NEWB: how to convert a string to dict (dictionary)

[manstey]

Hi,

How do I convert a string like:
a="{'syllable': u'cv-i b.v^ y^-f', 'ketiv-qere': 'n', 'wordWTS': u'8'}"

into a dictionary:
b={'syllable': u'cv-i b.v^ y^-f', 'ketiv-qere': 'n', 'wordWTS': u'8'}

Thanks, Matthew

PS why in Python is it so often easy to convert one way but not the
other?

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