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Black Country Secrets

R.M. Francis on Wren’s Nest, Dudley

Writers choose a Black Country scene to reveal something of this strangely hidden region.

• 14 mins

Black Country Secrets

Roy McFarlane on Bilston

Writers choose a Black Country scene to reveal something of this strangely hidden region.

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

Traybakes

Author Jan Carson on the women who kept her church supplied with tea and traybakes

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

Searching with Shorelines

Poet Gail McConnell on the inspiration of the sea in Louis MacNeice's work and her own.

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

The Art of Staying

Poet Míchéal McCann navigates the careful etiquette of a rural Northern Irish wake.

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

Chalk on the Wall

Writer Claire Mitchell peels back the layers of her hometown to find a radical history.

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

Euphoria

Novelist Glenn Patterson on Belfast's hairdressers and clothes shops during the Troubles.

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

1. Susannah Dickey: Two Pills

Poet and novelist Susannah Dickey assumes a new identity at a local pharmacy.

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

2. Nandi Jola: Neither Here Nor There

Nandi Jola finds some surprising connections between Africa and Northern Ireland.

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

3. Nick Laird: Animal Life

Nick Laird wonders if his children are missing out on the rural upbringing he enjoyed.

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

4. Darran Anderson: Map Making

Darran Anderson draws an alternative map of Ulster for his young son.

• 14 mins

Another Northern Ireland

5. Bernie McGill: Our Art

During the Troubles, Bernie McGill was often told to be careful about what she said.

• 14 mins

Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s

William Styron

Should a white man write about a black revolutionary?

• 14 mins

Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s

Amiri Baraka

How poet and playwright Amiri Baraka cancelled himself in a single public appearance.

• 14 mins

Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s

Norman Mailer

Michael Goldfarb looks at how Norman Mailer's misogyny eventually caught up with him.

• 14 mins

Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s

Philip Roth

How Philip Roth's writing alienated him from the Jewish community in America.

• 14 mins

Controversies: American Writing of the 1960s

Joan Williams

Novelist Joan Williams, after a promising start, just disappeared. Why?

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Wold

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby discovers the human past in the chalk of the Yorkshire Wolds.

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Fen

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby digs into the peat of the Fens to unearth tales of change.

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Mountain

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby goes in search of a Neolithic axe quarry in the Lake District.

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Island

Rose Ferraby finds signs that Scotland’s Western Isles were once far from remote.

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Moor

High on Exmoor, archaeologist Rose Ferraby reflects on past change and the future.

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Town

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby unearths a Roman town in Yorkshire, and considers communities.

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Grave

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby explores how archaeology invites us to be with death.

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Quarry

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby descends underground to visit Devon’s Beer Quarry Caves.

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Field

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby teases out a North Yorkshire field’s place in changing times

• 14 mins

EarthWorks

Monument

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby explores a Neolithic henge in the Peak District

• 14 mins

The Little Secrets of Great Works

You've Got Mail

Children's novelist Elle McNicoll discusses one line from Nora Ephron's romantic comedy.

• 14 mins

The Little Secrets of Great Works

Sibelius's Fifth Symphony

Financial Times journailst Stephen Bush on the third movement of Sibelius's Symphony No 5.

• 14 mins

The Little Secrets of Great Works

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Sam Leith on his fascination with a background figure in Judith Kerr's classic book.

• 14 mins