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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Pavlova—The Story of Puddings
Thu 21 Dec 2023
Essays about our favourite puddings. A disputed antipodean Christmas classic: pavlova.
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CrΓ¨me BrΓ»lΓ©e—The Story of Puddings
Wed 20 Dec 2023
Essays about our favourite puddings. A rich French classic with surprises: Crème brûlée.
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Summer Pudding—The Story of Puddings
Tue 19 Dec 2023
Essays about our favourite puddings. The spectacular summer pudding has many surprises.
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Tapioca—The Story of Puddings
Mon 18 Dec 2023
A series of essays about our favourite puddings, starting with the loved and hated tapioca
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Khadijah Ibrahiim—Looking at Leeds
Fri 15 Dec 2023
Khadijah Ibrahiim looks at what changes to Leeds's environment tell us about its identity.
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Ian Duhig—Looking at Leeds
Thu 14 Dec 2023
Ian Duhig takes us on a virtual poetic journey along Blind Jack Metcalf's road.
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Michelle Scally Clarke—Looking at Leeds
Wed 13 Dec 2023
Michelle Scally Clarke talks about William Kenneth Armitage's statue Both Arms.
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Jeremy Dyson—Looking at Leeds
Tue 12 Dec 2023
Jeremy Dyson takes us back to the Victorian architectural splendour and status of Leeds.
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Malika Booker—Looking at Leeds
Mon 11 Dec 2023
The city of Leeds seen through its public art past, present and future.
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5. Return—To Odesa
Fri 24 Nov 2023
Ukrainian-American poet Ilya Kaminsky (author of Deaf Republic) on the city of his birth.
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4. Crossing—To Odesa
Thu 23 Nov 2023
Ukrainian-American poet Ilya Kaminsky (author of Deaf Republic) on the city of his birth.
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3. Watching—To Odesa
Wed 22 Nov 2023
Ukrainian-American poet Ilya Kaminsky (author of Deaf Republic) on the city of his birth.
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2. Departure—To Odesa
Tue 21 Nov 2023
Ukrainian-American poet Ilya Kaminsky (author of Deaf Republic) on the city of his birth.
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1. Ears—To Odesa
Mon 20 Nov 2023
Ukrainian-American poet Ilya Kaminsky (author of Deaf Republic) on the city of his birth.
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The Bison—Highland Tails
Fri 3 Nov 2023
An Essay and reflection in poetry on the reintroduction of wild animals into the Highlands
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The Beaver—Highland Tails
Thu 2 Nov 2023
An Essay and reflection in poetry on the reintroduction of wild animals into the Highlands
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The Wallabies—Highland Tails
Wed 1 Nov 2023
An Essay and reflection in poetry on the reintroduction of wild animals into the Highlands
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The Sea Eagle—Highland Tails
Tue 31 Oct 2023
An Essay and reflection in poetry on the reintroduction of wild animals into the Highlands
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The Reindeer—Highland Tails
Mon 30 Oct 2023
An Essay and reflection in poetry on the reintroduction of wild animals into the Highlands
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The Flat-Pack Cello—Five Cellos: Lost and Found
Fri 20 Oct 2023
Kate Kennedy reflects on a reimagined cello whose story is yet to begin.
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The Shipwrecked Cello—Five Cellos: Lost and Found
Thu 19 Oct 2023
The unlikely story of the reconstruction of the 'Mara' Stradivarius.
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The Auschwitz Cello—Five Cellos: Lost and Found
Wed 18 Oct 2023
How the cellist of Auschwitz, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch's life was saved by her cello.
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The Bee Cello—Five Cellos: Lost and Found
Tue 17 Oct 2023
The story of an abandoned cello that a physicist has filled with 400,000 bees.
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The Soul of Music—Five Cellos: Lost and Found
Mon 16 Oct 2023
Kate Kennedy reflects on her quest to find Pal Hermann's cello, and his soul.
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Frida Kahlo's Broken Column—The Little Secrets of Great Works
Fri 29 Sep 2023
Art historian Katy Hessel on the symbolism of the spine in Frida Kahlo's Broken Column.
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Field of Dreams—The Little Secrets of Great Works
Thu 28 Sep 2023
Writer Sarfraz Manzoor discusses one moment in the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams.
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The Tiger Who Came to Tea—The Little Secrets of Great Works
Wed 27 Sep 2023
Sam Leith on his fascination with a background figure in Judith Kerr's classic book.
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Joan Williams—Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s
Fri 30 Jun 2023
Novelist Joan Williams, after a promising start, just disappeared. Why?
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Philip Roth—Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s
Thu 29 Jun 2023
How Philip Roth's writing alienated him from the Jewish community in America.
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Norman Mailer—Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s
Wed 28 Jun 2023
Michael Goldfarb looks at how Norman Mailer's misogyny eventually caught up with him.
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.
