Front Row - 14/08/2009

Arts news and reviews with Kirsty Lang. Kirsty Lang talks to author AL Kennedy about short stories, stand-up comedy and the strangeness of domestic life. Having won the 2008 Costa prize in for her novel Day, AL Kennedy returns with a new collection of short stories and a blossoming career in stand-up comedy. Her short stories, called What Becomes, are exquisitely crafted and characterised portraits of difficult relationships, domestic strangeness and unusual epiphanies. Her stand-up show, Words with AL Kennedy, is playing in the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival. Dame Fanny Waterman, doyenne of piano teachers and creator of the Leeds International Piano Competition talks to Front Row about her long career at and around the keyboard. When Dame Fanny's Piano Lessons Book One was published in 1967 it became an instant bestseller and was one of the first 'modern' piano tutors, soon to be found in homes across the land. Dame Fanny continued her quest to teach piano technique and her series of masterclass programmes Fanny Waterman's Piano Progress made her a familiar figure on 1980s television. With Marion Harewood, her co-writer of the tutor series, she co-founded the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1961 which became one of the most important in the world and has launched the career of numerous star performers. The 2009 competition runs from 26 August to 13 September. Critic Stephen Armstrong gives Front Row a round-up of the themes, the mood and the best bits of the Edinburgh Festival 2009 so far. And poet Gillian Clark gives the low-down on cultural events this summer in Wales.