Cultural Life: Andrea Levy, Novelist

'It doesn't feel like cinema is catering for me so mostly I get things out on DVD and watch them on my humongous television'

Books

I'm reading a book called 'London's Strangest Tales' by Tom Quinn. It's funny little stories about London since the Romans. At the moment I'm reading non-fiction. I'm hoping to get back into fiction soon.

Films

It doesn't feel like cinema is catering for me so mostly I get things out on DVD and watch them on my humongous television. I watched 'Fugitive Pieces' which is adapted from the 1997 book by Anne Michaels, that won the Orange Prize the year I was judging. I didn't even know the film existed until I found it in my library.

Television

I enjoy watching television but I'm quite selective about what I watch. My favourite programme on television is 'Who Do You Think You Are?' I would love to do it if asked. I really enjoyed Dan Snow's history of the navy ('Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged The Modern World'). I actually think we still make some fantastic television.

Music

I listen to music in a rather strange way – I tend to listen to the same thing over and over again until my husband begs me to listen to something else.

Theatre

I really like the National Theatre's £10 tickets. I can ring up at 5pm and ask what tickets I can get for £10 and I can be in the theatre at 7pm. The last thing I saw at the National was 'The Habit of Art' (below). Alan Bennett is entertaining, funny and informative – everything I enjoy.

Andrea Levy will be discussing her new novel 'The Long Song' at 7pm on Thursday 8 July in the Royal Festival Hall, as part of the London Literature Festival. www.southbankcentre.co.uk. She is presenting 'London Nights' every weekday night at 11pm on Radio 4, starting on 5 July and ending 16 July.