Michael Ondaatje on Writing History

Michael Ondaatje talks about how, as a novelist, he writes history

• 23 mins

Whodunnit? Clever Pipe-Smokers

The most famous detective ever is a fictional character – Sherlock Holmes

• 23 mins

Whodunnit? The Femme Fatale

Sarah Paretsky identifies the "four Vs" of female characters in 1930s detective fiction

• 23 mins

Digital Photography – a Revolution

Will we ever be able to trust a news photograph again?

• 23 mins

John Gielgud, giant of British Theatre

Tribute to the life and work of Sir John Gielgud, the great English actor, who has died

• 24 mins

Director's Choice – National Gallery of Scotland

A visit to the National Gallery of Scotland to discuss the building and its collections

• 24 mins

Director's Choice – Castello di Rivoli

The director of Castello di Rivoli takes listeners on a guided tour

• 25 mins

Controversy over Exhibition of Lynching Photographs

Debate around exhibiting photographs of lynchings of African-Americans by white mobs

• 23 mins

A.S. Byatt – the Novelist in pursuit of the Biographer

"Human beings always escape their biographers," says novelist A.S.Byatt in this interview

• 23 mins

Director's Choice – the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Philippe de Montebello takes listeners on a guided tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

• 23 mins

Storytelling – Sitting on the Porch

Our need for narrative is as important as food, shelter and sex, says Connie May Fowler

• 24 mins

Director's Choice – the Stedelijk Museum

A guided tour of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam with its director Rudi Fuchs

• 23 mins

Beauty – What is it?

What is beauty and whay do we crave it? What is the relationship between art and beauty?

• 23 mins

Director's Choice – the Louvre

Pierre Rosenberg, president-director of the Louvre, takes listeners on a guided tour

• 23 mins

Beauty – Who believes in it now?

When was the Western idea of beauty overturned – and why don't we believe in it anymore?

• 24 mins

Writers' Workshop – Memoirs

Martin Amis and Lisa Appignanesi explore the process of memoir writing

• 23 mins

Guy de Maupassant – Master of the Short Story

Life and work of Guy de Maupassant, the 19th-century French writer

• 23 mins

Beauty – Is it making a come-back?

Could beauty make a come-back in contemporary art?

• 23 mins

How Henry IV touched an Elizabethan nerve

Royal succession was a real concern for the first audiences of Shakespeare's Henry IV

• 23 mins

The New Generation of Novelists

Three of the new generation of novelists discuss their work

• 23 mins

Protest and succeed – interview with David Hare

David Hare talks about his career, from politically-driven protester to feted playwright

• 23 mins

Writers' Workshop – the Radio Play

Exploring the process of writing radio plays

• 24 mins

Stranger than Fiction – the Life of Martin Amis

Interview with author Martin Amis about why he felt he need to write his memoir Experience

• 23 mins

Writing the world with Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh talks about his latest novel, The Glass Palace, a 20th-century family saga

• 23 mins

Slave Narratives

How writers have conveyed the injustices and truths of the lives of slaves in America

• 23 mins

Why do Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas still matter?

Why is the work of contentious philiosopher Friedrich Nietzsche still relevant?

• 24 mins

Robert Schumann's Symphony No 3

A close examination of the Rhenish, the last symphony composed by Schumann

• 23 mins

Slave Narratives: Part 2

How slaves fought for their own emancipation

• 23 mins

A Bach Pilgrimage: Part 3

The life and work of JS Bach, from 1708 when he moved to Weimar

• 24 mins

A Bach Pilgrimage: Part 2

The life and work of composer J S Bach, from 1703 when he was an organist at Arnstadt

• 24 mins