Part 4 of a series of BBC Radio 4 programmes on the late Penelope Fitzgerald, who studied at Somerville College and won the Booker Prize in 1979, will come to an end this weekend.

Fitzgerald wrote a number of novels between the mid-1970s and her death in 2000, as well as two short stories, three biographies, and a number of essays and reviews. She won the Booker Prize in 1979 for her novel Offshore, which is set among people living on barges in 1961 Battersea.

The series, named Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life, follows the recent publication of a biography of Fitzgerald of the same name, written by Hermione Lee, literary critic and President of Wolfson College, Oxford.

In each episode, abridged excerpts from Lee’s book are read by the actress Penelope Wilton.Episode 5 first played at 9.45am on 6 December, and again at 12.30am on 7 December.

Each episode can still be listened to on BBC iPlayer for several days following the programme.

Further reading?

Somerville fellows co-create AI tool able to predict droplet behaviour from spray images alone

Learn More
12 June 2026
Somerville fellows co-create AI tool able to predict droplet behaviour from spray images alone

Somerville Team are Winners at Oxford Edge Hackathon

Learn More
01 June 2026
Somerville Team are Winners at Oxford Edge Hackathon

Dame Elan Closs Stephens becomes President of the Learned Society of Wales

Learn More
21 May 2026
Dame Elan Closs Stephens becomes President of the Learned Society of Wales