PUNKT 2024

PRESENTER: FIONA TALKINGTON

Fiona is delighted to be back in Kristiansand to celebrate Punkt and her involvement with the festival since its first edition in 2005. 

Fiona is one of  BBC Radio 3’s  longest serving radio presenters, best known for the award winning show Late Junction, which  became a huge platform for celebrating music unheard anywhere else on UK Radio and was a major outlet for Norwegian music across the genres.  Fiona presents live concerts, studio programmes and documentaries for the BBC, and she has also presented for BBC Radio 4, BBC6Music and the BBC World Service. 

Fiona has been working with the Norwegian arts scene for nearly thirty years, bringing together artists from Norway and the UK for which she received the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit in 2009, and the International Molde Rose Award.

In December 2023 Fiona was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (D.Litt.) by the University of Reading for her work in bringing together musicians from abroad and the UK, as well as her work in the community including collaborations with refugees and asylum seekers through writing and theatre including the play ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’.  

As a curator Fiona has worked with  many major venues including the Royal Opera House in London, Kings Place London, Oxford Contemporary Music, Nasjonal Jazzscene in Oslo and St George’s Bristol. 

In 2023 Fiona was awarded Master of Science degree for her work in expressing and communicating chronic pain through the use of arts and writing.  She continues to develop this creative work with the PAINSTORM clinical research team  and presents  and co-produces their  official podcast PAINCAST.