Liz Pichon, Melvyn Tan, Dan Richards, Meera Sodha

Midweek

Libby Purves meets illustrator and author Liz Pichon; pianist Melvyn Tan; travel writer Dan Richards and food writer Meera Sodha.

Dan Richards is a travel writer. In his book Climbing Days, he is on the trail of his great-great aunt, Dorothy Pilley, a pioneering mountaineer of the early twentieth century. Using Dorothy's 1935 memoir Climbing Days as a guide, Dan begins to travel and climb across Europe, ending up at the serrate pinnacle of his aunt's climbing life, the mighty Dent Blanche in the high Alps of Valais. Climbing Days is published by Faber.

Meera Sodha is a food writer and cook. In her book Fresh India she celebrates Indian vegetarian dishes. Many of the recipes were passed down through her family, her mother in particular who was brought up in Uganda but came to the UK after Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of the Asian minority in 1972. The recipes in Fresh India are inspired by Meera's childhood in Lincolnshire: by the rainbow chard that her aunt and uncle used to grow on their allotment, the cabbage that grew in fields behind her house and the mushrooms that were plentiful in her garden. Fresh India is published by Penguin.

Melvyn Tan is British Singaporean-born pianist. To celebrate his 60th birthday this year he is exploring a new spectrum of compositions including a new score written for him by Jonathan Dove which he is including in his Cheltenham Music Festival recital. Born in Singapore, Melvyn came to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School at 12. In 1980 he made the decision to specialise in fortepiano and more recently began exploring works on the modern concert grand piano. Melvyn is performing at the Cheltenham Music Festival.

Liz Pichon is an illustrator and author. Her 10th book in the Tom Gates series, Super Good Skills (Almost...), is a colourful doodle-your-own extravaganza. After studying graphic design Liz started her career in the music industry, working as an art director before turning her hand to the world of children's books. She later went on to create the bestselling Tom Gates series which has sold over 2m books in the UK alone and has been translated into more than 40 languages. Super Good Skills (Almost...) is published by Scholastic Children's Books.

Producer: Paula McGinley.