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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Never Let Me Go
Sun 1 Jul 2018
What does it mean to be human, and how can physicians respond to life's mysteries?
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To The Lighthouse
Sun 1 Jul 2018
Dr Rita Charon traces literary parallels in the responses of New Yorkers to 9/11.
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The Underground Railroad
Sun 1 Jul 2018
How a novel about American slavery is used to train medical students.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Women's Rights—New Generation Thinkers
Fri 29 Jun 2018
5/5 Joanna Cohen looks back at the manifesto which remodelled the Declaration of Independence.
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John Gower, the Forgotten Medieval Poet—New Generation Thinkers
Thu 28 Jun 2018
4/5 Curing lovesickness or learning alchemy's secrets. Seb Falk on Chaucer's friend John Gower
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Sarah Scott and the Dream of a Female Utopia—New Generation Thinkers
Wed 27 Jun 2018
3/5 Lucy Powell tells the story of a radical community of women set up in 1760s rural England.
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The Forgotten German Princess—New Generation Thinkers
Tue 26 Jun 2018
2/5 The tale of Mary Moders, a C17 bigamist and media sensation, is retold by John Gallagher.
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Rehabilitating the Reverend John Trusler—New Generation Thinkers
Mon 25 Jun 2018
1/5 Sophie Coulombeau challenges the way we look at failure in the story of a C18 entrepreneur
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Forest Fire—Forests
Fri 22 Jun 2018
What's the most creative force in the forest? Andrew C Scott believes that it's fire.
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Scents of the Forest—Forests
Thu 21 Jun 2018
Perfumer, Roja Dove, explains the power of the heady scents of the forest.
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Outlaws of the Forest—Forests
Wed 20 Jun 2018
Forests are the perfect place for outlaw artists to hide, says writer Will Ashon.
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Forest Folk—Forests
Tue 19 Jun 2018
Singer Nancy Kerr explains why forests provide such perfect metaphors in folk music.
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Forests of the Imagination
Mon 18 Jun 2018
Fiona Stafford asks why artists are drawn to the imaginative possibilities of the forest.
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Mab Jones on Jane Eyre—Wisdom from fictional females
Fri 1 Jun 2018
5/5 Mab Jones on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
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Francesca Rhydderch on Orlando—Wisdom from fictional females
Thu 31 May 2018
4/5 Francesca Rhydderch on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
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Fiona Sampson on Mother Courage
Wed 30 May 2018
Fiona Sampson on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
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Bettany Hughes on Helen of Troy
Tue 29 May 2018
Bettany Hughes on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
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Afua Hirsch on Maggie Tulliver
Mon 28 May 2018
Afua Hirsch on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
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Japan Refusal—Dark Blossoms
Fri 27 Apr 2018
5/5 Does mental illness in Japan indicate a rejection of a narrow modernity?
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The Art of the Heist—Dark Blossoms
Thu 26 Apr 2018
4/5 How a famous crime is also a metaphor for 1960s Japan.
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Rebranding the Buddha—Dark Blossoms
Wed 25 Apr 2018
3/5 How Buddhism was reimagined in the service of Japanese militarism.
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Happy Families—Dark Blossoms
Tue 24 Apr 2018
2/5 Chris Harding explores contrasting models of 'family' in turn-of-the-century Japan.
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Deer Cry Hall—Dark Blossoms
Mon 23 Apr 2018
1/5 Japan's uneasy embrace of modernity, exemplified by a controversial 19th-century building.
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Kate Molleson on Eliane Radigue—Secret Admirers
Fri 20 Apr 2018
5/5 Radio 3 presenter Kate Molleson celebrates French composer Eliane Radigue.
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Secret Admirers: Kate Molleson on Eliane Radigue
Fri 20 Apr 2018
Celebrating the French composer and her inspirational long-form sense of perspective.
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Andrew McGregor on Thomas Tallis—Secret Admirers
Thu 19 Apr 2018
4/5 Radio 3 presenter Andrew McGregor celebrates Thomas Tallis's powerful Lamentations.
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Secret Admirers: Andrew McGregor on Thomas Tallis
Thu 19 Apr 2018
Reflections on the powerful Lamentations of English composer Thomas Tallis.
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Kathryn Tickell on Percy Grainger—Secret Admirers
Wed 18 Apr 2018
Radio 3 presenter Kathryn Tickell celebrates composer and folksong fanatic Percy Grainger.
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Secret Admirers: Kathryn Tickell on Percy Grainger
Wed 18 Apr 2018
Folk musician Kathryn Tickell celebrates the Australian-American folksong fanatic.
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.
