Waiting for Godden: THIS WEEK: BBC RADIO, THE GOOD IMMIGRANT USA AND SPRING UPRISING

Action shot Salena Godden recording with Roger McGough

BBC R3 - The Verb

International Women's Day special, explores footnotes, ironic detective fiction, poem-spells, satire, sound loops and neologisms - and the way they can all be used to fight sexist language - all in honour of International Women's Day. Ian McMillan's guests are the writer and sociologist Professor Ann Oakley, who popularised the word 'gender' in the 1970s, and founded the Social Science Research Unit at the UCL Institute of Education, the novelist and critic Dr Siri Hustvedt on her new novel 'Memories of the Future', the poet Salena Godden on her new collection 'Pessimism is for Lightweights: 13 Pieces of Courage and Resistance' - and he presents brand new work from sound artist and composer Ingrid Plum. This was such a fantastic and inspiring programme to be part of, we talk about 'The Good Immigrant' and I also read 'Sage' from 'Pessimism is for Lightweights' - Broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on March 8th available online now.

Listen again here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0002zyh

Action shot Salena Godden recording with Roger McGough

BBC R4 - Poetry Please

Salena Godden curates an episode of Poetry Please and chooses some of her favourite pieces for Roger McGough - A selection of timeless poems of courage and resistance, protest and rebellion, poetry of magic and hedonism, musicality and tenderness - Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on March 17th and repeated on March 23rd

Listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003crf

Archive on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/salena-godden

The Good Immigrant USA, published this month

In this much-anticipated follow-up to the award winning and bestselling UK edition, hailed by Zadie Smith as 'lively and vital', editors Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman hand the microphone to an incredible range of writers whose humanity and right to be in the US is under attack. Chigozie Obioma unpacks an Igbo proverb that helped him navigate his journey to America from Nigeria. Jenny Zhang analyzes cultural appropriation in nineties fashion, recalling her own pain and confusion as a teenager trying to fit in. Fatimah Asghar describes the flood of memory and emotion triggered by an encounter with an Uber driver from Kashmir. Alexander Chee writes of a visit to Korea that changed his relationship to his heritage. These writers share powerful personal stories of living between cultures and languages while struggling to figure out who they are and where they belong. Welcome to the family! Hits UK shops this week, March 2019. Come see Nikesh Shukla, Chimene Suleyman, Sabrina Mahfouz and Salena Godden talking about this work at Foyles, this Wednesday March 13th at Foyles, London.

Dialogue: http://www.dialoguebooks.org