamya Gargash about her photographs of one-star hotels in the Emirates.