Episodes

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01Snow Talk2016122620161227 (R4)The first episode of a meditation on snow by author Marcus Sedgwick.

Five years ago, he and his wife moved to an old chalet d'alpage high up in the Haute-Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy). Here for the first time he understands how snow can really shape the rhythms of daily life and during his first full winter in the mountains, he appreciates the hard daily labour involved in clearing proper alpine snow from the path outside his house.

Today he remembers the snowy winters of his childhood in Kent and muses on the many different words that describe snow.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017

The Reader is Jonathan Firth.

The publisher is Little Toller. The abridger is Katrin Williams and the producer is Julian Wilkinson.

From a chalet in the Haute Savoie, the author revisits childhood memories of snowy winters

02A Little Science2016122720161228 (R4)Of all weathers, snow is the one that has always affected the author Marcus Sedgwick the most. Five years ago, he and his partner bought a mountain house, an old chalet d'alpage high in the Haute Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy).

Today he considers the science of snow and what 'makes' a snowflake and the phenomenon of 'diamond dust'. He also remembers the snowy winters of his childhood in Kent and the infamous cold of 1963.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017

The reader is Jonathan Firth and the producer is Julian Wilkinson.

Author Marcus Sedgwick on what makes a snowflake and the phenomenon of 'diamond dust'.

03The Art Of Snow2016122820161229 (R4)Of all weathers, snow is the one that has always affected the author Marcus Sedgwick the most. Five years ago, he and his partner bought a mountain house, an old chalet d'alpage high in the Haute Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy).

The book explores the art, literature and science of snow, as well as Marcus Sedgwick's own experiences and memories, asking whether it really did snow more during his boyhood in Kent and whether changing climate patterns might mean snow becomes a thing of the past for many of us.

Marcus Sedgwick muses on why snow is so powerful to our imagination and so transformative. Today he explores how snow has inspired artists, musicians and filmmakers looking at the vividly 'cold' paintings of Bruegel, Schubert's beautiful but bleak Winterreise, and Werner Herzog's Of Walking in Ice created as he walked from Munich to Paris in late November to visit the dying Lottie Eisner.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017

The reader is Jonathan Firth, the abridger is Katrin Williams and the producer is Julian Wilkinson.

Marcus Sedwick looks at how snow has inspired artists, musicians and film-makers.

04Exposure2016122920161230 (R4)The fourth episode of a meditation on snow by author Marcus Sedgwick. Five years ago, he moved to an old chalet d'alpage high up in the Haute-Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy). Here for the first time he understands how snow can really shape the rhythms of daily life and during his first full winter in the mountains, he appreciates the hard daily labour involved in clearing proper alpine snow from the path outside his house.

In this episode, his new home prompts him to recall explorations of other snowy landscapes including his own trip to the Arctic Circle and that of the great explorer Scott as he headed for the South Pole.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017.

The abridger was Katrin Williams and the producer was Julian Wilkinson.

Reader Jonathan Firth.

The author's new home in the French Alps prompts him to recall other snowy landscapes.

05 LASTTransformations2016123020161231 (R4)The final episode of a meditation on snow by author Marcus Sedgwick. Five years ago, he moved to an old chalet d'alpage high up in the Haute-Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy). In this final episode, he studies the nature of its 'whiteness' and welcomes in the spring thaw.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017.

The reader is Jonathan Firth. The producer was Julian Wilkinson and the abridger was Katrin Williams.

The author studies the nature of snow's 'whiteness' and welcomes in the spring thaw.