Front Row - 09/09/2009

Meryl Streep stars in Nora Ephron's latest film, Julie and Julia, which tells the story of two women who wrote memoirs: Julia Child, the television cook who is credited with introducing French cuisine to American viewers in the 1960s, and Julie Powell, who spent a year of her life cooking Child's recipes and writing about her experiences. Food critic and novelist Jay Rayner reviews. The famously interview-shy art collector Charles Saatchi has agreed to answer a selection of questions from journalists and the public in a question-and-answer-style book entitled My Name is Charles Saatchi and I'm an artoholic. Art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston and fomer Rector of the Royal College of Art Sir Christopher Frayling discuss how much the book reveals about the views of the controversial collector. As he prepares to release his new CD, Truelove's Gutter, singer-songwriter Richard Hawley discusses the influence of his home town of Sheffield on his music and why the place has a reputation for throwing up maverick musicians from Jarvis Cocker to Arctic Monkeys. Punk Rock is the new play by Simon Stephens, author of Pornography and Harper Regan. Set in a Manchester grammar school, Punk Rock draws on Stephens' former career as a teacher in its portrayal of sixth formers preparing to face the dangers of the outside world. Education writer Francis Gilbert reviews.