Programme Details

On the programme this week RATTAWUT LACHAROENSAP reads from "Sightseeing", his first collection of short stories. Rattawut is a young Thai-American who sets his stories among contemporary Thai youth. His characters' telling take on tourists, the west and modern Thailand gives 'Sightseeing' an unusual and cutting edge. Rattawut talks to IAN McMILLAN.
"Sightseeing" is published by Atlantic Books

There's the launch of The Verb's new competition - the Villanelle Olympics, Ian calls it - with WENDY COPE and HUGO WILLIAMS. Wendy is one of the masters of the form: on the programme she reads a beautiful and unpublished example, Lissadell, and talks to Hugo about the art and craft of writing one. Hugo admits he find villanelles almost impossible; he reads an attempt of his own, and also a beautiful unpublished poem, which demonstrates his mastery of the free form. To enter the Verb's Villanelle Competition, you have until June 1st to submit a Villanelle, either in writing to The Verb, Room 7051 Broadcasting House, London W1A 1AA or by email to theverb@bbc.co.uk

A Villanelle has 19 lines, divided into five stanzas of three lines and one, the last, of four lines. The stanzas rhyme a - b -a until the last quatrain, which goes a -b - a - a
The first and third lines of the first stanza are refrain lines: they recur, alternately, as the last lines of stanzas 2, 3, 4, and 5. The refrains conclude the last stanza, and the poem, as a couplet. As Hugo Williams says, the trick is to get the right lines, and hold them apart until the end! For a classic example, see Dylan Thomas' "Do not go gentle into that good night"
You can hear Wendy's tips on how to write one by clicking on 'Listen to the last programme.'

To balance this concentration on strictures, PETER BLEGVAD responds to the concentration on form with an Eartoon dedicated to formlessness, in praise of The Blob.

Also on the programme, EDITH HALL, professor of Greek Cultural History at the University of Durham updates us on the decoding of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri: a mass of charred fragments discovered in 1898 in the Egyptian Sahara, in what was once a rubbish dump of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus. The fragments of paper survived two thousand years in the rainless desert but, until recent advances in infrared technology, remained illegible. Now being decoded at Oxford University, the Papyri are revealing poems by Archilocus, fragments of work by Sophocles, ancient Greek novels, and, perhaps, a lost Gospel.

And NII PARKES, Radio 3's Associate Writer in Residence for the Africa 05 season launches the Verb's book club, which will take the form of a series of master-classes on influential African writers. The master-classes begin on June 10th; on tonight's programme Nii introduces the four books he will concentrating on, and urges listeners to get hold of them.
They are Season of Migration to the North, by Tayib Salih; Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo; TheCollector of Treasures by Bessie Head and Song of Lawino by Okot p'Bitek