Mélusine

The mermaid-like figure from medieval folklore is discussed by Shahidha Bari and guests.

• 44 mins

Mind-Altered States

Matthew Sweet and guests knock on the doors of perception.

• 44 mins

Writing Love: Sarah Hall, Monica Ali, Adam Mars-Jones

Shahidha Bari talks to authors about writing love stories set against troubling times.

• 44 mins

Paper

An exploration of the cultural and social history of paper.

• 44 mins

Touki Bouki

A close look at Djibril Diop Mambéty's classic 1973 film with Matthew Sweet and guests.

• 44 mins

Diverse Classical Music

Digging into the music of composers Joseph Bologne, Kikuko Kanai and Julia Perry.

• 44 mins

Yishai Sarid, Marking Holocaust Memorial Day 2022

Anne McElvoy talks to Israeli novelist Yishai Sarid & hears about new historical research.

• 44 mins

Asta Nielsen

Matthew Sweet and guests look at the Danish star of androgynous early romcoms and Hamlet.

• 44 mins

How to Create a Modernist Masterpiece

Will Self, Alexandra Harris, Kevin Le Gendre and Owen Hatherley build up a manifesto.

• 44 mins

Modernism around the World

Rana Mitter looks at Bauhaus in Delhi, Japanese and South African novels and Mexican art.

• 44 mins

Futurism

Matthew Sweet and guests look at the manifesto celebrating youth, technology and violence.

• 44 mins

Diverse Classical Music II

New research into music by Margaret Bonds, Robert Nathaniel Dett, Ali Osman, Isaac Hishow.

• 44 mins

Whale Watching

Rana Mitter dives into the world of whales and examines our relationship to marine life.

• 44 mins

Existential Risk

Planning and creating in the shadow of the doomsday clock with Shahidha Bari and guests.

• 44 mins

Stonehenge History

Anne McElvoy is joined by Neil Wilkin, Mike Pitts, Susan Greaney and Seren Griffiths.

• 44 mins

China, Freud, War and Sci-Fi

From AI and fan fiction to 1930s replica antiquities: new ways of thinking about China.

• 44 mins

Hitchhiking

Matthew Sweet considers examples from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Polish tokens.

• 44 mins

Pankaj Mishra, Research into Indian history

Pankaj Mishra discusses his new novel about four friends in an age of upheaval.

• 44 mins

Artists' models and fame

Egon Schiele's women, Whistler's Woman in White, new radio ballads. Shahidha Bari hosts.

• 44 mins

Perfecting the Body

Eugenics to cyborgs: Adam Rutherford, Clare Chambers, Xine Yao and Harry Parker discuss.

• 44 mins

Climate change, nature and art

Ingrid Pollard, Julian Perry, Patricia Dominguez, Will Abberley and Eleanor Barraclough.

• 44 mins

The Barbican, art and writing in 50s Britain

Lisa Mullen & guests mark the 40th anniversary of the opening of London's Barbican centre

• 44 mins

The Generation Gap

Writer Howard Jacobson, photographer Ruth Sutoyé talk family histories with Matthew Sweet

• 44 mins

Sisters

The Unthank sisters, Sally Alexander, Lucy Holland, Oyinkan Braithwaite and Shahidha Bari.

• 44 mins

New research into women's history

The Clean Break theatre company, sex strikes, East European feminism. Naomi Paxton hosts.

• 44 mins

Blackmail and Shame

Mark Ravenhill on staging the play on which Hitchcock based Blackmail.

• 44 mins

The Stasi poetry circle, Nazi schools and German culture

How an East German creative writing class fought the cold war - was their poetry any good?

• 44 mins

Vikings

From the Victorian craze to modern takes on Norse myths, Netflix and archaeological finds.

• 44 mins

John Maynard Keynes

From HM Treasury to Versailles and Bloomsbury: a look at the life and legacy of JM Keynes.

• 44 mins

After Dark Festival: Equinox

Finding meaning in the moment when the length of day and night is equal.

• 44 mins