Episode 5
A year of discoveries on Ainsdale Sands. For a brief time, the tide reveals ancient footprints. Concluded by Jean Sprackland.
A year of discoveries on the beach. Jean Sprackland meditates on objects revealed by the shape-shifting sands, or washed up on the wild beaches between Blackpool and Liverpool.
Recorded on location on Ainsdale Sands, 'Strands' is a book about what is lost and buried, then re-discovered; about all the things you find on a beach, dead or alive, natural or man-made; about mutability and transformation - about sea-change.
In today's episode, Jean experiences a very physical brush with the past, when she places her feet in the prehistoric footprints of humans from the Late Mesolithic to mid-Neolithic period, which are revealed briefly by the tide.
Read by Jean Sprackland
Abridged by Miranda Davies
Produced by Emma Harding
About the author: Jean Sprackland is the author of three books of poetry and a collection of short stories. Her most recent poetry collection, Tilt (Cape, 2007), won the Costa Poetry Award. Hard Water (Cape, 2003) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and was shortlisted for both the T S Eliot Prize and the Whitbread Award for Poetry. She was chosen as one of the Next Generation Poets in 2004.
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Next
You are at the last episode
Broadcasts
- Fri 8 Jun 2012 09:45Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 FM
- Sat 9 Jun 2012 00:30Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
- Fri 12 May 2017 14:45Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
- Sat 13 May 2017 02:45Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
Opening Lines
Sample our books and authors Clip Collection
Interviews, previews and reviews
Subscribe to the Short stories podcast
Featuring the best stories from the UK's finest writers
How many of these 100 Novels have you read?
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Arts: Books
Celebrating reading and the 100 novels that have shaped our world.