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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Ian Sansom: Cheese Dreams with Graham Greene—The Diarists
Thu 28 May 2020
4/5 Ian Sansom explores his own and Graham Greene鈥檚 active dream life.
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Helen Mort: More Than Enough—The Diarists
Wed 27 May 2020
3/5 Helen Mort's daily walks echo the explorations of Dorothy Wordsworth in the Lake District.
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AL Kennedy: Hope On, Hope Ever—The Diarists
Tue 26 May 2020
2/5 AL Kennedy on the fortitude and humanity of Edward Wilson's Antarctic diaries.
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AL Kennedy: The Towers We Founded and the Lamps We Lit—The Diarists
Mon 25 May 2020
1/5 AL Kennedy pursues the ever-restless wanderings of Robert Louis Stevenson.
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The Essay - Let Me Take You There - 10.Aida Edemariam
Fri 22 May 2020
leading writers share their secrets of places of inner sanctuary 10.Aida Edemariam
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The Essay - Let Me Take You There - 8.Michael Morpurgo
Thu 21 May 2020
leading writers on places of inner sanctuary in times of crisis 8.michael morpurgo
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The Essay - Let Me Take You There - 9.David Constatine
Thu 21 May 2020
Leading writers share the secrets of places of inner sanctuary 9.David Constantine
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The Essay - Let Me Take You There - 7. Evie Wyld
Tue 19 May 2020
leading writers on a place of inner refuge in times of crisis 7.evie wyld
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The Essay - Let Me Take You There - 6.David Almond
Mon 18 May 2020
leading writers share the secrets of their internal places of refuge in times of crisis
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The Essay - Let Me Take You There - 5. Alice Oswald
Fri 8 May 2020
Leading writers share secrets of their place of internal refuge 5.Alice Oswald
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The Essay - Let Me Take You There - 4.Tessa Hadley
Thu 7 May 2020
leading writers share the secrets of places of internal refuge in crisis 4.Tessa Hadley
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The Essay - Let Me Take You There - 3. Tahmima Anam
Wed 6 May 2020
leading writers evoke places of internal refuges which they visit in times of crisis
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The Essay - Let Me Take You There - 2.Inua Ellams
Tue 5 May 2020
Leading writers share the secrets of places of internal refuge in times of crisis
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They Essay - Let Me Take You There 1
Mon 4 May 2020
Writers on personal places of refuge in times of crisis 1.Alan Hollinghurst
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Paul Robeson in Five Songs: 5. Joe Hill
Wed 15 Apr 2020
Marybeth Hamilton on the ghosts of Joe Hill and Paul Robeson and their linked fates.
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Paul Robeson in Five Songs: 4. Zog Nit Keynmol
Wed 15 Apr 2020
Paul Robeson's life and struggle through songs .Tayo Aluko on Robeson's Zog Nit Keynmol.
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Paul Robeson in Five Songs: 3. The Canoe Song
Wed 15 Apr 2020
Paul Robeson's life and struggle told through music. Matthew Sweet on the Canoe Song.
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Paul Robeson in Five Songs: 1. No More Auction Block
Wed 15 Apr 2020
Paul Robeson's life and struggle through song. Shana Redmond on No More Auction Block.
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Paul Robeson in Five Songs: 2. Ol' Man River
Wed 15 Apr 2020
The life of Paul Robeson in songs. Granddaughter Susan Robeson on Ol' Man River.
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The Preseli Mountains—Higher Thoughts and the Meaning of Welsh Mountains
Fri 20 Mar 2020
5/5 Jon Gower explores the five mountain ranges of Wales.
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Epynt—Higher Thoughts and the Meaning of Welsh Mountains
Thu 19 Mar 2020
4/5 Jon Gower explores the five mountain ranges of Wales.
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The Brecon Beacons—Higher Thoughts and the Meaning of Welsh Mountains
Wed 18 Mar 2020
3/5 Jon Gower explores the five mountain ranges of Wales.
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The Black Mountains—Higher Thoughts and the Meaning of Welsh Mountains
Tue 17 Mar 2020
2/5 Jon Gower explores the five mountain ranges of Wales.
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Snowdonia—Higher Thoughts and the Meaning of Welsh Mountains
Mon 16 Mar 2020
1/5 Jon Gower explores the five mountain ranges of Wales.
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Yolande Mukagasana—Women Writers to Put Back on the Bookshelf
Fri 6 Mar 2020
5/5 Zoe Norridge describes translating the testimony of a Rwandan survivor.
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Storm Jameson—Women Writers to Put Back on the Bookshelf
Thu 5 Mar 2020
4/5 A Yorkshire-born writer with a European outlook who campaigned for World War II refugees.
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Margaret Oliphant—Women Writers to Put Back on the Bookshelf
Wed 4 Mar 2020
3/5 The Scottish writer whose comic heroine Miss Marjoribanks bucks 19th-century conventions.
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Lady Mary Wroth—Women Writers to Put Back on the Bookshelf
Tue 3 Mar 2020
2/5 The English Renaissance poet whose reputation at court was ruined by her writing.
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Charlotte Turner Smith—Women Writers to Put Back on the Bookshelf
Mon 2 Mar 2020
1/5 The Romantic poet who inspired Wordsworth is profiled by Sophie Coulombeau.
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Sophie Coulombeau - Walking Matilda—Strange Strolls
Fri 14 Feb 2020
5/5 In York, author and academic Sophie Coulombeau finds a city and self changed by motherhood
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.
