The Essay Podcast
Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.
Episodes to download
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A Norwegian Morality Tale—New Generation Thinkers
Thu 29 Apr 2021
Lucy Weir learns dark lessons from newspaper coverage of Black Metal and satanic rituals.
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Beyond the Betting Shop—New Generation Thinkers
Wed 28 Apr 2021
Darragh McGee on the history of gambling, from 18th-century card games to phone apps.
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Colonial Papers—New Generation Thinkers
Tue 27 Apr 2021
Alexandra Reza's Essay considers the Gilets Noirs, Ousmane Sembène and Nathalie Quintane.
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Battlefield Finds—New Generation Thinkers
Mon 26 Apr 2021
Seren Griffiths tells the story of the soldier turned archaeologist Francis Buckley.
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Hoarding or Collecting?—New Generation Thinkers
Fri 23 Apr 2021
Diarmuid Hester sorts through stuff saved by Francis Bacon, Vivian Maier and his own dad.
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The Inscrutable Writing of Sui Sin Far—New Generation Thinkers
Thu 22 Apr 2021
Xine Yao suggests that a poker Chinese face can be a good way of fighting back
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A Social History of Soup—New Generation Thinkers
Wed 21 Apr 2021
Tom Scott-Smith uses four recipes to track social reforms and changes in what we value.
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New Generation Thinkers Jean Rhys's Dress
Tue 20 Apr 2021
Sophie Oliver on motherhood, a dress and rereading Wide Sargasso Sea
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New Generation Thinkers: The Feurtado's Fire
Mon 19 Apr 2021
Christienna Fryar looks at Caribbean earthquakes and fires and lessons for rebuilding now
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Books to Make Space For on the Bookshelf: There's No Story There
Fri 19 Mar 2021
Lisa Mullen looks at depictions of war-time factory workers in the novel by Inez Holden
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Books to Make Space For On The Bookshelf: Closer
Thu 18 Mar 2021
4/5 New Generation Thinker Diarmuid Hester on the transgressive writing of Dennis Cooper
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Books to Make Space For on the Bookshelf: Sindhubala
Wed 17 Mar 2021
Preti Taneja on the writing and politics of Bengali author and activist Mahasweta Devi
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John Halifax, Gentleman
Tue 16 Mar 2021
2/5 Clare Walker Gore explores how Dinah Mulock Craik subverted Victorian expectations
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The Black Lizard—Books to Make Space For on the Bookshelf
Mon 15 Mar 2021
1/5 New Generation Thinker Christopher Harding reads the Japanese equivalent of Conan Doyle.
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England and the Touch of Rain—Rainsong in Five Senses
Fri 5 Mar 2021
5/5 Nandini Das curates essays from across the globe on differing sensory responses to rain.
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Paris and the Look of Rain—Rainsong in Five Senses
Thu 4 Mar 2021
4/5 Nandini Das introduces another essay about the global differences in our response to rain.
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Australia and the Smell of Rain—Rainsong in Five Senses
Wed 3 Mar 2021
3/5 Nandini Das curates global essays on five different sensory experiences of rain.
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Japan and the Taste of Rain—Rainsong in Five Senses
Tue 2 Mar 2021
2/5 Nandini Das curates essays from across the globe on five different experiences of rain.
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India and the Sound of Rain—Rainsong in Five Senses
Mon 1 Mar 2021
1/5 Nandini Das curates essays from across the globe on five different experiences of rain.
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Wind—Science Notes
Fri 12 Feb 2021
5/5 James Burke leads us via steam engines and iron coffins to the modern orchestra.
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Ivories—Science Notes
Thu 11 Feb 2021
4/5 James Burke touches on pine trees, chintz, bowler hats – and ends up on the ivories.
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Impression—Science Notes
Wed 10 Feb 2021
3/5 James Burke connects Italian electricity to Debussy via a baron's seances and your fridge.
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Romance—Science Notes
Tue 9 Feb 2021
2/5 James Burke links planetary orbits, the teeny-weeny and fake Scottish literature.
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Enlighten—Science Notes
Mon 8 Feb 2021
1/5 Broadcaster James Burke links organisms that might not exist to a freemason’s opera.
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The acting coach—Acting Unrehearsed
Fri 5 Feb 2021
5/5 Geoffrey Colman invites us to join him on a walk through a day as an acting coach.
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How reality TV has changed acting—Acting Unrehearsed
Thu 4 Feb 2021
4/5 Geoffrey Colman describes the ways in which reality TV has changed acting.
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On stage and on screen—Acting Unrehearsed
Wed 3 Feb 2021
3/5 Geoffrey Colman explores the differences between acting on stage and on screen.
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How to become an actor?—Acting Unrehearsed
Tue 2 Feb 2021
2/5 Geoffrey Colman discusses drama schools in his second Essay on acting.
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What is good acting?—Acting Unrehearsed
Mon 1 Feb 2021
1/5 Geoffrey Colman considers the art of acting and asks: what makes a great actor?
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The Essex Way—Odes to Essex
Fri 29 Jan 2021
5/5 Writer Gillian Darley celebrates the unsung and lesser-known delights of mid-Essex.
Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Download The Essay
Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.
