New Thinking: How and why we talk

John Gallagher hears about tongue shapes, accent prejudice and the importance of gossip

• 44 mins

New Thinking: The Box Office Bears project

From digging for bones to the connection between bear baiting and Elizabethan theatre

• 31 mins

Shakespeare as inspiration

From Bollywood films and Pre-Raphaelite art to productions of Shakespeare in places at war

• 44 mins

Women, art and activism

Naomi Paxton and guests on exhibitions at Tate Britain, the Barbican and Modern Art Oxford

• 44 mins

Ursula Le Guin and The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Naomi Alderman, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson and others discuss the politics of this 1973 fable

• 45 mins

New Thinking: Rediscovering women making film and sculpture

Kathleen Collins’ film scripts and women sculptors working in wax

• 40 mins

Sam Selvon and The Lonely Londoners

Selvon's evocative 1956 novel discussed at the British Library by Shahidha Bari & guests.

• 44 mins

Post-War Germany

Forging the modern German nation from the moral and material ruins of WW2

• 44 mins

AS Byatt and The Children's Book

AS Byatt discussed her writing life with Matthew Sweet as she published a novel in 2009

• 43 mins

Lorca

As the National Theatre stages The House of Bernarda Alba, Rana Mitter discusses Lorca

• 45 mins

Libraries

From Alexandria to Mid Wales, Laurence Scott and guests look at library history.

• 44 mins

Kadare, Gospodinov, Kafka and Dickens

Bureaucracies of the soul satirised in novels. Matthew Sweet's guests include Lea Ypi.

• 45 mins

New Thinking: Disability in Music and Theatre

Dr Louise Creechan and guests discuss adaptive music technology & musical theatre roles

• 39 mins

Humboldt, soil, gardens and Frank Walter

For World Soil Day, a celebration of art, research and ideas to revive the earth

• 44 mins

Narnia and CS Lewis

Exploring the literary and theological terrain of C.S. Lewis's Narnia

• 54 mins

Margaret Cavendish

Nandini Das and guests discuss the Duchess of Newcastle - philosopher, poet and scientist

• 44 mins

Harry Belafonte

The long career of the American singer, film star & activist with Matthew Sweet & guests

• 45 mins

Prize Winners 2023

Nandini Das, Tania Branigan, Halik Kochanski, Ed Yong, John Vallaint talk to Rana Mitter

• 44 mins

Greek myth, goddesses and art

From classic myths rewritten by Natalie Haynes to the art of John Craxton in Crete

• 44 mins

New Thinking: Carols and Convents

English Nuns abroad, and are carols just for Christmas?

• 27 mins

Dickens, Disney and copyright

Matthew Sweet looks at copyright rules for Mickey Mouse & Dickens in C19th America

• 44 mins

Travel, pleasure and peril

From preventing strangulation on the railways to guide maps and the art of travel posters

• 45 mins

Essay writing

From Montaigne to modern Scottish writing - Rana Mitter discusses what makes a good Essay

• 45 mins

Octavia Butler's Kindred

A novel from 1979 which uses time travel to explore race, slavery and trauma

• 43 mins

Dust, dirt and domesticity

From mould to desertification Naomi Paxton and guests on the impact of dirt,heat and damp

• 44 mins

Shakespeare's Women

The women who crop up in Shakespeare's life, his plays and who helped conserve his legacy

• 45 mins

What is normal?

Sarah Chaney, Louise Creechan and Robert Chapman on neurodiversity, with Matthew Sweet

• 45 mins

Heidegger & Antisemitism

Matthew Sweet discusses the influential German philosopher's relationship with Nazism

• 48 mins

The Kyoto School

Chris Harding investigates the flourishing of Japanese philosophy in the 1930s and beyond

• 45 mins

Holocaust history

Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day (Jan 27) Anne McElvoy hears testimony and new research

• 45 mins