Piers Plowright
Piers Plowright was born in London in 1937 and made a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature in 1998 without writing a single book (although he did write a thriller called ‘The Smuggler’ in 1975, intended for learners of English, which has been translated into Basque and still sells. A collectors’ item). However, he had spent the previous 30 years making radio plays, documentaries and features for the BBC, including literary portraits of Olivia Manning, Yukio Mishima, Jorge Luis Borges, Grazia Deledda, Alberto Moravia, Arthur Waley, and Naguib Mahfouz, as well as working with young British writers.
While at the BBC, Piers won three Prix Italias for his documentaries, and numerous Sony Radio Awards. In 2005 he was made an Hon DLitt at Bournemouth University, and an Audio Luminary at the Chicago Third Coast Radio Festival in 2007. He currently runs the literary side of the Hampstead Arts Festival and organises conversations with distinguished figures in the Arts and Sciences at Burgh House Hampstead. He’s also trying to improve his drawing, painting and jazz-piano playing (he notes: 'don’t hold your breath').
Piers’s five part series “Thames Crossings” was recently heard on BBC Radio 4.
