EXPERIMENT FROM 3YA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 38, 15 March 1940, Page 12

EXPERIMENT FROM 3YA

Short Stories Written For Radio

N experiment will be tried in the wellknown readings session by O. L. Simmance, at 3YA, Christchurch. This will be a number of short stories especially written for radio by J. Jefferson Farjeon, the well-known English author. The NBS has had many suggestions for the broadcasting of short stories, but it has not been easy to meet the demand. A short story written primarily for print may not be suitable for radio, Sometimes it is too long, sometimes its construction is faulty from the radio point of view. Mr. Farjeon’s stories are fairly short and they are exciting, and they work up to a kind of O. Henry climax. The. first session will be on March 20.

Connection wtih New Zealand Mr. Farjeon comes of a literary family, and he has an interesting connection with New Zealand, for his father, B. L. Farjeon, emigrated from England as a young man, tried his luck in the Australian diggings, and came over to Otago, where he was a leading figure in Dunedin journalism for some time. He wrote for the "Otago Daily Times." Returning to England, he kept up his literary work, and wrote many novels, among them the first serial published in the "Daily Mail." The children have a strong artistic side. Jefferson, the writer of these stories that the NBS is about to broadcast, has written a number of novels, including several crime stories, and two or three plays. Eleanor, a sister, is well-known as a writer for children and grown-ups.