Presenter Samira Ahmed is joined by the broadcaster and Chair of Judges Reeta Chakrabarti to announce the shortlist of the 2023 BBC National Short Story Awards with Cambridge University. Front Row will interview each of the shortlisted authors in the coming weeks, ahead of hosting the award ceremony live from the BBC Radio Theatre on 26th September.

Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen has been described as possessing “a once-in-a-generation-voice.” Samira spoke to her between performances as Elizabeth of Valois in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Royal Opera House, looking ahead to her starring role in the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and the BBC on Saturday.

Our reviewers Alayo Akinkugbe, art historian and founder of the Instagram platform A Black History of Art, and Amon Warmann, Contributing Editor of Empire magazine and co-host of the Fade To Black podcast review the exhibition “Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance” at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, which asks questions about Cambridge’s role in the trade of enslaved people and how related objects and artworks have influenced our history and perspectives.

We also review “Past Lives” from South Korean director Celine Song, about two childhood friends, Nora and Hae Sung, who are separated when Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, with Nora married to an American, they are reunited in New York for a week as they consider what might have been and perhaps still could be.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Corinna Jones

NSSA Shortlist 00:57 Fitzwilliam Museum review 03:57 Naomi Wood 13:25 Past Lives review 21:14 Lise Davidsen 30:02