Such a treat & privilege to be with the amazing Jackie Kay on #StartTheWeek this morning - her new poetry collection #MayDay is so moving, funny & powerful, & great to talk with Dr Adam Rutherford & Simon Heffer about #AnotherEngland & the importance of myths, stories & poetry

MAY DAY - the new collection of poems by Jackie Kay - is a glorious weep fest wonder - both an (oh so tender) elegy for her parents - and a poetic social history of activism. Listen to her tonight -

With it being #BankHoliday Monday , I thought I'd start today with this beach scene, even if the weather might not quite match the view! This is 'Punch & Judy, Margate Sands' by Cecil Osborne from 1936. #CecilOsborne #Margate #BankHoliday #EastLondonGroup

5-minute klaxon. May Day with bells on (but not that sort).

Don't miss Jackie Kay alongside Caroline Lucas MP and Simon Heffer on BBC R4's Start the Week tomorrow morning at 9am. Jackie will be talking about MAY DAY in the context of a programme exploring how culture, protest and tradition shape society. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

Come see Jackie Kay this Friday!

Top of Stephanie Billen's 📻picks of the week in The Observer is Percival Everett on BBC Radio 3's Private Passions - unfailingly fantastic programme, and no more so than with today's edition. ON IN 5 MINS then on sounds here: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

😍'Here’s a beautiful writer at the top of her game and if I ran Britain I would give out copies on the NHS. It’s a sublime, joyous, pot-banging volume of genius.' Andrew O'Hagan on Jackie Kay's MAY DAY. ❤️🌹❤️theguardian.com/culture/articl…

All who've had the privilege of hearing Jackie Kay read over past fortnight, with us 😂 one min, 😭 the next, Jackie listening with care as ppl shared their losses in the signing queue: all the time she was bearing this. Here's to irreplaceable Maxie & here's to you JK❤️💔❤️

A reminder that the Greens have won 80 times more councillors than Reform UK.

So every time Richard Tice or Nigel Farage appear anywhere in the news it would be nice to see 80 articles and interviews with green politicians for balance.

Tune in for two of the best voices (& brains) you could hope to hear on the 📻

Impressive author, impressive man. If you can, tune in to Percival Everett talking with readers from around the world about The Trees: BBC World Book Club tomorrow, right after the midday news. Or free to download thereafter bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3c…

One of my favourite Joni songs ❤️❤️❤️

I love this haunting, tender novel in which characters, lives & times are brought vividly to life in a few lines (reminds me of Salter's All That Is in that regard). Never mind me: see below Salman Rushdie and James Wood on Amitava Kumar's brilliant MY BELOVED LIFE. Out 30th May.

It's not daft to say you can't wait to hear a programme when you were at the recording of said programme when the programme in question is BBC Radio 3's Private Passions and the guest is Percival Everett! This Sunday at 12noon.
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…