In Our Time – Emily Dickinson
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of Emily Dickinson, arguably the most startling and original poet in America in the C19th. According to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, her…
Poetry sales soar as political millennials search for clarity
Andre Breedt, for Nielsen, said that sales were booming because in times of political upheaval and uncertainty, people turn to poems to make sense of the world: “Poetry is resonating…
The Myth of Rugged Individualism
The idea of the “rugged individual” is all over the place in science fiction–especially in the United States. Who is this loner hero, and why are there so many stories…
An Old New World
When Princess Leia enters Jabba the Hutt’s lair in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, she greets him with “Yá’át’ééh, yá’át’ééh,” a Navajo greeting, and her iconic double-bun hairstyle imitates…
Electronic: From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers
Detroit electronic music legend, Jeff Mills, speaks to sound designer - Yuri Suzuki, about his early inspirations with techno music, reawakening the genre, and how technology can impact modern music.…
BBC Radio 4 – In Our Time, The Romantics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideals, exponents and legacy of Romanticism. In the space of a few years around the start of the nineteenth century the Romantic period gave…
The Driving Instructor
a poem by MARION WINIK
Whatcha Reading, Michael Hobbes?, by Martin McClellan
Michael Hobbes is a Seattle-based journalist, writer, and supremely-talented untangler of our culture’s messiest cultural hairballs. He is the other half (the first being Sarah Marshall, who did this column…
BBC Radio 4 – Short Cuts, Series 20, Mary Oliver
“Tell me, what is it you plan to dowith your one wild and precious life?”- Mary Oliver Josie Long heads out alone into nature to present short documentaries and adventures…