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
-
![]()
Digging for Words—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Fri 4 Apr 2025
Jade Cuttle explores new words in nature writing
-
![]()
Workplace performance—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Thu 3 Apr 2025
Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal looks at 鈥渟ervice with a smile鈥�
-
![]()
The crime of creation—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Wed 2 Apr 2025
Jack Symes considers how we value life and face death
-
![]()
Mothers on trial—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Tue 1 Apr 2025
Shona Minson explores the pardoxical thinking around sending mothers to prison
-
![]()
Land Cinema—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Mon 31 Mar 2025
Becca Voelcker describes experiments in filmmaking in China, Japan and the Philippines
-
![]()
The intimacy of radio—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Fri 28 Mar 2025
Jacob Downs considers what it means to listen closely to the radio.
-
![]()
Birth Stories—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Thu 27 Mar 2025
From 'lying in' to bedside cots: Emily Baughan traces childbirth changes.
-
![]()
Losing Yourself in Books—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Wed 26 Mar 2025
Janine Bradbury questions our motivation when choosing what to read.
-
![]()
A Philosophical Forgery?—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Tue 25 Mar 2025
Jonathan Egid tells the story of a mysterious Ethiopian thinker named Zera Yacob.
-
![]()
Technicolor Wars—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Mon 24 Mar 2025
Kirsty Sinclair Dootson on the dark side of colour film.
-
![]()
Indonesia's Tin Pan Alley - Tihingan in Bali—Tin Pan Alleys
Fri 29 Nov 2024
Ade Mardiyati visits the master gamelan makers of Tihingan village in Bali.
-
![]()
Spain's Tin Pan Alley - Centro, Madrid—Tin Pan Alleys
Thu 28 Nov 2024
Guy Hedgecoe visits the luthiers of Madrid.
-
![]()
Japan's Tin Pan Alley - Ochanomizu in Tokyo—Tin Pan Alleys
Wed 27 Nov 2024
Phoebe Amoroso reports from Ochanomizu in Tokyo, famous for shops selling electric guitars
-
![]()
T眉rkiye's Tin Pan Alley - Galip Dede Street in Istanbul—Tin Pan Alleys
Tue 26 Nov 2024
蜜芽传媒 T眉rk莽e journalist Esra Yalcinalp visits Galip Dede Street, Istanbul's Tin Pan Alley.
-
![]()
China's Tin Pan Alley - Xinjiekou Street in Beijing—Tin Pan Alleys
Mon 25 Nov 2024
蜜芽传媒 Beijing Correspondent Stephen McDonell visits the music shops of Xinjiekou Street.
-
![]()
Amber—Scotland Rocks
Fri 22 Nov 2024
5/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
-
![]()
Serpentine—Scotland Rocks
Thu 21 Nov 2024
4/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
-
![]()
Aquamarine—Scotland Rocks
Wed 20 Nov 2024
3/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
-
![]()
Agate—Scotland Rocks
Tue 19 Nov 2024
2/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
-
![]()
Gold—Scotland Rocks
Mon 18 Nov 2024
1/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
-
![]()
Mamoru Samuragochi—Classical Deceptions
Fri 1 Nov 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
-
![]()
Joyce Hatto—Classical Deceptions
Thu 31 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
-
![]()
The Lost Haydn Sonatas—Classical Deceptions
Wed 30 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
-
![]()
Albinoni's Adagio—Classical Deceptions
Tue 29 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
-
![]()
Fritz Kreisler—Classical Deceptions
Mon 28 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
-
![]()
5. Rebecca Toal and Hattie Butterworth—Healing Musicians
Fri 18 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy talks to musicians who had to rethink their careers after injury or illness.
-
![]()
4. Ludwig Quandt—Healing Musicians
Thu 17 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
-
![]()
3. Robin Graham—Healing Musicians
Wed 16 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
-
![]()
2. Stephen Marquiss—Healing Musicians
Tue 15 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
-
![]()
1. Julian Lloyd Webber—Healing Musicians
Mon 14 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy talks to musicians who had to rethink their lives and careers after injury.
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.
