Michéle Roberts – författare

Chosen as a Fiction Book of the Year in the Daily Telegraph by Maggie O''FarrellIn this witty and subversive collection of stories, Michèle Roberts explores women''s desires, memories and loves as only she can. A jilted woman skirts the edges of time and place as she walks the streets of London at night; another returns to the scene of her honeymoon without her husband; a wife takes apt revenge on her vegetarian husband . . .

Who is Aurora? Every time she becomes a new Mrs (three times when we last counted) she becomes a new woman. Her stepmother thinks Aurora is impractical, romantic and dreamy. The fact that she gets married so often only goes to prove it. ''Every woman owes it to herself to get married once, but you don''t have to make a habit of it.'' But now, all alone. . . ?''Aurora, given the chance to be true to herself, rather than to her trio of husbands, turns out to be a world-class minx. After Hugh''s funeral, she goes to Italy to visit her old radical-feminist friend, Leonora, now the abbess of the Brigandine convent in Padenza. True to the tradition of convent-educated girls in fiction, Aurora flings herself into a voluptuous life of lunches and lovers. Chiselled phrasing and dancing plot . . . a sizzling firework display of a book'' Sunday Times.

Rebellion, revolution, experimental living, feminist communes, street theatre, radical magazines, love affairs - gay and straight - sex, drugs and rock and roll.Michèle Roberts, one of Britain''s most talented and highly acclaimed novelists, now considers her own life, in this vibrant, powerful portrait of a time and place: alternative London of the 1970s and beyond. A fledgling writer taking a leap into radical politics, Roberts finds alternative homes, new families and lifelong friendships in the streets and houses of Holloway, Peckham, Regent''s Park and Notting Hill Gate. From Spare Rib to publishing her first book, Paper Houses is Roberts'' story of finding a space in which to live, love and write - and learning to share it.''Beguiling, enthusiastic, charming and vivid, this is an autobiography to be savoured'' Amanda Craig, DAILY TELEGRAPH

In the early 1800s, Louise, a French peasant woman, fearing she is about to die, calls for her priest. She has a secret to confess. Though the priest is impatient, she wants to tell her tale from the beginning. The story opens in Stoke Newington, London, in the 1780s, with Jemima Boote, arriving at Miss Mary Wollstonecraft''s school. Jemima follows her beloved teacher to Paris wanting to be part of the erupting revolution and then - six months pregnant - retreats to the tiny village of Louise''s youth. Her arrival coincides with that of another young mother-to-be, Annette, who has been sent by her parents to the country to hide her disgraceful pregnancy and to get over her infatuation with William, a young English poet. In an abandoned convent they take up their waiting: waiting for their babies, waiting for their men. While drawing hints and facts from the lives and secret affairs of two of the most famous and passionate figures of the late 18th century - Mary Wollstonecraft and William Wordworth - the intriguing mystery surrounding these two women, is Michèle Roberts own fascinating creation.

Playing Sardines - a game in the dark, a game about desire, about wanting, all whipped up in a tale about the erotic allure of recipes: a cook whose obsessive love turns hungry and dangerous; a fan who tries to get into a celebrity novelist''s sheets; a fanatical dieter and maker of lists working out how to deal with a husband who snores; a faddy eater thrown off-course by a miracle; a child greedy for love who faces up to her demon of jealousy - just some of the characters who shape this wonderful collection. Women yearning for what they haven''t got - prepared to be wily, deceptive, cunning and perverse - all these strategies for survival in love and life are deployed here to mouth-watering effect.

Always bold, always provocative, Michele Roberts turns now to the forbidden pleasures and pains of the love between father and daughter and unfolds before us the life and death of Saint Josephine. Holy woman or whore? Upholder of pious or pagan delights? Lowly nun or powerful miracle worker? Or both? And woven throughout her story are the heady and sometimes fearful tales of other female saints - one-armed mad girls, beauties locked in towers, seductive daughters - all women who didn''t know their place. Rich with fabulous imagery, IMPOSSIBLE SAINTS is as potent and disturbing as its dangerous themes.''Her fictions are high-risk, unconventional, often apparently unstable; yet are steered with such authority that the otherwise cautious reader is taken almost without realising it into dangerous and exhilarating territory ... She is a writer dedicated to challenging the boundaries by which the idle and unthinking might try to circumscribe her'' Rachel Cusk, Sunday Express''Hugely entertaining and genuinely thought-provoking'' Julia Flynn, Sunday Telegraph

Adam is a writer, struggling to come to terms with the death of his painter father, Robert, and his difficult marriage to Catherine. Before he married Catherine, he had been the lover of her sister, Vinny. The classic menage à trois seems about to repeat itself, when Adam discovers his wife''s father was less innocent than he had thought.Set mainly in contemporary London, partly in France, the action also harks back to the 1970''s. The narrative evokes the style of the nineteenth century novelists and their themes: desire, guilt, pleasure. Pastoral landscapes alternate with those of the inner city and the past''s interaction with the present is acted out by ghosts. The dead father haunts his son; in real life Vinny haunts her sister; and the whole novel is haunted by one of its great earliest exponents, Charlotte Bronte, and her passionate search for creative fulfilment.

22 writers talk about their memorable excursions and the act of walking, and share their creative observationsIn these six series, taken from BBC Radio 3''s The Essay, an array of novelists, poets, journalists and biographers chart the varied and inspiring walks they have taken around Britain and elsewhere. Here are treks taken at daybreak and after dark; in winter and in spring; in the footsteps of the past; and - in the case of Robert Macfarlane - along the ridges of the South Downs.Dawnwalks and Night Walks find Nicholas Shakespeare, Nicola Barker, Kamila Shamsie, Ian Sansom, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Owen Sheers, Janice Galloway and John Walsh taking early morning and late-night strolls around locations ranging from their back garden and local cemetery to Manhattan, Paris, Tasmania and the Antarctic.Springwalks and Winterwalks feature Michele Roberts, Ross Raisin, John Walsh, Kirsty Gunn, Philip Hoare, Deborah Levy, Christopher Hope, Scarlett Thomas, Erica Wagner and Owen Sheers, as they sample the transforming qualities of spring and the wonders of winter. From Poland and the Languedoc to Hampstead Heath and the Yorkshire Wolds, they delight in the details of the landscape and reflect on what it means to them.Strange Strolls sees Jenn Ashworth, Michael Donkor, Stephanie Victoire, Nat Segnit and Sophie Coulombeau embarking on walks of entertaining eccentricity, revisiting favourite places including Wandsworth Bridge, the Blue Ridge mountains of Appalachia and Ibiza.And in A Five-Day Journey, Robert Macfarlane walks the length of the South Downs in monsoon rain and in sunshine, discovering its chalk trails and its ghosts. He ponders the relationship between paths and stories; explores the poet Edward Thomas'' love affair with tracks; considers the concept of the Aboriginal Australian songline; re-imagines the life of artist Eric Ravilious; and contemplates the sometimes eerie relationship between walking, collecting and creation.Intimate, evocative and immersive, these 30 uplifting programmes transport us to a wealth of wonderful places, and offer fascinating personal insight into the inner worlds of our walker-writers.Production creditsProduced by Duncan Minshull, Ciaran Bermingham and Tim DeeFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates:DawnwalksNicholas Shakespeare 28 March 2016Nicola Barker 29 March 2016Kamila Shamsie 30 March 2016Ian Sansom 31 March 2016Lucy Hughes-Hallett 1 April 2016Night WalksNicholas Shakespeare 27 October 2008Owen Sheers 28 October 2008Janice Galloway 29 October 2008Kamila Shamsie 30 October 2008John Walsh 31 October 2008SpringwalksMichele Roberts in Poznan 31 March 2014Ross Raisin in the Yorkshire Wolds 1 April 2014John Walsh 2 April 2014Kirsty Gunn in Sutherland 3 April 2014Philip Hoare in Sholing 4 April 2014WinterwalksDeborah Levy on Hampstead Heath 18 February 2013Christopher Hope in Languedoc 19 February 2013Scarlett Thomas 20 February 2013Erica Wagner 21 February 2013Owen Sheers in Poland 22 February 2013Strange StrollsJenn Ashworth - The Abiding Mental Riches of Preston 10 February 2020Michael Donkor - On Westminster Bridge 11 February 2020Stephanie Victoire - Dark Hollow Falls 12 February 2020Nat Segnit - The Other Ibiza 13 February 2020Sophie Coulombeau - Walking Matilda 14 February 2020A Five-Day JourneyMarking 2 November 2009Haunting 3 November 2009Singing 4 November 2009Flying 5 November 2009Collecting 6 November 2009© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.