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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Ruffs in Jamestown—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Thu 28 Apr 2022
Lauren Working on what fashion reveals about life for C16 English settlers in America.
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African cinema, nationhood, and liberation—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Wed 27 Apr 2022
Sarah Jilani on the lessons about power in films by Ousmane Sembene and Souleymane Cissé.
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Contesting an Alphabet—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Tue 26 Apr 2022
Mirela Ivanova on the countries claiming to be the birthplace of the Cyrillic script.
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Walking with the Ghosts of the Durham Coalfield—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Mon 25 Apr 2022
Jake Morris-Campbell carries the ashes of poet Bill Martin from Sunderland to Durham.
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Boy with a Pearl Earring—Fashion Stories
Fri 11 Mar 2022
5/5 Lauren Working explores the cavalier look from Charles I to Harry Styles.
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Uniforms - An Alternative History—Fashion Stories
Thu 10 Mar 2022
4/5 Tom Smith links school blazers and clothes worn by East German soldiers to clubbing.
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Drama, Dressing-up and Droopy & Browns—Fashion Stories
Wed 9 Mar 2022
3/5 Jade Halbert looks at the designs inspired by English history created by Angela Holmes.
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In a Handbag—Fashion Stories
Tue 8 Mar 2022
2/5 Shahidha Bari looks at what the contents of a handbag can tell us.
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Body Armour—Fashion Stories
Mon 7 Mar 2022
1/5 Sophie Oliver looks at a Mina Loy corselet and the history of reshaping bodies.
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Nuala O'Connor on Penelope—Reading Ulysses
Fri 4 Feb 2022
Nuala O'Connor explores a passage from the novel's final episode, Molly Bloom's soliloquy.
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Mary Costello on Ithaca—Reading Ulysses
Thu 3 Feb 2022
Mary Costello chooses a passage from an episode towards the end of Ulysses: Ithaca.
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Colm TóibÃn on Sirens—Reading Ulysses
Wed 2 Feb 2022
Colm TóibÃn explains singing in Ulysses, exploring a passage from the Sirens episode.
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John Patrick McHugh on Calypso—Reading Ulysses
Tue 1 Feb 2022
Short story writer John Patrick McHugh chooses the fourth episode of Ulysses: Calypso.
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Anne Enright on Telemachus—Reading Ulysses
Mon 31 Jan 2022
Anne Enright gives us a close reading of the opening pages of James Joyce's Ulysses.
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Euphoria—Another Northern Ireland
Fri 10 Dec 2021
5/10 Novelist Glenn Patterson on Belfast's hairdressers and clothes shops during the Troubles.
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Chalk on the Wall—Another Northern Ireland
Thu 9 Dec 2021
4/10 Writer Claire Mitchell peels back the layers of her hometown to find a radical history.
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The Art of Staying—Another Northern Ireland
Wed 8 Dec 2021
3/10 Poet MÃchéal McCann navigates the careful etiquette of a rural Northern Irish wake.
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Searching with Shorelines—Another Northern Ireland
Tue 7 Dec 2021
2/10 Poet Gail McConnell on the inspiration of the sea in Louis MacNeice's work and her own.
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Traybakes—Another Northern Ireland
Mon 6 Dec 2021
1/10 Author Jan Carson on the women who kept her church supplied with tea and traybakes
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Journey to the Centre of the Earth—Sounds of Isolation
Fri 5 Nov 2021
5/5 From sea level to volcanic crater in search of the entrance to the centre of the earth.
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Voices in the Dark—Sounds of Isolation
Thu 4 Nov 2021
4/5 As wreathes of mist lift from a moorland, birdsong is captured in the darkness.
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The Wake—Sounds of Isolation
Wed 3 Nov 2021
3/5 The songs of invisible birds are captured in the isolation of a lake in Finland.
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Island Isolation—Sounds of Isolation
Tue 2 Nov 2021
2/5 A quest for nocturnal sounds at the pinnacle of an isolated sea rock as sirens sing below.
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The Great White Silence—Sounds of Isolation
Mon 1 Nov 2021
1/5 Chris Watson vividly recalls how he captured the sounds of 'The Great White Silence'.
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Himiko: Shaman Queen—Japan in Five Lives
Fri 30 Jul 2021
The early powerful ruler who summoned spirits as well as armies.
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Murasaki Shikibu: Imperial Insider—Japan in Five Lives
Thu 29 Jul 2021
The 11th-century courtier who wrote what is thought to be the world's first novel.
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Oda Nobunaga: Warlord—Japan in Five Lives
Wed 28 Jul 2021
The terrifying warlord who brought much of Japan under his control
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Tezuka Osamu: Godfather of Manga—Japan in Five Lives
Tue 27 Jul 2021
The creator of Atom Boy, who brought Japanese cartoons to the world.
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Daimatsu 'The Demon' Hirobumi—Japan in Five Lives
Mon 26 Jul 2021
The brutal coach who achieved a gold medal for Japan at the 1964 Olympics.
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Colin Grant on VS Naipaul—Caribbean Voices
Fri 2 Jul 2021
5/5 A personal memory of the controversial Nobel laureate, who began his career in radio.
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.
