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Life in Suburbia

Anne McElvoy discusses suburbia with novelist Adam Thirlwell, academic Nick Hubble, graphic artist Richard McGuire and photographer Hannah Starkey.

Anne McElvoy talks to the novelist Adam Thirlwell about his latest book, described as 'suburban noir'; its setting "a kind of absence, without a focus or centre". The academic Nick Hubble takes issue with the cultural representation of suburbia and the snobbery surrounding it. When Richard McGuire created his graphic masterpiece 'Here' he collapsed millennia of history into the corner of one suburban house, and the photographer Hannah Starkey looks back at photos from the end of the twentieth century to see what they say about changing Britain.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

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43 minutes

Last on

Mon 9 Feb 2015 21:30
BBC Radio 4

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Adam Thirwell

Adam Thirlwell has twice been named on Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists list. As well as his two novels, Politics and The Escape, he is also the author of a novella Kapow! 

His latest book, Lurid and Cute  is available now, published by Jonathan Cape 2015.

Nick Hubble

Nick Hubble is Senior Lecturer in English at Brunel University, College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, London.

Brunel : Papers & Downloads by Nick Hubble

Richard McGuire

Richard McGuire regularly contributes to the New Yorker magazine and is an illustrator, graphic designer, animator, children's book author and musician.

Here published by Random House is available now.

Hannah Starkey

Hannah Starkey is a photographer and one of the artists curating the exhibition, History is Now: 7 Artists Take on Britain at the Hayward Gallery: 10th February to 26th April 2015.

Credits

Presenter Anne McElvoy
Interviewed Guest Adam Thirlwell
Interviewed Guest Nick Hubble
Interviewed Guest Richard McGuire
Interviewed Guest Hannah Starkey
Producer Katy Hickman

Broadcasts

  • Mon 9 Feb 2015 09:00
    BBC Radio 4
  • Mon 9 Feb 2015 21:30
    BBC Radio 4

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  • Start the Week

    Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday