Art and Culture Podcasts
Season 5, Episode 19
1 hour 7 mins
Richard Powers – Why Stories Matter
The Booker Prize 2021 shortlisted author of Bewilderment and The Overstory explores the power of fiction to change our future.
Season 5, Episode 17
53 mins
Kate Bowler – The Meaning of Life
At thirty-five, Divinity Professor Kate Bowler was diagnosed with colon cancer. She joins us to explore what life really means, as she approaches its close.
Series 5, Episode 13
1 hour 3 mins
Fiona Shaw – A Life on Stage and Screen
The BAFTA and Olivier award-winning Irish actor and director explores her life and career on stage and screen.
Season 5, Episode 12
38 mins
Dennis Duncan – Index, a history of the
In this week’s podcast, literary scholar Dennis Duncan takes us into the secret world of the index and reveals how it transformed the way we read and process knowledge forever.
Season 5, Episode 9
1 hour
Anish Kapoor – a Life in Art
An icon whose spectacular works occupy a liminal space between sculpture, engineering and architecture, Anish Kapoor is one of the world’s most ambitious living artists.
Season 5, Episode 7
31 mins
Charles Yu – Interior Chinatown
Enter the genre-bending metafictional world of National Book Award winner Charles Yu, one of the most exciting young American novelists.
Season 5, Episode 5
53 mins
Lisa Taddeo and Hadley Freeman – Madness, Transgression and Power
Lisa Taddeo’s THREE WOMEN changed how we think about desire. She returns to the podcast to explore what drives women to extremes and how they can take back power.
Season 5, Episode 3
36 mins
John Higgs – William Blake vs the World
Join us for a wild journey through culture, philosophy and religion to better understand the mercurial genius William Blake in the twenty-first century.
Series 4, Episode 20
54 mins
Sir David Hare – A Life in Theatre
The legendary playwright joins us to reflect on his life and career as the most prolific, influential and respected dramatist of his generation.
Series 4, Episode 18
54 Minutes
Maggie O’Farrell – The Life of Hamnet Shakespeare
‘The story of Hamnet Shakespeare has been waiting in the shadows for over four hundred years. Maggie O’Farrell brings it dazzlingly, devastatingly, into the light’ – Kamila Shamsie
Season 4, Episode 16
51 mins
Anna Ploszajski – Finding Meaning Through Making
Sitting at the intersection of art, science, and history, this week’s podcast reveals fresh perspectives and fascinating insights into our material world.
Series 4, Episode 15
1 hr
George Saunders – Lessons in Writing and Life
What makes great stories work? What can they tell us about our world today? How can they make us better readers and how can we write them ourselves?
Series 4, Episode 13
53 mins
Isabel Allende – The Soul of a Woman
One of the most acclaimed and beloved figures in world literature, legendary novelist Isabel Allende joined us for a meditation on feminism, activism and revolution.
Series 4, Episode 12
1hr 7 mins
Ian McEwan – A Life in Literature
The country’s most prolific and celebrated novelist reflects upon a life in literature.
Series 4, Episode 10
1hr
Derren Brown – How To Be a Little Happier
Learn how to think differently and overcome anxiety in a difficult world with the legendary star of stage and screen.
Season 4, Episode 5
54 mins
Owen Jones Meets Claudia Rankine
The first and only poet to write a New York Times bestseller, the winner of every significant literary prize in the United States, Jamaican-born Claudia Rankine is an icon of contemporary American letters.
Season 3, Episode 16
55 mins
Elizabeth Gilbert Meets Julia Cameron – The Path to Higher Creativity
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way has inspired millions to realise their passions – including Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert. Coming together for this podcast, they show us the path to a creatively-fulfilling life.
Series 3, Episode 11
36 mins
Sid Meier – The Rise of Civilization
As the inventor of an entirely new genre of entertainment, legendary video-game designer Sid Meier is a true creative pioneer, and godfather to a multi-billion dollar industry.
Series 3, Episode 10
32 minutes
Geoffrey Robertson – Who Owns History?
The question of whether Western nations must return the artefacts plundered under colonial rule is the most pressing issue in the art world today.
Season 3, Episode 6
42 mins
Clive Woodward – How to Win
Sir Clive Woodward has spent a lifetime in high-performance environments, from the rugby field to the boardroom.
Series 3, Episode 4
53 mins
Kiley Reid – Such a Fun Age
In this week’s podcast Hannah MacInnes meets Kiley Reid, whose Booker nominated debut SUCH A FUN AGE announces her as an extraordinarily astute new voice of a generation.
Season 1, Episode 1
36 mins
Richard Eyre – How to Make Theatre
Join one of Britain’s most acclaimed directors of stage and screen for a masterclass in the art of making plays.
Season 2, Episode 19
34 mins
Max Brooks – How to Survive a Global Catastrophe
How can we build resilient societies? Novelist Max Brooks writes about horrifying fictional catastrophes to teach us how to survive real ones.
Series 2, Episode 10
30 mins
William Gibson – How to Create the Future
He coined the word ‘Cyberspace’ and envisioned the Internet and Virtual Reality before they ever existed. Now William Gibson turns his prophetic eye to the 21st century.
Series 2, Episode 6
30 mins
How to Be a Polar Explorer
Two of the greatest living adventurers meet Hannah MacInnes to reflect on what motivates their journeys across the polar ice.
Series 2, Episode 5
1 hour
Lisa Taddeo and Hadley Freeman On Sex and Desire
Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women is a world-wide sensation – forever changing how we think about women and desire.
Series 1, Episode 18
80mins
Speeches That Changed the World
Simon Sebag Montefiore and an all-star cast of actors take you on a journey from ancient times to the present day with the greatest speeches in history.
Series 1, Episode 13
38 mins
Juliet Stevenson – How to Be an Actor
This week’s How To Academy Podcast is a masterclass with one of the greatest British actors of her generation.
Series 1, Episode 8
48 mins
Giles Coren – A Man For All Seasons
In Episode 8 of the How To Academy Podcast, Matthew Stadlen meets restaurant critic and raconteur Giles Coren, for a freewheeling and hilarious conversation about truth, love and clean cutlery.
Series 1, Episode 6
80 minutes
Elizabeth Gilbert – On Life and Love
The author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE and BIG MAGIC joins the How To Academy podcast for an open-hearted conversation exploring all she has learned in her journey through life.
