Prizes and poetry with Michelle Paver, Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes

We talk to Michelle Paver, winner of the Guardian children's fiction prize, examine Ted Hughes's newly-discovered poem on the death of Sylvia Plath, and celebrate Seamus Heaney's Forward prize and Mario Vargas Llosa's Nobel

Presented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Tim Maby guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 October 2010
Guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 October 2010


Michelle Paver wins the 2010 Guardian children's fiction prize for Ghost Hunter, the triumphant sixth book in her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, we sneak into the judging chamber to eavesdrop on the decision-making. We also hear Paver introducing the series in her own words, and reading from the triumphant last instalment.

In the week of National Poetry Day we discuss difficulties surrounding the publication of a newly discovered Ted Hughes poem written immediately after Sylvia Plath's death. Seamus Heaney reads from his Forward prize-winning collection Human Chain, and we plunge into the sound archives to hear Tennyson and Dylan Thomas performing their own work.

We also gather recommendations from readers on Twitter and the website for those who have yet to discover the work of the new Nobel laureate, the Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa.

Reading list

Ghost Hunter Michelle Paver (Orion)
Human Chain Seamus Heaney (Faber)
Death in the Andes Mario Vargas Llosa (Faber)
War at the End of the World Mario Vargas Llosa (Faber)
Conversation in the Cathedral Mario Vargas Llosa (Rayo)
The Spoken Word British Poets and American Poets (The British Library)