Literary Pursuits

Charles Dickens: Great Expectations

Sarah Dillon reveals a tale of money and passion behind Dickens's Great Expectations.

• 45 mins

Literary Pursuits

Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea

Sarah Dillon explores the arduous composition of Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea.

• 45 mins

Literary Pursuits

Jane Austen's Persuasion

Sarah Dillon discovers how Jane Austen's last completed novel, Persuasion, was written.

• 45 mins

Literary Pursuits

James Joyce's Dubliners

Sarah Dillon recounts James Joyce's epic struggle to publish his first book, Dubliners.

• 45 mins

Literary Pursuits

Literary Pursuits: EM Forster's Maurice

Exploring the long journey to publication of EM Forster's gay love story, Maurice.

• 44 mins

Literary Pursuits

Literary Pursuits - RL Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde

Sarah Dillon finds out the story behind the writing of RL Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde.

• 44 mins

Literary Pursuits

Les Miserables

The story behind the writing of Victor Hugo's book is one of adultery, intrigue and exile.

• 44 mins

Literary Pursuits

Truman Capote: In Cold Blood

How a murder in Kansas prompted Truman Capote to write In Cold Blood.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: The Endless Demise of the High Street

Dr Jade Halbert ponders the veracity of the long-running warnings of high street demise.

• 14 mins

Wordsworth - Poet of the People

Jenny Uglow sets Wordsworth, the nature poet, in contrast to the economist Adam Smith.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: Susan Greaney and the Jomon Connection

Susan Greaney draws parallels between ancient peoples of Britain and Japan

• 14 mins

New Generation Thinkers: The Crankiness of CW Daniel

Dr Elsa Richardson explores the impact and legacy of radical publisher CW Daniel.

• 14 mins

Electronic India

Musician Paul Purgas investigates the lost history of India’s electronic avant-garde.

• 44 mins

Writing Across Distance

Writing Across Distance. New Sunday Feature from BBC Radio 3.

• 44 mins

Afterwords: Toni Morrison

Reflections on American writer Toni Morrison in her own words and those of her peers.

• 44 mins

Silent Witness - John Cage, Zen and Japan

How American experimental composer John Cage came to write his infamous, silent 4’33”.

• 44 mins

Andy's Kitchen and On the Road in Africa

Andy Kershaw introduces rare recordings from his personal archive.

• 44 mins

Andy's Kitchen and On the Road in the Americas

Andy Kershaw introduces rare recordings from his personal archive.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: Sloe Time

Nature's barbed wire - and giver of a fruit that creates a delicious warming tipple.

• 14 mins

Cave Life for Beginners

Down down, deeper and down - Ben Cottam overnights in a cave in search of inspiration.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: Short Feature - COVID and the Black Death; the imperfect fit

Dr Seb Falk challenges the repeated pandemic comparison of Covid-19 with the Black Death.

• 14 mins

Tate Modern - Exploding the Canon

For Director Frances Morris, there is an urgency to make Tate Modern fit for the future.

• 44 mins

Curves and Concrete

How did a maverick Scottish architect revolutionise the design of UK skateparks?

• 44 mins

The Silence of My Pain

Hannah French explores an often hidden disability for many musicians: chronic pain.

• 44 mins

Our Birmingham Fathers

Three people meet to share experiences of grieving for their musician fathers.

• 44 mins

The Myth and Mystery of Anja Thauer

The story of a lost cellist, who was once a rival to Jacqueline du Pré.

• 44 mins

The Fake Poet

Why does the image of the forlorn and abandoned poet Thomas Chatterton haunt us today?

• 44 mins

Dissecting Beethoven

Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh and Georgia Mann dissect Beethoven.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: A Passion for Annotations

Dr Kylie Murray explains her fascination for annotation.

• 14 mins

The Robots Are Us

Ken Hollings explores a century of R.U.R., Karel Capek's staged robot revolution.

• 44 mins