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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Amiri Baraka—Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s
Tue 27 Jun 2023
How poet and playwright Amiri Baraka cancelled himself in a single public appearance.
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William Styron—Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s
Mon 26 Jun 2023
Should a white man write about a black revolutionary?
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Roy McFarlane on Bilston—Black Country Secrets
Fri 16 Jun 2023
Writers choose a Black Country scene to reveal something of this strangely hidden region.
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R.M. Francis on Wren’s Nest, Dudley—Black Country Secrets
Thu 15 Jun 2023
Writers choose a Black Country scene to reveal something of this strangely hidden region.
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Brendan Hawthorne on Toll End Road, Tipton—Black Country Secrets
Wed 14 Jun 2023
Writers choose a Black Country scene to reveal something of this strangely hidden region.
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Emma Purshouse on St Bart’s Church, Wednesbury.—Black Country Secrets
Tue 13 Jun 2023
Writers choose a Black Country scene to reveal something of this strangely hidden region.
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Liz Berry on Gorge Road, Sedgley—Black Country Secrets
Mon 12 Jun 2023
Writers choose a Black Country scene to reveal something of this strangely hidden region.
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Geoff Dyer on DH Lawrence—Journeys to the Grave
Fri 9 Jun 2023
Five more writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
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Brandon Taylor on Langston Hughes—Journeys to the Grave
Thu 8 Jun 2023
Series 2. Five writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
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Helen Mort on Sylvia Plath—Journeys to the Grave
Wed 7 Jun 2023
Five more writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
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Tracy Chevalier on Thomas Hardy—Journeys to the Grave
Tue 6 Jun 2023
Series 2. Five writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
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Naomi Alderman on Mary Wollstonecraft—Journeys to the Grave
Mon 5 Jun 2023
Five more writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
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Emilia Lanyer—We Other Tudors
Fri 5 May 2023
10/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
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Mohammed al-Annuri—We Other Tudors
Thu 4 May 2023
9/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
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Roderigo Lopez—We Other Tudors
Wed 3 May 2023
8/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England
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Mary Fillis—We Other Tudors
Tue 2 May 2023
7/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
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Chinano 'the Turk'—We Other Tudors
Mon 1 May 2023
6/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
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Manteo—We Other Tudors
Fri 28 Apr 2023
5/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
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Aura Soltana—We Other Tudors
Thu 27 Apr 2023
4/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
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John Cabot—We Other Tudors
Wed 26 Apr 2023
3/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
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John Blanke—We Other Tudors
Tue 25 Apr 2023
2/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
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Lucy Baynham—We Other Tudors
Mon 24 Apr 2023
1/10 Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
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Professor Dame Marina Warner on Othello—Reading the First Folio
Fri 21 Apr 2023
Author and historian Marina Warner chooses a speech from early in Othello: Act 1, Scene 3.
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Sir David Hare on Macbeth—Reading the First Folio
Thu 20 Apr 2023
Playwright David Hare chooses Macbeth's imagining of old age from Act 5, Scene 3.
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Professor Islam Issa on Julius Caesar—Reading the First Folio
Wed 19 Apr 2023
Professor Islam Issa chooses a passage spoken by Julius Caesar in Act 2, Scene 2.
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Michelle Terry on As You Like It—Reading the First Folio
Tue 18 Apr 2023
Actor Michelle Terry chooses a speech by 'love doctor' Rosalind from Act 3, Scene 2.
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Sir Richard Eyre on King Lear—Reading the First Folio
Mon 17 Apr 2023
Director Richard Eyre chooses a speech by Lear to his daughter Cordelia - Act 5, Scene 3.
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Fighting the colour bar—New Generation Thinkers 2022
Fri 14 Apr 2023
Shirin Hirsch explores the way boxer Len Johnson fought a Manchester pub ban.
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Stupid Victorians—New Generation Thinkers 2022
Wed 12 Apr 2023
Louise Creechan looks at the impact of 19th-century ideas about intelligence.
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Children of the Waters—New Generation Thinkers 2022
Tue 11 Apr 2023
Sabina Dosani on the ritual of Mizuko Kuyo and modern ceremonies marking miscarriage.
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.
